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.
According to the passage, we can draw the conclusions EXCEPT that ____
A、the production efficiency has greatly been improved by the "American System"
B、many other machines such as refrigera, washing machines and vacuum cleaners are produced on the assembly line
C、with the interchangeable parts, American industries advanced greatly
D、the industrial managers began the careful study of the operations with the aim of reducing the methods
【正确答案】：D
【名师解析】:根据文章内容，我们可以得出以下结论：
- 选项A正确，因为"American System"的大规模生产方式要求精密工程来制造可以互换的零件，这使得最终产品可以在各个阶段进行组装，每个工人专门负责特定的操作，从而大大提高了生产效率。
- 选项B正确，尽管文章没有直接提到冰箱、洗衣机和吸尘器，但提到了20世纪前半叶，汽车、冰箱和厨房灶具等消费品的大规模生产帮助彻底改变了美国人的生活方式，可以推断这些产品也是在流水线上生产的。
- 选项C正确，因为文章中提到了Eli Whitney通过制造具有可互换零件的枪支来推动美国工业的发展，这种在工厂使用可互换零件生产商品的方法有助于美国工业的进步。
然而，选项D是错误的，因为文章中提到工业管理者开始仔细研究工厂运营，目的是为了找到最有效率的组织任务的方式，而不是为了减少方法。他们的"科学管理"概念进一步降低了生产成本。因此，正确答案是D。
