Section 7: Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
Given the American manufacturing tradition, it was also inevitable that cars would be produced in larger volume at lower prices than in Europe. The absence of tariff barriers between the states encouraged sales over a wide geographic area. Cheap raw materials and a chronic shortage of skilled labor early encouraged the mechanization of industrial processes in the United States.
This in turn required the standardization of products and resulted in the volume production of such commodities as firearms, sewing machines, bicycles, and many other items. In 1913, the United States produced some 485,000 of the world total of 606,124 motor vehicles.
The Ford Motor Company greatly outpaced its competitors in reconciling state-of-the-art design with moderate price. Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal called the four-cylinder, fifteen-horsepower, $$$$600 Ford Model N (1906-1907) “the very first instance of a low-cost motor car driven by a gas engine having cylinders enough to give the shaft a turning impulse in each shaft turn which is well built and offered in large numbers." Deluged with orders, Ford installed improved production equipment and after 1906 was able to make deliveries of a hundred cars a day.
Encouraged by the success of the Model N, Henry Ford was determined to build an even better "car for the great multitude." The four-cylinder, twenty-horsepower Model T, first offered in October 1908, sold for $$$$825. Its two-speed planetary transmission made it easy to drive, and features such as its detachable cylinder head made it easy to repair. Its high chassis was designed to clear the bumps in rural roads. Vanadium steel made the Model T a lighter and tougher car, and new methods of casting parts (especially block casting of the engine) helped keep the price down. Committed to large-volume production of the Model T, Ford innovated modern mass production techniques at his new Highland Park, Michigan, plant, which opened in 1910 (although he did not introduce the moving assembly line until 1913-1914). The Model T runabout sold for $$$$575 in 1912, less than the average annual wage in the United States.
By the time the Model T was withdrawn from production in 1927, its price had been reduced to $$$$290 for the coupe, 15 million units had been sold, and mass personal "automobility" had become a reality. Question 28: Which best serves as the title for the passage?
A. Tariff Barriers B. Highland Park, Michigan
C. Ford Model N D. Model T
Question 29: The word "moderate" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to
A. endurable B. reasonable C. comfortable D. reliable
Question 30: In paragraph 1, the mechanization of industrial processes in the United States was the result of ______________
A. the shortage of skilled labour B. a wide geographic area
C. American manufacturing tradition D. larger volume of production
Question 31: The word "detachable" in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _____________
A. inactive B. removable C. excellent D. imaginative
Question 32: The word "its" in paragraph 5 refers to _____________
A. production B. coupe C. Model T D. reality
Question 33: Which of the following is NOT true, according to the passage?
A. The Ford Motor Company greatly outpaced its competitors.
B. Twenty-horsepower Model T was first offered 1908, sold for $$$$825.
C. Ford innovated modern mass production techniques in 1910.
D. Mechanization of industrial processes didn't require the standardization of products.
Question 34: Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 4?
A. New production techniques made the price of the Model T runabout reasonable.
B. The new Highland Park, Michigan plant was introduced in 1913-1914.
C. Innovated modern mass production techniques failed to open in 1910.
D. Large-volume production of the Model T couldn't be operated.
