Mass Production: Method and Impact P1: Even with the early successes in Europe, scholars of technology attribute the widespread

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问题 Mass Production: Method and Impact
P1: Even with the early successes in Europe, scholars of technology attribute the widespread adoption of mass production to trailblazers in the United States. With its abundant water power, coal, and raw materials but shortage of workers, America was the ideal place for building skill into machinery. The technological and managerial innovations of Thomas Edison (the father of modern day electrical devices) and the industrial leaders Andrew Carnegie (iron and steel) and John D. Rockefeller (oil) proved readily adaptable throughout United States industry, spurring marvels of productivity. Late-nineteenth-century industrialists often discovered that their factories produced more goods than the market could absorb. From the start, American leaders attempted to mechanize production of barrels, nails, and other goods, and then other applications of mass production were backed by the War Department which resulted in industrial growth. Not surprisingly, these industrialists were pioneers in developing advertising and marketing techniques. Strategies for stimulating consumer demand and for differentiating one product from another were an essential component of the American post-Civil War industrial transformation.
P2: The growth of the flour industry illustrates both the spread of mass production and the emergence of new marketing concepts. During the 1800s, millions of Europeans made the New World their new homeland, and brought the most advanced European manufacturing technologies to America. Thanks to the tireless work of these "always-on" machines, production surpluses were a regular occurance. To sell the excess, the mills put forward new product lines, such as cake flours and breakfast cereals, and sold them using easy-to-remember brand names.
P3: Through marketing strategies like brand names, trademarks, and slogans, manufacturers encouraged demand for their products and won remarkable consumer loyalty. Large numbers of Americans bought a brand of soap first made in 1897 in Cincinnati, Ohio, because of the overly precise but impressive pledge that it was "99 and 44/100ths percent pure". In the field of photography, "You press the button, we do the rest" was a popular advertising slogan created by George Eastman in 1888 for his Kodak camera. He wanted to simplify photography and make it available to everyone, not just confined to trained photographers. Eastman announced the invention of photographic film in rolls. Pre-loaded with enough film for 100 exposures, the Kodak camera could easily be carried and moved during its operation. After the film was exposed , the whole camera was returned to the Kodak company where the film was developed, prints were made, new photographic film was inserted, and then the camera and prints were returned to the customer.
P4: By 1900, the chaos of early industrial competition, when thousands of small companies had struggled to enter a national market, had given way to an economy dominated by a few enormous enterprises. The cost was high, too, for millions of American workers, immigrant and native-born alike. The new industrial order was built on the backs of an army of laborers who were paid subsistence wages and who could be fired at a moment’s notice when hard times or new technologies made them expendable. Moreover, industrialization often devastated the environment with pollution in the relentless drive for efficiency and profit.
P5: In practice, this industrial revolution brought social benefits as well, in the form of labor-saving products, lower prices, and advances in transportation and communications. Mass production permitted great increases in total production and allowed the evolution of consumerism by lowering the unit cost of many goods used. Using a European crafting system into the late 19th century, it was difficult to meet demand for products such as sewing machines and animal powered mechanical harvesters. By the late 1920s many previously scarce goods were in healthy supply. At the same time, industrialization encouraged greedy entrepreneurs to operate factories in which the poor worked long hours in unhealthy conditions with pitifully low wages.
P1: Even with the early successes in Europe, scholars of technology attribute the widespread adoption of mass production to trailblazers in the United States. With its abundant water power, coal, and raw materials but shortage of workers, America was the ideal place for building skill into machinery. The technological and managerial innovations of Thomas Edison (the father of modern day electrical devices) and the industrial leaders Andrew Carnegie (iron and steel) and John D. Rockefeller (oil) proved readily adaptable throughout United States industry, spurring marvels of productivity. ■ Late-nineteenth-century industrialists often discovered that their factories produced more goods than the market could absorb. ■ From the start, American leaders attempted to mechanize production of barrels, nails, and other goods, and then other applications of mass production were backed by the War Department which resulted in industrial growth. ■ Not surprisingly, these industrialists were pioneers in developing advertising and marketing techniques. ■ Strategies for stimulating consumer demand and for differentiating one product from another were an essential component of the American post-Civil War industrial transformation.
Which of the following can be inferred about the new technologies mentioned in paragraph 4?

选项 A、They were sometimes too expensive to introduce in the workplace.
B、They forced laborers to work in more systematic ways.
C、They helped to reduce the impact of industrialization on the environment.
D、They helped make it possible for industries to reduce the workforce.

答案D

解析 【推断题】第3句提到新的产业秩序是建立在大量只拿最低工资的劳动者的基础上的,在困难时期或新技术使他们失去作用时,这些劳动者会在一夕之间被解雇。由此可以推论出新技术可以使工业减少劳动力。
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