单选题 People in the United States in the nineteenth century were haunted by the prospect that unprecedented change in the nation's economy would bring social chaos. In the years following 1820, after several decades of relative stability, the economy entered a periodof sustained and extremely rapid growth that continued to the end of the nineteenth century. Accompanying that growth was a structural change that featured increasing economic diversification and a gradual shift in the nation's labor force from agriculture to manufacturing and other nonagricultura pursuits
Although the birth rate continued to, decline from its high level of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the population roughly doubled every generation during the rest of the nineteenth century. As the population grew, its makeup also changed. Massive waves of immigration brought new ethnic groups into the country. Geographic and social mobility -- downward as well as upward -- touched almost everyone. Local studies indicate that nearly three- quarters of the population in the North and South, in the emerging cities of the Northeast, and in the restless rural counties of the West changed their residence each decade. As a consequence, historian David Donald has written, "Social atomization affected every segment of society", and it seemed to many people that "all the recognized values of orderly civilization were gradually being eroded."
Rapid industrialization and increased geographic mobility in the nineteenth century had special implications for women because these changes tended to magnify social distinctions. As the roles men and women played in society became more rigidly defined, so did the roles they played in the home. In the context of extreme competitiveness and dizzying social change, the household lost many of its earlier functions and the home came to serve as a haven of tranquillity and order. As the size of families decreased, the roles of husband and wife became more clearly differentiated than ever before. In the middle class especially, men participated in the productive economy while women ruled the home and served as the custodians of civility and culture. The intimacy of marriage that was common in earlier periods was rent, and a gulf that at times seemed unbridgeable was created between husbands and wives.

单选题 What does the passage mainly discuss?______
A. The economic development of the United States in the eighteenth century
B. Ways in which economic development led to social changes in the United States
C. Population growth in the western United States
D. The increasing availability of industrial jobs for women in the Unites States
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】第一段提到美国经济发展对社会产生了深刻的影响,后面各段对受影响的各方面展开讨论。(B)明显符合题意。
单选题 According to the passage, as the nineteenth century progressed, the people of the United States______
A. emigrated to other countries
B. often settled in the West
C. tended to change the place in which they lived
D. had a higher rate of birth than ever before
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】第二段第四、五句指出,地理和社会的变迁涉及到每一个人,研究表明几乎四分之三的人口每十年就会改变居住地。(C)符合题意。
单选题 Which of the following best describes the society about which David Donald wrote?______
A. A highly conservative society that was resistant to new ideas
B. A society that was undergoing fundamental change
C. A society that had been gradually changing since the early 1700s
D. A nomadic society that was starting permanent settlements
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】第二段最后一句提到历史学家DavidDonald描述当时的形势:社会的分化影响到各个方面,看起来所有有序的公认的文明价值观在逐渐被摧毁。可见社会正在经历根本的变革。
单选题 Which of the following is not mentioned as an example of the social changes occurring in the United States after 1821)?______
A. Increased social mobility
B. Increased immigration
C. Significant movement of population
D. Strong emphasis on traditional social values
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】第一段第一、二句提到(A)、(B)、(C)项的内容:在1820之后的岁月,经历了几十年的稳定,经济持续高速发展直到十九世纪末。伴随着经济增长是标志着经济发展多样化的社会结构变化,劳动力从农业到工业以及其他行业的转移。(D)在文中没有提到。
单选题 With which of the following opinions would the author be likely to agree?______
A. Women's lives significantly improved as the United States economy expanded
B. Women had more opportunities for employment in the western United States than in other regions
C. The home after 1820 was a superior social entity to that of the eighteenth century
D. Increased social fragmentation negatively affected middle class family life
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】)最后一段最后三句指出,随着家庭规模扩大,丈夫和妻子的作用差别越来越大,特别在中产阶级,男人赚钱,妇女管家成为文明和文化的管理者。早期婚姻的隐秘性荡然无存,丈夫和妻子之间产生的裂痕有时看来不可弥补。可见社会分化对家庭产生的负面影响。