2019年托福考试阅读考前重点阅读素材2

很多考生对阅读都是又爱又恨，因为他是我们提分的关键点，但是想要获得高分并非易事，小编为大家整理了这篇阅读试题，在坦途网托福考试频道还有很多相关的试题内容和托福考试时间，现在我们就一起来看看这篇文章吧！

In the early 1800's, over 80 percent of the United States labor force was engaged in agriculture. Sophisticated technology and machinery were virtually nonexistent. People who lived in the cities and were not directly involved in trade often participated in small cottage industries making handcrafted goods. Others cured meats, ran bakeries, or otherwise produced needed goods and commodities. Blacksmiths, silversmiths, candle makers, and other artisans worked in their homes or barns, relying on help of family members or apprentices.

Perhaps no single phenomenon brought more widespread and lasting change to the United States society than the rise of industrialization. Industrial growth hinged on several economic factors. First, industry requires an abundance of natural resources, especially coal, iron ore, water, petroleum, and timber — all readily available on the North American continent. Second, factories demand a large labor supply. Between the 1870's and the First World War (1914-1918), approximately 23 million immigrants streamed to the United States, settled in cities, and went to work in factories and mines. They also helped build the vast network of canals and railroads that crisscrossed the continent and linked important trade centers essential to industrial growth.

Factories also offered a reprieve from the backbreaking work and financial unpredictability associated with farming. Many adults, poor and disillusioned with farm life, were lured to the cities by promises of steady employment, regular paychecks, increased access to goods and services, and expanded social opportunities. Others were pushed there when new technologies made their labor cheap or expendable; inventions such as steel plows and mechanized harvesters allowed one farmhand to perform work that previously had required several, thus making farming capital-intensive rather than labor-intensive.

The United States economy underwent a massive transition and the nature of work was permanently altered. Whereas cottage industries relied on a few highly skilled craft workers who slowly and carefully converted raw materials into finished products from start to finish, factories relied on specialization. While factory work was less creative and more monotonous, it was also more efficient and allowed mass production of goods at less expense.

1. What aspect of life in the United States does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) The transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy

(B) The inventions that transformed life in the nineteenth century

(C) The problems associated with the earliest factories

(D) The difficulty of farm life in the nineteenth century

2. Blacksmiths, silversmiths, and candle makers are mentioned in lines 5-6 as examples of artisans who

以上就是小编为大家整理的全部内容了，相信在我们现在的阶段练习题对我们来说很重要，它可以让我们了解自己对知识点的掌握情况，更有针对性的进行补充，小编会在网站对大家整理更多的考试资讯和试题，希望在今年的托福考试中大家都能取得理想的成绩！