Early in the 20th century,most of the streets and roads in the U.S. were made of dirt,birck, and cedar wood blocks. Built for horse, carriage, and foot traffic, they were usually poorly cared for and too narrow to accommodate(容纳) automobiles. With the increase in auto production, private turnpike(收费公路)companies under loacl authorities began to spring up,and by 1921 there were 387,000 miles of paved orads. Many were built using specifications of 19th century Scottish engineers Thomas Telford and John Mac Adam (for whom the macadam surface is named), whose specifications stressed the importance of adequate drainage. Beyond that, there were no national standards for size, weight restrictions, or commercial signs. During World War Ⅰ, roads throughout the country were nearly destroyed by the weight of trucks. When General Eisenhower returned from Germany in 1919, after serving in the U.S. Army’s first transcontinental motor convoy(车队), he noted: “ The old convoy had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways, but Germany’s Autobahn or motorway had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land.”…
Q1: National standards for paved roads were in place by 1921
Q2: General Eisenhower felt that the broad German motorways made more sense than the two-lane highways of America
【真题 2】
…The interstate highway system was finally launched in 1956 and has been hailed as one of the greatest public works projects of the century. To build its 44,000-mile web of highways, bridge, and tunnels, hundreds of unique engineering designs and solutions had to be worked out. Consider the many geographic features of the country: mountains, steep grades, wetlands, rivers, desserts, and plains….
Q: It was in the 1950s that American government finally took action to build a national high way system.
【真题示例 1】答案解析
【解析1】根据1921可以快速、准确地定位到文章的第2段的开始。第一句说1921年时已经有38万多公里的公路铺设，许多使用的是两位19世纪苏格兰工程师的技术参数。后面一句提到当时还没有国家标准(here were no national standards).所以题干表述错误，选N
【解析2】根据General Eisenhower或者German定位在文章第2段的后半部分。General Eisenhower先是夸耀了 two-lane highways的好，一个but之后指出德国高速公路的wisdom。说明General Eisenhower更欣赏题干表述正确，选Y
【真题示例 2】答案解析
【解析】根据1950s可以快速准确地定位到本段第一句中。该句说，1956年时洲际告诉公路开始建设。题干中的1950s表示20世纪50年代，包含着1956年。题干说1950s开建是正确的。选Y
英语四级
