1996年5月托福阅读全真试题
23.With which of the following topics is the passage mainly concerned？
（A） The role of the railroad in the economy of the United States.
（B） Major nineteenth-century writers.
（C） The conflict between expanding industry and preserving nature.
（D） The railroad as a subject for literature.
24.The word "it" in line 10 refers to
（A） railroad
（B） manifestation
（C） speed
（D） nature
25.In the first paragraph， the author implies that writers' reactions to the development of railroads were
（A） highly enthusiastic
（B） both positive and negative
（C） unchanging
（D） disinterested
26.The word "lamented" in line 14 is closest in meaning to
（A） complained about
（B） analyzed
（C） explained
（D） reflected on
27.According to the passage， the railroad played a significant role in literature in all of the following kinds of books EXCEPT
（A） thrillers
（B） boys' books
（C） important novels
（D） romances
28.The phrase "first rank" in line 23 is closest in meaning to
（A） largest category
（B） highest quality
（C） earliest writers
（D） most difficult language
29.The word "them" in line 25 refers to
（A） novels
（B） years
（C） individuals
（D） works
30.The author mentions all of the following as being true about the literature of railroad EXCEPT that
（A） many of its writers had experience working on railroads.
（B） many of the books were set in railroad stations and yards
（C） the books were well known during the railroads' prime years.
（D） quite a few of the books are still popular today.
31.The words "faded form" in line 30 are closest in meaning to
（A） grew in
（B） disappeared from
（C） remained in
（D） developed from
32.What is the author's attitude toward the "railroad novels" and other books about railroads written between 1890 and 1920？
（A） They have as much literary importance as the books written by Emerson， Thoreau， and Adams.
（B） They are good examples of the effects industry and business had on the literature of the United States.
（C） They contributed to the weakening of traditional values.
（D） They are worth reading as sources of knowledge about the impact of railroad on life in the United States.
Questions 33-44
By the 1820's in the United States， when steamboats were common on western waters， these boats were mostly powered by engines built in the West （Pittsburgh， Cincinnati，or Louisville）， and of a distinctive western design specially suited to western needs. The first steam engines in practical use in England and the United States were of low pressure design. This was the type first developed by James Watt， then manufactured by the firm of Boulton and Watt， and long the standard industrial engine. Steam was accumulated in a large，double-acting vertical cylinder， but the steam reached only a few pounds of pressure per square inch. It was low-pressure engines of this type that were first introduced into the United States by Robert Fulton. He imported such a Boulton and Watt engine from England to run the Clermont. But this type of engine was expensive and complicated， requiring many precision-fitted moving parts.
The engine that became standard on western steamboats was of a different and novel design. It was the work primarily of an unsung hero of American industrial progress， Oliver Evans（1755-1819）。 The self-educated son of a Delaware farmer. Evans early became obsessed by the possibilities of mechanized production and steam power. As early as 1802 he was using a stationary steam engine of high-pressure design in his mill. Engines of this type were not unknown， but before Evans they were generally considered impractical and dangerous.
Within a decade the high-pressure engine， the new type，had become standard on western waters. Critics ignorant of western conditions often attacked it as wasteful and dangerous. But people who really knew the Ohio， the Missouri， and the Mississippi insisted， with good reasons， that it was the only engine for them. In shallow western rivers the weight of vessel and engine was important； a heavy engine added to the problem of navigation. The high-pressure engine was far lighter in proportion to horsepower， and， with less than half as many moving parts， was much easier and cheaper to repair. The main advantages of low-pressure engines were safe operation and economy of fuel consumption， neither of which meant much in the West.