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Before the mid 1860’s, the impact of the railroads in the United States was limited, in the sense that the tracks ended at this Missouri River, approximately the center of the country. At the point the trains turned their freight, mail, and passengers over to steamboats, wagons, and stagecoaches. This meant that wagon freighting, stage coaching, and steam boating did not come to an end when the first train appeared; rather they became supplements or feeders. Each new “end of track” became a center for animal drawn or waterborne transportation. The major effect of the railroad was to shorten the distance that had to be covered by the older, slower, and more costly means. Wagon freighters continued operating throughout the 1870’s and 1880’s and into the 1890’s.

Although over constantly shrinking routes, and coaches and wagons continued to crisscross the West wherever the rails had not yet been laid. The beginning of a major change was foreshadowed in the later 1860’s, when the Union Pacific Railroad at last began to build westward from the Central Plains city of Omaha to meet the Central Pacific Railroad advancing eastward from California through the formidable barrier of the Sierra Nevada. Although President Abraham Lincoln signed the original Pacific Railroad bill in 1862 and a revised, financially much more generous version in 1864, little construction was completed until 1865 on the Central Pacific and 1866 on the Union Pacific. The primary reason was skepticism that a Railroad built through so challenging and thinly settled a stretch of desert, mountain, and semiarid plain could pay a profit. In the words of an economist, this was a case of “premature enterprise”, where not only the cost of construction but also the very high risk deterred private investment. In discussing the Pacific Railroad bill, the chair of the congressional committee bluntly stated that without government subsidy no one would undertake so unpromising a venture; yet it was a national necessity to link East and West together.

16. The author refers to the impact of railroads before the late 1860’s as “limited” because ____.

A. the track did not take the direct route from one city to the next

B. passengers and freight had to transfer to other modes of transportation to reach western destinations

C. passengers preferred stagecoaches

D. railroad travel was quite expensive

17. What can be inferred about coaches and wagon freighters as the railroad expanded?

A. They developed competing routes.

B. Their drivers refused to work for the railroads.

C. They began to specialize in private investment.

D. There were insufficient numbers of trained people to operate them.

18. Why does the author mention the Sierra Nevada in line 17

A. To argue that a more direct route to the West could have been ?taken.

B. To identify a historically significant mountain range in the West.

C. To point out the location of a serious train accident.

D. To give an example of an obstacle faced by the central pacific.

19. The word “subsidy” in line 27 is closest in meaning to _____.

A. persuasion

B. financing

C. explanation

D. penalty

答案和解析：

16. B)根據(jù)文章前五句可知，在十九世紀(jì)六十年代晚期前鐵路在美國的影響是有限的“limited”，當(dāng)時鐵路只從美國東部修到了美國中部，運到美國西部地區(qū)的貨物只有在鐵路的盡頭“end of track”改用其他的運輸方式，比如：汽船、馬車等，它們的運輸效率可想而知。故選項B為正確答案。

17. D)這是一道推論題?？捎门懦ㄗ龃祟}。根據(jù)文章第六行至第七行“rather they became supplements or feeders”和第十行至第十三行“Wagon freighters continued operating throughout the 1870’s and 1880’s and into the 1890’s. Although over constantly shrinking routes, and coaches and wagons continued to crisscross the West wherever the rails had not yet been laid.”可知隨著鐵路線的不斷延伸，馬車貨運的路線日益減少，雖然馬車貨運經(jīng)營者們繼續(xù)在西部發(fā)展貨運線路，但是它們只是鐵路運輸?shù)难a充。因此選項A“他們發(fā)展了有競爭性的線路”可以排除。而選項B、C文中根本沒有提及。故只有選項D為正確答案。

18. D)根據(jù)“the Sierra Nevada”所在句可知作者提到它是因為它是修建橫跨東西鐵路的一個巨大的障礙，故D為正確答案。

19. B)Subsidy意為“補助金，津貼”，與financing意義相符。

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