The agriculture revolution in the nineteenth century involved two things: the invention of labor-saving machinery and the development of scientific agriculture. Labor-saving naturally appeared first where labor was rare. "In Europe", said Thomas Jefferson, " the object is to make the most of their land, labor being sufficient: here it is to make the most of our labor, land being abundant. " It was in America, therefore, that the great advances in nineteenth-century agricultural machinery first came. At the opening of the century, with the exception of a crude(粗糙的)plow, farmers could have carried practically all of the existing agricultural tools on their backs. By 1860, most of the machinery in use today had been designed in an early form. The most important of the early inventions was the iron plow. As early as 1890 Charles Newbolt of New Jersey had been working on the idea of a cast-iron plow and spent his entire fortune in introducing his invention. The farmers, however, would bring home none of it, claiming that the iron poisoned the soil and made the weeds grow. Nevertheless, many people devoted their attention to the plow, until in 1869, James Oliver of South Bend, Indiana, turned out the first chilled steel plow.
单选题 The word "here" refers to______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析：语义词义题。Thomas Jefferson是美国的第三任总统，前面说的是欧洲的情况，而他自己所指的here就是他自己的国家——美国。
单选题 Which of the following statement is NOT true?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：细节判断题。文章第一段中有这样的句子：In Europe，the object is to make the most of their land，labor being sufficient，here it is to make the most of our labor，and land being abundant(在欧洲，我们的目标是劳动力充足，要充分利用土地，在美国是土地充足，要正确使用劳动力)。因此，说欧洲和美国都急需农业机械化是错误的。正确答案为C。
单选题 The passage is mainly about______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析：主旨概括题。文章第一段讲到农业机器最初产生的原因，第二段讲到铁犁的产生，所以文章的中心思想应当是“节省劳力机器的发明”，选B。
单选题 At the opening of the nineteenth-century, farmers in America______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析：逻辑推断题。文章中有这样的句子：At the opening of the century，with the exception of a crude plow，farmers could have carried practically all of the existing agricultural tools on their backs(在本世纪初，除了一个粗糙的耕犁之外，农民可以把其余所有的农具背在背上)。说明当时的农具很少。D为正确答案。
单选题 It is implied but not stated in the passage that______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析：逻辑推断题。从文章第二段的The most important of the early inventions was the iron plow可以看出B是明确表明了的；从这句Nevertheless，many people devoted their attention to the plow来看，C也是原文给出了的；从这句Charles Newbolt of New Jersey had been working on the idea of a cast-iron plow and spent his entire fortune in introducing his invention可以得知D也是原文明确表明的；从第一段here it is to make the most of our labor，land being abundant(充分利用劳动力，土地资源丰富)，可以推断出劳动力缺乏，所以A是文章暗含的内容。