TPO 20 Westward Migration（社会科学--移民）

字数：695

建议做题时间20分钟

The story of the westward movement of population in the United States is, in the main, the story of the expansion of American agriculture—of the development of new areas for the raising of livestock and the cultivation of wheat, corn, tobacco, and cotton. After 1815 improved transportation enabled more and more western farmers to escape a self-sufficient way of life and enter a national market economy. During periods when commodity prices were high, the rate of westward migration increased spectacularly. "Old America seemed to be breaking up and moving westward," observed an English visitor in 1817,during the first great wave of migration. Emigration to the West reached a peak in the 1830's. Whereas in 1810 only a seventh of the American people lived west of the Appalachian Mountains, by 1840 more than a third lived there.

Why were these hundreds of thousands of settlers—most of them farmers, some of them artisans—drawn away from the cleared fields and established cities and villages of the East? Certain characteristics of American society help to explain this remarkable migration. The European ancestors of some Americans had for centuries lived rooted to the same village or piece of land until some religious, political, or economic crisis uprooted them and drove them across the Atlantic. Many of those who experienced this sharp break thereafter lacked the ties that had bound them and their ancestors to a single place. Moreover, European society was relatively stratified; occupation and social status were inherited. In American society, however, the class structure was less rigid; some people changed occupations easily and believed it was their duty to improve their social and economic position. As a result, many Americans were an inveterately restless, rootless, and ambitious people. Therefore, these social traits helped to produce the nomadic and daring settlers who kept pushing westward beyond the fringes of settlement. In addition, there were other immigrants who migrated west in search of new homes, material success, and better lives.

The West had plenty of attractions: the alluvial river bottoms, the fecund soils of the rolling forest lands, the black loams of the prairies were tempting to New England farmers working their rocky, sterile land and to southeastern farmers plagued with soil depletion and erosion. In 1820 under a new land law, a farm could be bought for $100. The continued proliferation of banks made it easier for those without cash to negotiate loans in paper money. Western Farmers borrowed with the confident expectation that the expanding economy would keep farm prices high, thus making it easy to repay loans when they fell due.

Transportation was becoming less of a problem for those who wished to move west and for those who hand farm surpluses to send to market. Prior to 1815, western farmers who did not live on navigable waterways were connected to them only by dirt roads and mountain trails. Livestock could be driven across the mountains, but the cost of transporting bulky grains in this fashion was several times greater than their value in eastern markets. The first step toward an improvement of western transportation was the construction of turnpikes. These roads made possible a reduction in transportation costs and thus stimulated the commercialization of agriculture along their routes.

Two other developments presaged the end of the era of turnpikes and started a transportation revolution that resulted in increased regional specialization and the growth of a national market economy. First came the steamboat; although flatboats and keelboats continued to be important until the 1850’s steamboats eventually superseded all other craft in the carrying of passengers and freight. Steamboats were not only faster but also transported upriver freight for about one tenth of what it had previously cost on hand-propelled keelboats. Next came the Erie Canal, an enormous project in its day, spanning about 350 miles. After the canal went into operation, the cost per mile of transporting a ton of freight from Buffalo to New York City declined from nearly 20 cents to less than 1 cent. Eventually, the western states diverted much of their produce from the rivers to the Erie Canal, a shorter route to eastern markets.

题目

雷哥托福在线测试☞☞☞

答案解析

1. 推断题

解析：根据1815定位到第2句，说1815年之后，改善的交通使更多西部农民逃离自给自足的生活方式，进入国家市场经济，可以推断1815年之前没有进入国家市场经济，选D

2. 修辞目的题

解析：高亮句说1810年A山以西居民很少，1840年就变得很多了，前句也说到1830s向西移民达到巅峰。A原文没说人口变化速度快；B原文没说有误解的印象；C对，强调了西移的规模和速度；D原文没有表达A山的吸引力。

3. 词汇题

解析：fringes边缘，选A。原句说向西越过定居点的fringes，猜测是超过了边缘，选A

4. 事实信息否定题

解析：A对应第4句，很多人此后就不再固定在一个地方了；BC对应第6句；D没说，选D

5. 句子简化题

解析：原句结构为列举了西部的吸引力。A原句无因果关系；B对；C原文说新英格兰农民、东南地区农民的土地是贫瘠、废弃的，C与原文相反；D遗漏了原句中吸引农民的信息。

6. 事实信息题

解析：根据1820定位到第2句，说土地可以用100美元就能买到，选B

7. 词汇题

解析：proliferation扩散，选A

8. 事实信息题

解析：根据turnpikes定位到倒数第2句，说明建设turnpike的事实，最后一句说这些路使交通成本降低，刺激了沿路农业的经济，选D。

9. 词汇题

解析：supersede取代，选A

10. 词汇题

解析：divert转移，shift移动、变化，选B。

11. 推断题

解析：根据flatboats and keelboats定位到第2-3句，第2句没有相关答案，第3句说steamboat不仅更快，而且只需要之前手动keelboat成本的1/10，选B

12. 事实信息否定题

解析：根据Erie Canal定位到倒数第1-3句，说Erie运河投入运营后，成本降低了，西方国家将很多货物运输从rivers转到了Erie运河（到东方市场的路线更短），ABD都提到，C没说，选C

13. 句子插入题

解析：插入句提到可以以更便宜的方式来运输，说明前文的信息可能提到了不便宜的运输，只有C前提到运输牲畜的成本高，选C

14. 段落小结题

解析：A对应第1段，正确
B对应第3段，正确
C对应第4段，正确
D是第2段中的细节，不选
E没说，不选
F与原文相反，不选

出国深造本是好事，切不可本末倒置，忘记了留学的真正价值。

雷哥托福：www.toeflonline.cn；雷哥托福试听课程详情请咨询：400-6021-727

你不知道的，小托君都知道，更多备考秘籍 ，尽！情！找！他！要！