2017英语专四阅读理解练习（二十三）

2016-09-21 14:59:40来源：网络

2017英语专四阅读理解练习（二十三）

　　As the merchant class expandedin the eighteenth century in North American Colonies, the silversmith and the coppersmithbusinesses rose to serve it. Only a few silversmiths were available in New York or Boston in the lateseventeenth century, but in the eighteenth century they could be found in all major colonial cities.No other colonial artisans rivaled the silversmiths’ prestige. They handled the most expensivematerials and possessed direct connections to prosperous colonial merchants. Their products,primarily silver plates and bowls, reflected their exalted status and testified to their customers’prominence.

　　Silver stood as one of the surest ways to store wealth at a time before neighborhoodbanks existed. Unlike the silver coins from which they were made, silver articles were readilyidentifiable. Often formed to individual specifications, they always carried the silversmith’s distinctivemarkings and consequently could be traced and retrieved. Customers generally secure the silverfor the silver object they ordered. They saved coins, took them to smiths, and discussed the typeof pieces they desired. Silversmiths complied with these requests by melting the money in a smallfurnace, adding a bit of copper to form a stronger alloy, and casting the alloy in rectangular blocks.They hammered these ingots to the appropriate thickness by hand, shaped them and presseddesigns into them for adornment. Engraving was also done by hand. In addition to plates andbowls, some customers sought more intricate products, such as silver teapots. These were madeby shaping or casting parts separately and then soldering them together. Colonial coppersmith alsocome of age in the early eighteenth century and prospered in northern cities. Coppers ability toconduct heat efficiently and to resist corrosion contributed to its attractiveness. But because it wasexpensive in colonial America, coppersmiths were never very numerous. Virtually all copper workedby Smiths was imported as sheets or obtained by recycling old copper goods. Copper was usedfor practical items, but it was not admired for its beauty. Coppersmiths employed it to fashion potsand kettles for the home. They shaped it in much the same manner as silver or melted it in afoundry with lead or tin. They also mixed it with zinc to make brass for maritime and scientificinstruments.

　　1.According to the passage, which of the following eighteenth century developments had strongimpact on silversmiths

　　A. A decrease in the cost of silver.

　　B. The invention of heat efficient furnaces.

　　C. The growing economic prosperity of colonial merchants.

　　D. The development of new tools used to shape silver.

　　2.In colonial America, where did silversmiths usually obtain the material to make silver articles

　　A. From their own mines.

　　B. From importers.

　　C. From other silversmiths.

　　D. From customers.

　　3.The passage mentions all of the following as uses for copper in Colonial America EXCEPT ______.

　　A. cooking pots