Passage 2Early Developments in A

Passage 2
Early Developments in American Economy Early American industries depended largely on skilled artisans working in small shops to serve a local market. But the Industrial Revolution that started in England during the 18 century did not take long to cross the Atlantic. It brought many changes to American industry between 1776 and 1860. Because labor was scarce in the United States and wages were high, employers welcomed any new method that could reduce the requirement for labor.
One key development was the introductic of the factory system which gathered many workers together in one workplace and produced goods for distribution over a wide area. The first factory in the United States is generally dated to 1793, when an Englishma named Samuel slater came to America to build cotton cloth factory. He built the machinery from memory, because it was a crime to carry factory plant out of England. The success of Slater's factory started process of change that turned the northeastern region of the United States into an important manufacturing center. The making of textiles also meant increased demand for cotton, grown in the southern region for the United States. As a result, the nation became a major cotton producer.
Another important development was the "American system" of mass production, which originated in the firearms industry about 1800. The new system required precision engineering to create parts that were intercha.this, in return, allowed the final product to be assembled in stages, each worker specializing in a specific operation.
Just as Slater's new factory system was being introduced, an American named Eli Whitney made cotton production more efficient by inventing a machine-the cotton gin-that rapidly removed the seeds from the boils of cotton. Removing the seeds by hand was a difficult task; Whitney's machine made the job almost easy.
Whitney also began manufacturing rifles in a new way. Guns had always been made by gun makers working in their homes or small shops. Because the guns were handmade individually, a part from one gun would not necessarily fit another gun. Whitney began making guns with machinery, so that all the parts were the same in each gun. This method of manufacturir goods in a factory, with interchangeable parts, helped to advance American industry.
In1913, the automaker Henry Ford introduced the“moving assemblyline. This was variation on the earlier practice of continuous assembly. By improving efficiency, it made possible a major saving in labor costs. A new breed of industrial managers began the careful study of factory operations with the aim of finding the most efficient ways of organizing tasks. Their concepts of "scientific management" helped to lower the costs of production still further. Lower costs made possible both higher wages for workers and lower prices for consumers. More and more Americans were gaining the ability to purchase products made in the United States. During the first half of the 20th century, mass production of consumer goods such as cars, refrigerators and kitchen ranges helped to revolutionize the ways in which Americans lived.

Another important development was concerning ____
A、the steam engines
B、the mass production
C、the mobile operation
D、the textile industry
【正确答案】：B
【名师解析】:选项B "the mass production" 是正确答案。题目中提到了"American system" of mass production，这是美国工业发展中的一个重要里程碑。大约在1800年，这个系统首先在火器行业开始应用。它要求精密工程来制造可以互换的部件，这使得最终产品可以分阶段组装，每个工人专门从事特定的操作。Eli Whitney通过制造具有可互换部件的枪支，推动了这一生产方式的发展。此外，Henry Ford在1913年引入的"moving assembly line"是对连续装配线的改进，进一步提高了效率，节省了劳动力成本。这些概念和实践都属于大规模生产，它帮助降低了生产成本，使得工人能够获得更高的工资，消费者能够以更低的价格购买产品，从而彻底改变了美国人的生活方式。因此，另一个重要发展是关于大规模生产的。