2012年3月18日托福阅读考试机经回忆_第2页

　　第二篇：美国工业化、铁路与内战

　　>附图：美国早期的地图--新英格兰地区

　　>考生回忆：

　　·美国的农业在新英格兰地区发展，所有的必需品由水路运输。由于土地条件、收益甚微及内陆农业发达等原因，新英格兰地区农业发展开始转向工业发展，而原来的农业人口成为了首批产业工人。

　　·美国工业的发展过程中，铁路运输贯穿始终。随着铁路网的密集化，西部的矿产可以很容易地运往东部。

　　·而南部却则一直发展农业。而内战(南北战争)是一个彻底的分捩点，南部确定了其农业主导的地位。

　　·这种南北经济向不同方向转型并引发内战的原因归结于铁路的发展。

　　·美国的工业归根结底是建立在车轮子上的。

　　>参考阅读：

　　-美国早期工业化

　　American industrialization was facilitated by a unique confluence of geographical, social, and economic factors. The post-Revolution American population remained low relative to its European counterparts and the demand for manual labor created strong incentives to mechanize labor-intensive tasks. The eastern seaboard of the United States, with a great number of rivers and streams along the Atlantic seaboard, provided many potential sites for constructing mills and infrastructure necessary for early industrialization. A vast supply of natural resources along with a large labor supply consisting of surplus domestic rural workers and massive immigration from European nations enabled industrialization. The ready supply of labor was an advantage American industrialism had over European.

　　-南北铁路建设的区别

　　Railroads have played a large role in the development of the United States of America, from the industrial revolution in the North-east to the colonization of the West. The American railway mania began with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad? in 1828 and flourished until the Panic of 1873 bankrupted many companies and temporarily ended all growth. Although the South started early to build railways, it concentrated on short lines linking cotton regions to oceanic or river ports, and the absence of an interconnected network was a major handicap during the Civil War.

　　-铁路因素在南部失败中的作用

　　Rail was strategic during the American Civil War, and the Union used its much larger system much more effectively. Practically all the mills and factories supplying rails and equipment were in the North, and the Union blockade kept the South from getting new equipment or spare parts. The war was fought in the South, and Union raiders (and sometimes Confederates too) systematically destroyed bridges and rolling stock-and sometimes bent rails-to hinder the logistics of the enemy.

　　In the South most railroads in 1860 were local affairs connecting cotton regions with the nearest waterway. Most transport was by boat, not rail, and after the Union blockaded the ports in 1861 and seized the key rivers in 1862, long-distance travel was difficult. The outbreak of war had a depressing effect on the economic fortunes of the railroad companies, for the hoarding of the cotton crop in an attempt to force European intervention left railroads bereft of their main source of income. Many had to lay off employees, and in particular, let go skilled technicians and engineers. For the early years of the war, the Confederate government had a hands-off approach to the railroads. Only in mid-1863 did the Confederate government initiate an overall policy, and it was confined solely to aiding the war effort. With the legislation of impressment the same year, railroads and their rolling stock came under the de facto control of the Confederate military.