托福阅读真题Official 54 Passage 1（七）

托福阅读真题Official 54 Passage 1（七）

The Commercialization of Lumber

In nineteenth-century America,practically everything that was built involved wood.Pine was especially attractive for building purposes.It is durable and strong,yet soft enough to be easily worked with even the simplest of hand tools.It also floats nicely on water,which allowed it to be transported to distant markets across the nation.The central and northern reaches of the Great Lakes states—Michigan,Wisconsin,and Minnesota—all contained extensive pine forests as well as many large rivers for floating logs into the Great Lakes,from where they were transported nationwide.

By 1860,the settlement of the American West along with timber shortages in the East converged with ever-widening impact on the pine forests of the Great Lakes states.Over the next 30 years,lumbering became a full-fledged enterprise in Michigan,Wisconsin,and Minnesota.Newly formed lumbering corporations bought up huge tracts of pineland and set about systematically cutting the trees.Both the colonists and the later industrialists saw timber as a commodity,but the latter group adopted a far more thorough and calculating approach to removing trees.In this sense,what happened between 1860 and 1890 represented a significant break with the past.No longer were farmers in search of extra income the main source for shingles,firewood,and other wood products.By the 1870s,farmers and city dwellers alike purchased forest products from large manufacturing companies located in the Great Lakes states rather than chopping wood themselves or buying it locally.

The commercialization of lumbering was in part the product of technological change.The early,thick saw blades tended to waste a large quantity of wood,with perhaps as much as a third of the log left behind on the floor as sawdust or scrap.In the 1870s,however,the British-invented band saw,with its thinner blade,became standard issue in the Great Lakes states’lumber factories.Meanwhile,the rise of steam-powered mills streamlined production by allowing for the more efficient,centralized,and continuous cutting of lumber.Steam helped to automate a variety of tasks,from cutting to the carrying away of waste.Mills also employed steam to heat log ponds,preventing them from freezing and making possible year-round lumber production.

For industrial lumbering to succeed,a way had to be found to neutralize the effects of the seasons on production.Traditionally,cutting took place in the winter,when snow and ice made it easier to drag logs on sleds or sleighs to the banks of streams.Once the streams and lakes thawed,workers rafted the logs to mills,where they were cut into lumber in the summer.If nature did not cooperate—if the winter proved dry and warm,if the spring thaw was delayed—production would suffer.To counter the effects of climate on lumber production,loggers experimented with a variety of techniques for transporting trees out of the woods.In the 1870s,loggers in the Great Lakes states began sprinkling water on sleigh roads,giving them an artificial ice coating to facilitate travel.The ice reduced the friction and allowed workers to move larger and heavier loads.

But all the sprinkling in the world would not save a logger from the threat of a warm winter.Without snow the sleigh roads turned to mud.In the 1870s,a set of snowless winters left lumber companies to ponder ways of liberating themselves from the seasons.Railroads were one possibility.At first,the remoteness of the pine forests discouraged common carriers from laying track.But increasing lumber prices in the late 1870s combined with periodic warm,dry winters compelled loggers to turn to iron rails.By 1887,89 logging railroads crisscrossed Michigan,transforming logging from a winter activity into a year-round one.

Once the logs arrived at a river,the trip downstream to a mill could be a long and tortuous one.Logjams(buildups of logs that prevent logs from moving downstream)were common—at times stretching for 10 miles—and became even more frequent as pressure on the northern Midwest pinelands increased in the 1860s.To help keep the logs moving efficiently,barriers called booms(essentially a chain of floating logs)were constructed to control the direction of the timber.By the 1870s,lumber companies existed in all the major logging areas of the northern Midwest.

Question 13 of 14

Look at the four squares[■]that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.Some sleighs were capable of carrying over 100 tons worth of timber.Where would the sentence best fit?Click on a square[■]to add the sentence to the passage.

正确答案：D

题目详解

题型分类：插入句子题

题干分析：考察句子和句子之间的衔接判断。待插入句为，有些雪橇能够运送100多吨的木材。over 100 tons worth of timber是个具体的数字，说明前文可能提到了雪橇运量，这里只是补充细节。

选项分析：

D选项前一句，冰减少了摩擦力，工人们可以移动更大更重的货物。前一句move larger and heavier loads对应了插入句carry over 100 tons。

A选项前后对比不同天气的木材产量，而不是在说雪橇能运送大量木材。

B选项前后在说如何缓解天气对木材制造的影响，没有说雪橇能运送大量木材。

C选项后一句The ice指代前一句an artificial ice coating，此处不能插入句子。

Question 14 of 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.

Increasing demands for timber in nineteenth-century America transformed lumbering in the Great Lakes region.

Answer Choices:

A.

During the nineteenth century,lumbering became a large-scale industry controlled by manufacturing companies rather than a local enterprise controlled by farmers.

B.

After 1860 farmers continued to be the main suppliers of new timber,but lumbering companies took over its transport and manufacture into wood products.

C.

Technological advances,including the use of steam power,led to increased productivity,efficiency,and commercialization of the lumbering industry.

D.

The invention of new technology,such as band saws,allowed American lumbering companies to make a profit by exporting surplus lumber to Britain and other countries.

E.

Seasonal changes and severe winters made the development and laying of track for logging railroads slow and difficult.

F.

New methods for transporting logs to mills helped transform lumbering from a seasonal activity to a year-round activity.

正确答案：ACF

题目详解

题型分类：文章总结题

题干分析：选择概括性的正确选项。

选项分析：

A选项正确，为第二段重要信息。lumbering became a large-scale industry对应第二段第二句lumbering became a full-fledged enterprise，rather than a local enterprise controlled by farmers对应第二段倒数第二句No longer were farmers in search of extra income the main source for shingles,firewood,and other wood products。

C选项正确，为第三段重要信息。Technological advances和commercialization对应第三段第一句The commercialization of lumbering was in part the product of technological change。increased productivity,efficiency对应倒数第二句the more efficient,centralized,and continuous cutting of lumber。

F选项正确，为第五段重要信息。transform a seasonal activity to a year-round activity对应最后一句transforming logging from a winter activity into a year-round one。

B选项错误，信息与第二段相关。但farmers continued to be the main suppliers of new timber与第二段最后一句farmers…purchased forest products from large manufacturing companies矛盾。

D选项错误，信息与第三段相关。但exporting surplus lumber to Britain and other countries第三段没有提到。

E选项错误，logging railroads与第五段相关。但第五段没有说the development and laying of track for logging railroads slow and difficult。