职称英语考试

试题来源：职称英语模拟题-理工类-概括大意

The Conquest of Distance

1 In 1848,pioneers whocrossed the American continent in their wagons made the trip in 109 days. Todaya New York family can drive by automobile to San Francisco in less than a weekor make the trip in several days by train, or fly there in five hours. Thetransportation has conquered the vastness of the land and brought togetherpeople living thousands of kilometers apart,

2 Railroads played amajor role in uniting the far reaches of the continent. In 1830 there were only37 kilometers of railroad track in the United States. But by 1863, twocompanies proposed to connect the east and west coast by a railroad all the wayacross the continent. Advancing eastward from California, the Central Pacificpushed forward across the desert；the Union Pacificmoved slowly westward over the mountain plateaus. Finally, in 1869, the tracksof the two railroads met, and the first transcontinental railroad--the firstreal link between east and west－was completed.

3 Although therailroads brought towns and cities together, they could not go everywhere. Inmany parts of America, distances are so great that automobiles are necessities,not luxuries. As we have noted, most American farmers do not live in villagesbut are sometimes kilometers from their nearest neighbor and even hundreds ofkilometers from a town. Large-scale farming is common in many parts of theUnited States today, but it did not become profitable until there were trucksand tractors. Trucks and cars go wherever there is a road and the more than sixmillion kilometers of roads bring every field and barn into the circle ofcivilization.

4 The family automobilehas helped to bring people of the United States two other things-two thingswhich can seldom exist at the same time: community life and the privilege ofprivacy. In the early days of industrialization, factory workers lived closetogether, within walking distance of their jobs. As industries grew, more andmore working class families lived together in crowded conditions. But with theconstruction of longer and better roads and with the greater availability ofautomobiles and other means of rapid transportation, it was no longer to liveclose to the factory. New residential areas, suburbs, grew up outside the bigcities and, increasingly, industry and commerce concentrated in the cities.Every morning, millions of Americans dive their automobiles to work in thecity, sometimes a distance of around 100 kilometers. At night they drive hometo houses and apartments outside the cities, surrounded by trees and lawns.

5 Automobiles and othermethods of rapid transportation are also changing American industry. Instead ofcontinuing to concentrate in the big cities, industry is building factories inpreviously undeveloped areas. Because the means of transportation areavailable, it is not hard to transport people as well as materials to theplaces where they are needed. This factor was largely responsible for theremarkable growth of the Pacific Coast during and after World WarⅡ. As industries built new factories in the Far West, Americans fromall over the country moved west to take advantage of new jobs and newopportunities.

6 The airplane, too, hasplayed a major role in uniting Americans. Only 70 years after the Wrightbrothers made the first successful airplane flight, the United States had movethan 277,000 kilometers of regular flight routes. People and goods can nowtravel to every part of the country in less time than ever before. Human beingshave conquered the distances which lie between them.

23 Paragraph 2------____________

24 Paragraph 3____________

25 Paragraph 4____________

26 Paragraph 6____________ A Automobiles promote farming．

B Planes bring peopleeven closer．

C Railroads unite thewhole country．

D Building railroads iscostly．

E Transportation makesit possible for workers to move out of cities．

F People can travel allover the world．

27 In the early days ittook more than three months for people ____________.

28 Not until trucks andtractors came into wide use ____________.

29 While familyautomobiles have given people greater freedom to move about, they have at thesame time deprived people ____________.

30 Faster than bothtrains and automobiles, planes have shortened the distance between people____________. A of the opportunities to live moreclosely with others

B did large－scale farming become possible

C was quicklypopularized

D to an even greaterdegree

E to travel from theeast of the country to the West

F was greatly improved

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网考网参考答案：C、E、D、A、D、B、A、C
网考网解析：进入考试题库查看解析
大数据分析：根据网考网与考试题库的统计，该试题：
1%的考友选择了A选项
65%的考友选择了B选项
3%的考友选择了C选项
25%的考友选择了D选项
3%的考友选择了E选项
3%的考友选择了F选项
考友解析与评论：
 · 这一题我认为是C、E、D、A、D、B、A、C
 · 答案有调整过吗，感觉原先做对了的
 · 答案是什么啊，这题比较模糊