The second half of the eighteenth century witnessed the beginning of the industrialization of the European economy, the sustained growth of which is termed the Industrial Revolution.▉The most familiar side of the Industrial Revolution is the invention of new machinery,the establishment of factories and the creation of a new kind of workforce (population of workers). ▉Recent studies, however, have emphasized the demand side of the process and the vast increase in both the desire and the possibility of consuming goods and services that arose in the early eighteenth century. ▉The inventions of the Industrial Revolution increased the supply of consumer goods as never before in history. The supply of goods was only one side of the economic equation, however. ▉The supply had been called forth by an unprecedented demand for humble goods of everyday life. Those goods included everyday consumer items such as clothing of all kinds. buttons china. furniture, kitchen utensils, silverware, jewelry.wines, and foodstuffs lt was the ever-increasing demand for these goods that sparked the ingenuity of designers and inventors.Furthermore, there seemed to be no limits to consumer demand.
1.The word “unprecedented” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.never-before-seen
B.never-ending
C.unimaginable
D.Hard-to-explain
2.The word “ingenuity” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.activity
B.Productivity
C.creativity
D.popularity
3.Paragraph 1 suggests that before recent studies on the Industrial Revolution, previous research had mainly focused on
A.the skills that the new workforce needed to have
B.the new machines and methods of production that were developed
C.the need for a wider variety of available consumer goods
D.the reasons why more people could better afford the goods of everyday life
Many social factors came into play to establish the markets for these consumer goods. During the seventeenth century, the Dutch had enjoyed enormous prosperity and had led the way in new forms of both everyday consumption and that of luxury goods. For reasons that are still not clear, during the eighteenth century, increasing numbers first of the English and then of people living on the European continent came to have more disposable income (income above the amount required for necessities).This wealth may have resulted from the improvements in agriculture.Those incomes allowed people to buy consumer goods that previous generations had inherited or did not possess. What is key to this change in consumption is that it depended primarily upon expanding the various domestic markets in Europe.
4.According to paragraph 2, some uncertainty exists about which of the following aspects of European life in the eighteenth century?
A.Why Europeans wanted to possess more consumer goods than previously
B.Why the Dutch were the first Europeans to increase their consumption of goods
C.Why Europeans began adopting better agricultural practices
D.Why the incomes of increasing numbers of Europeans began to rise
This revolution if that is not too strong a term-in consumption was not automatic. People became persuaded that they needed or wanted new consumer goods. Often entrepreneurs caused it to happen by developing new methods of marketing. An enterprising manufacturer such as the porcelain manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood(1730-1795) first attempted to find customers among the royal family and the aristocracy. Once he had gained their business with luxury goods, he would then produce a somewhat less expensive version of the chinaware for middle-class customers He also used advertising He opened showrooms in London and had salespeople traveling allover England with samples and catalogs of his wares. On the Continent, he equipped salespeople with bilingual catalogs. There seemed to be no limit to the markets for different kinds of consumer goods that could be stimulated by social imitation on the one hand and advertising on the other. Furthermore, the process of change in style itself became institutionalized.New fashions and inventions were always better than old ones. If new kinds of goods could be produced, there usually was a market for them. If one product did not find a market, its failure provided a lesson for the development of a different new product.
5.The author discusses the marketing methods of “the porcelain manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795)in order to
A.illustrate some new techniques used to convince consumers to buy goods
B.explain why entrepreneurs such as Wedgewood regarded their marketing methods as revolutionary
C.contrast marketing strategies used to sell luxury goods with marketing strategies used to sell everyday necessities
D.emphasize the extent to which entrepreneurs depended on the financial support of the aristocracy
6.According to paragraph 3, manufacturers took advantage of which TWO of the following desires of consumers to sell them goods? To receive credit, you must select TWO answer choices.
A.The desire to possess the same goods owned by the upper class
B.The desire to participate in frequent social events
C.The desire to have products that reflected the newest styles
D.The desire to have well-made products that lasted
7.Paragraph 3 suggests that the failure of new products to find a market was beneficial in which of the following ways?
A.It encouraged manufacturers to come up with more creative advertising.
B.It taught consumers to be more cautious about buying new products.
C.It helped entrepreneurs avoid mistakes when designing future products.
D.It encouraged entrepreneurs to adopt more innovative manufacturing processes
This expansion of consumption quietly but steadily challenged the social assumptions of the day. Fashion publications made all levels of society aware of new styles. Clothing fashions could be copied.Servants could begin to dress well if not luxuriously. There were changes in the consumption of food and drink that also called forth demand for new kinds of dishware for the home. Tea and coffee became staples.The brewing industry became fully commercialized Those developments entailed the need for new kinds of cups and mugs and many more of them.
8.According to paragraph 4, the expansion of consumption challenged social assumptions in all of the following ways EXCEPT
A.People from all social classes could dress more stylishly
B.A wider variety of dishware began being used.
C.Tea and coffee were consumed more regularly.
D.The lower classes developed their own distinct clothing fashions.
There would always be critics of this consumer economy.The vision of luxury and comfort it offered contrasted with the asceticism(strict self-denial) of Sparta in ancient Greece and contemporary Christian ethics. Yet ever-increasing consumption and production of the goods of everyday life became a hallmark of modern Western society from the eighteenth century to our own day. It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of the desire for consumer goods and the increasing material standard of living that they made possible in Western history after the eighteenth century. The presence and accessibility of such goods became the hallmark of a nation’s prosperity.
9.Look at the four squares [▇]that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Where would the sentence best fit?
Some changes during this period have received more attention than others
10.Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some answer choices do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This questions is worth 2 points. The supply of consumer goods increased greatly in Europe as a result of industrialization.
A.The increased wealth of people in England and continental Europe in the eighteenth century allowed people to purchase more consumer goods.
B.Consumers were generally less interested in buying goods that were commercialized versions of products traditionally made at home than they were in buying completely new kinds of products.
C.The increased availability of consumer goods raised the standard of living in industrialized societies, and the presence of such goods eventually became viewed as a measure of national wealth.
D.Manufacturers developed advertising and marketing strategies to help convince people that they needed and wanted various new kinds of consumer goods.
E.Despite increasing their consumption of goods after the Dutch did, the English soon overtook the Dutch and became style trendsetters for all of Europe.
F.Criticism of the new consumer economy was common and powerful at first, but it soon died out as people became more used to buying goods they had previously made at home or inherited.
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