托福阅读常考话题及练习题推荐六：工业革命（2）

1托福阅读常考话题：工业革命练习题

Paragraph 1: The Industrial Revolution had several roots, one of which was a commercial revolution that, beginning as far back as the sixteenth century, accompanied Europe’s expansion overseas. Both exports and imports showed spectacular growth, particularly in England and France. An increasingly larger portion of the stepped-up commercial activity was the result of trade with overseas colonies. Imports included a variety of new beverages, spices, and ship’s goods around the world and brought money flowing back. Europe’s economic institutions, particularly those in England, were strong, had wealth available for new investment, and seemed almost to be waiting for some technological breakthrough that would expand their profit-making potential even more.

1.The word “potential” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. rate

B. dominance

C. capacity

D. method

2.According to paragraph 1, all of the following conditions created a favorable environment for the Industrial Revolution EXCEPT

A. An active overseas trade

B. The stability of financial establishments

C. A decline in the types of goods available for export

D. The accessibility of money for investment

Paragraph 2: The breakthrough came in Great Britain, where several economic advantages created a climate especially favorable to the encouragement of new technology. One was its geographic location at the crossroads of international trade. Internally, Britain was endowed with easily navigable natural waterway, which helped its trade and communication with the world. Beginning in the 1770’s, it enjoyed a boom in canal building, which helped make its domestic market more accessible. Because water transportation was the cheapest means of carrying goods to market, canals reduced prices and thus increased consumer demand. Great Britain also had rich deposits of coal that fed the factories springing up in industrial and consumer goods.

3.Select the TWO answers choices that according to paragraph 2, enabled the development of British technology. To receive credit you must select TWO answer choices.

A. An accessible water transportation system

B. A mild climate and plenty of fresh water

C. The availability of newly developed international technology

D. A fuel supply that supported industrial growth

Paragraph 3: Another advantage was Britain’s large population of rural, agricultural wage earners, as well as cottage workers, who had the potential of being more mobile than peasants of some other countries. Eventually they found their way to the cities or mining communities and provided the human power upon which the Industrial Revolution was built. The British people were also consumers; the absence of internal tariffs, such as those that existed in France or Italy or between the German states, made Britain the largest free-trade area in Europe. Britain’s relatively stable government also helped create an atmosphere conducive to industrial progress.

4.Paragraph 3 suggests that the Industrial Revolution did not originate outside Great Britain because

A. the labor force in other countries could not as easily relocate to cities

B. workers in other countries preferred working independently rather than in groups

C. there was a lack of cooperation between agricultural and cottage workers in other countries

D. governments in other countries placed limits on economic gain;

Paragraph 4: Great Britain’s better-developed banking and credit system also helped speed the industrial progress, as did the fact that it was the home of an impressive array of entrepreneurs and inventors. Among them were a large number of nonconformists whose religious principles encouraged thrift and industry rather than luxurious living and who tended to pour their profits back into their business, thus providing the basis for continued expansion.

6.According to paragraphs 3 and 4, British businessmen strengthened industrial growth by

A. finding new ways to diversify European trade

B. encouraging consumers to buy luxury items

C. reinvesting the money they made in their own business

D. creating a tax on internationally traded goods

Paragraph 5: A precursor to the Industrial Revolution was a revolution in agricultural techniques. Ideas about agricultural reform developed first in Holland, where as early as the mid-seventeenth century, such modern methods as crop rotation, heavy fertilization, and diversification were all in use. Dutch peasant farmers were known throughout Europe for their agricultural innovations, but as British markets and opportunities grew, the English quickly learned from them. As early as the seventeenth century the Dutch were helping them drain marshes and fens where, with the help of advanced techniques, they grew new crops. By the mid-eighteenth century new agricultural methods as well as selective breeding of livestock had caught on throughout the country.

7.Why does the author mention Dutch farming methods in paragraph 5?

A. To emphasize that Great Britain was not the only country capable of rapid agricultural progress

B. To demonstrate British resourcefulness in adopting economically profitable agricultural reforms

C. To give an example of a European country with a powerful peasant workforce

D. To suggest that the Dutch agricultural system was influenced by British farming methods

Paragraph 6: Much of the increased production was consumed by Great Britain’s burgeoning population. At the same time, people were moving to the city, partly because of the enclosure movement; that is, the fencing of common fields and pastures in order to provide more compact, efficient privately held agricultural parcels that would produce more goods and greater profits. In the sixteenth century enclosures were usually used for creating sheep pastures, but by the eighteenth century new farming techniques made it advantageous for large landowners to seek enclosures in order to improve agricultural production. Between 1714 and 1820 over 6 million acres of English land were enclosed. As a result, many small, independent farmers were forced to sell out simply because they could not compete. Non-landholding peasants and cottage workers, who worked for wages and grazed cows or pigs on the village common, were also hurt when the common was no longer available. It was such people who began to flock to the cities seeking employment and who found work in the factories that would transform the nation and, the world.

8.The word "consumed" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. wasted

B. grown

C. stored

D. eaten

9.The author uses the word "compact" in the passage to indicate that after the enclosure movement, agricultural parcels would be

A. smaller

B. productive

C. convenient

D. numerous

10.Paragraph 6 suggests which of the following about land enclosure?

A. It entered a period of steady decline after 1820

B. It was a farming reform caused by industrialization

C. It included a range of agricultural activities by the eighteenth century

D. It was primarily used to provide sheep pastures in the sixteenth century

11.According to paragraph 6, the growth of the workforce in British factories was influenced by

A. The competition for jobs between established and new city inhabitants

B. A decrease in the farming profits of large landowners

C. The failure of small independent farms

D. An attempt by large landowners to take control of the cities

12.The author presents information in the passage mainly by

A. contrasting the development of industrialism in different countries

B. explaining a new theory about the origins of the Industrial Revolution

C. analyzing the consequences of European industrialism

D. explaining the reasons why industrialism began in Great Britain

Much of the increased production was consumed by Great Britain’s burgeoning population. At the same time, people were moving to the city, partly because of the enclosure movement; that is, the fencing of common fields and pastures in order to provide more compact, efficient privately held agricultural parcels that would produce more goods and greater profits. In the sixteenth century enclosures were usually used for creating sheep pastures, but by the eighteenth century new farming techniques made it advantageous for large landowners to seek enclosures in order to improve agricultural production. Between 1714 and 1820 over 6 million acres of English land were enclosed. [■] As a result, many small, independent farmers were forced to sell out simply because they could not compete. [■] Non-landholding peasants and cottage workers, who worked for wages and grazed cows or pigs on the village common, were also hurt when the common was no longer available. [■] It was such people who began to flock to the cities seeking employment and who found work in the factories that would transform the nation and, the world. [■]

13.Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage

Cities would not only provide job opportunities but also profoundly affect social patterns, standards of living, political movements, and ideologies.

14.Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points. The Industrial Revolution was the result of far-reaching economic changes in Great Britain and Europe

Answer Choices

A.The expansion of international trade from the sixteenth century on greatly stabilized the European economy

B.Intense consumer activity and sound government institutions enabled mechanized labor to develop in Great Britain

C.A thriving cottage industry was able to successfully compete with the factory system

D.Canals in eighteenth-century Great Britain played a more important role than did railroads in increasing internal trade

E.British entrepreneurs invented a new system of banking that led to rapid economic growth

F.An increasingly efficient agricultural industry freed British workers for factory employment