The Effect of Mail-Order Catalog托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

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The Effect of Mail-Order Catalog托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

一、The Effect of Mail-Order Catalog托福聽力原文：

In the early years of the twentieth century,60 percent of the American population was rural,and half of the nation’s towns and cities had fewer than ten thousand people.Up until that time,life on the farm was lonely,and farm families felt that they weren’t keeping up with the urban population,which had electric lights,telephones,and access to the latest goods in department stores.Farm families were isolated,often with limited funds,and few could afford the time or the expense of shopping in the city.But all of this changed with the introduction of the mail-order catalog.

In 1872,a Chicago merchant named Montgomery Ward began sending copies of a catalog to thousands of farmers in the Midwest.The catalog was 280 pages long and offered farm families the opportunity to order any of the goods listed in it by mail.This is how Montgomery Ward and Company became the nation’s first mail-order company.Ward had discovered something entirely new and profitable,a new method of conducting business.After that,the terms“mail-order house”and“mail-order catalog”were added to our vocabulary.

The most successful mail-order house was Sears and Roebuck,which entered the mail-order business in 1895.Just as Montgomery Ward had done with his catalog,Richard Sears advertised his products in catalogs that were sent to farm families.The Sears catalog sold food,clothing,machinery,tools,stoves—anything and everything a farm family might need.

The mail-order business spread rapidly,largely because of improvements in postal services.The post office established Rural Free Delivery in 1902 and Parcel Post in 1913.These new services meant that catalogs and goods would be delivered directly to the farm,so farmers didn’t have to drive several miles into town to pick up packages.These new services greatly contributed to the success of mail-order houses.

Rural Free Delivery also had great benefit for farm families.Families that had previously been isolated could now receive newspapers,magazines,and mail-order catalogs in their mailboxes.This contact with the outside world broke their isolation and changed the outlook of rural America.Thanks to the mail-order houses of Montgomery Ward and Sears and Roebuck,no farm was too isolated to be aware of the latest clothing,furniture,farm equipment,music,and literature.

The wide distribution of the Sears catalog had another interesting effect.The Sears catalog had a lot to do with the similarity of goods available nationwide.Of course,this was also due to the mass-production of goods.Mass-production techniques made it possible to create reasonable copies of,for example,high-priced clothing.The two factors working together—mass production and nationwide distribution—tended to minimize regional differences in clothing styles.This is why there was a general lack of class and regional distinction in American clothing.People believed that if clothing of the same design and brand was widely worn by many people,then this was a sign of its value.

By 1910,both men and women could buy every article of clothing,ready-made,from mail-order catalogs like Sears.Sears didn’t pretend to be a leader in fashion,but it did try to provide what average Americans wanted.Women wanted to dress more fashionably and they welcomed new styles.For farm women,the pictures of the smiling women on the pages of the Sears catalog were as close as they came to outside contacts during the long winter months.And for immigrants who wanted to become Americans,the Sears catalog was a textbook.Here they learned how to dress,how to furnish their homes,and—some catalogs even had recipes and menus for holiday dinners—how to cook American food.

二、The Effect of Mail-Order Catalog托福聽力中文翻譯：

在20世紀初，美國60%的人口是農(nóng)村人口，全國一半的城鎮(zhèn)人口不到一萬。在那之前，農(nóng)場的生活是孤獨的，農(nóng)場家庭覺得他們跟不上城市人口，因為城市人口有電燈、電話，可以在百貨公司買到最新的商品。農(nóng)場家庭被孤立，通常資金有限，很少有人能負擔(dān)得起在城市購物的時間或費用。但隨著郵購目錄的推出，這一切都發(fā)生了變化。

1872年，一位名叫蒙哥馬利·沃德的芝加哥商人開始向中西部數(shù)千名農(nóng)民發(fā)送目錄副本。目錄長達280頁，為農(nóng)場家庭提供了通過郵件訂購目錄中列出的任何商品的機會。這就是蒙哥馬利·沃德公司成為美國第一家郵購公司的原因。沃德發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些全新的、有利可圖的東西，一種新的經(jīng)營方式。之后，“郵購公司”和“郵購目錄”這兩個術(shù)語被添加到我們的詞匯表中。

最成功的郵購公司是西爾斯和羅巴克，他們于1895年進入郵購業(yè)務(wù)。正如蒙哥馬利·沃德對他的目錄所做的那樣，理查德·西爾斯在發(fā)給農(nóng)場家庭的目錄中為他的產(chǎn)品做廣告。西爾斯的產(chǎn)品目錄出售食品、服裝、機械、工具、爐灶——農(nóng)場家庭可能需要的任何東西。

郵購業(yè)務(wù)迅速發(fā)展，主要是因為郵政服務(wù)的改善。郵政局于1902年建立了農(nóng)村免費快遞，并于1913年建立了包裹郵政。這些新服務(wù)意味著目錄和貨物將直接送到農(nóng)場，因此農(nóng)民不必開車幾英里進城取包裹。這些新服務(wù)為郵購公司的成功做出了巨大貢獻。

農(nóng)村免費送貨對農(nóng)場家庭也有很大的好處。以前被隔離的家庭現(xiàn)在可以在郵箱里收到報紙、雜志和郵購目錄。這種與外界的接觸打破了他們的隔離，改變了美國農(nóng)村的面貌。多虧了Montgomery Ward、Sears和Roebuck的郵購公司，沒有一個農(nóng)場過于孤立而不了解最新的服裝、家具、農(nóng)場設(shè)備、音樂和文學(xué)。

西爾斯目錄的廣泛分布產(chǎn)生了另一個有趣的影響。西爾斯目錄與全國范圍內(nèi)商品的相似性有很大關(guān)系。當(dāng)然，這也是由于商品的大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)。大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)技術(shù)使得可以創(chuàng)建例如，高價服裝。大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)和全國分銷這兩個因素共同作用，往往會最大限度地減少服裝風(fēng)格的地區(qū)差異。這就是為什么美國服裝普遍缺乏階級和地區(qū)差異的原因。人們認為，如果同一設(shè)計和品牌的服裝被許多人廣泛穿著，那么這就是其價值的標(biāo)志。

到1910年，男人和女人都可以從西爾斯這樣的郵購目錄上買到每一件現(xiàn)成的衣服。西爾斯并沒有假裝自己是時尚界的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，但它確實試圖提供普通美國人想要的東西。女性希望穿得更時尚，她們歡迎新的風(fēng)格。對于農(nóng)場女性來說，西爾斯目錄上那些面帶微笑的女性的照片，就像她們在漫長的冬季與外界接觸一樣親密。對于想成為美國人的移民來說，西爾斯目錄是一本教科書。在這里，她們學(xué)會了如何著裝，如何布置家庭，一些目錄甚至有節(jié)日晚餐的食譜和菜單——如何烹飪美國食物。

三、The Effect of Mail-Order Catalog托福聽力問題：

Q1:1.What is the talk mainly about?

A.American farm life in the early twentieth century

B.The history of a successful business innovation

C.Differences between the rural and urban way of life

D.The effects of mail-order catalogs on rural America

Q2:2.How did the mail-order business begin?

A.A businessman sent a catalog to a large number of farmers.

B.The railroads started delivering goods to isolated rural areas.

C.The post office added new services to promote ordering by mail.

D.A group of farmers organized a method of cooperative buying.

Q3:3.Why does the professor mention Rural Free Delivery and Parcel Post?

A.To give examples of early mail-order houses

B.To compare the benefits of two different types of services

C.To explain how these services helped the mail-order business

D.To describe the origins of the concept of customer service

Q4:4.According to the professor,what two factors led to the similarity of goods available nationwide?

Click on two answers.

A.The mass production of goods

B.The wide distribution of catalogs

C.The growing interest in regional styles

D.The desire to copy designer fashions

Q5:5.What does the professor mean when she says this:

A.Immigrants were required to buy a textbook to learn English.

B.Most of the people who used mail-order catalogs were immigrants.

C.The Sears catalog taught immigrants about American culture.

D.People immigrated to America for its economic opportunities.

Q6:6.Based on the information in the talk,would the professor most likely agree or disagree with each statement below?

For each sentence,click in the correct box.

Nineteenth-century farm families had the same cultural opportunities as city residents.

Mail-order companies changed the lives of farm families across the country.

Clothing ordered from mail-order catalogs was more fashionable than clothing bought in department stores.

The Sears catalog provided an important illustration of American life.

四、The Effect of Mail-Order Catalog托福聽力答案：

A1:正確答案：D

A2:正確答案：A

A3:正確答案：C

A4:正確答案：AB

A5:正確答案：C

A6:正確答案：BABA

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