Colonial Expansion

Text 4
Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United States by applying new social research findings on the experiences of European migrants. In his reinterpretation, migration becomes the organizing principle for rewriting the history of pre- industrial North America. His approach rests on four separate propositions.
The first of these asserts that residents of early modern England moved regularly about their countryside: migrating to the New World was simply a "natural spillover’. Although at first the colonies held little positive attraction for the English—they would rather have stayed home—by the eighteenth century people increasingly migrated to America because they regarded it as the land of opportunity. Secondly, Bailyn holds that, contrary to the notion that used to flourish in American history textbooks, there was never a typical New World community. For example, the economic and demographic character of early New England towns varied considerably.
Bailyn’s third proposition suggests two general patterns prevailing among the many thousands of migrants: one group came as indentured servants, another came to acquire land. Surprisingly, Bailyn suggests that those who recruited indentured servants were driving forces of transatlantic migration. These colonial entrepreneurs helped determine the social character of people who came to pre-industrial North America. At first, thousands of unskilled laborers were recruited; by the 1730’s, however, American employers demanded skilled workers.
Finally, Bailyn argues that the colonies were a half-civilized hinterland of the European culture system. He is undoubtedly correct to insist that the colonies were part of the Anglo- American empire. But to divide the empire into English core and colonial periphery, as Bailyn does, devalues the achievements of colonial culture. It is true, as Bailyn claims, that high culture in the colonies never matched that in England. But what of seventeenth-century New England, where the settlers created effective laws, built a distinguished university, and published books Bailyn might respond that New England was exceptional. However, the ideas and institutions developed by New England Puritans had powerful effects on North American culture.
Although Bailyn goes on to apply his approach to some thousands of indentured servants who migrated just prior to the revolution, he fails to link their experience with the political development of the United States. Evidence presented in his work suggests how we might make such a connection. These indentured servants were treated as slaves for the period during which they had sold their time to American employers. It is not surprising that as soon as they served their time they gave up good wages in the cities and headed west to ensure their personal independence by acquiring land. Thus, it is in the west that a peculiarly American. political culture began, among colonists who were suspicious of authority and intensely anti-aristocratic.
Notes: spillover n.外流。indentured servant合同工。hinterland n.内地。 Anglo-American英裔美国人的。 periphery n.边缘。anti-aristocratic反垢贵族的。demographics 人口统计(特点)。

It can be inferred from the text that American history textbooks used to assert that（）

A:many migrants to colonial North America were nor successful financially. B:New England communities were much alike in terms of their economics and demographics. C:many migrants to colonial North America failed to maintain ties with their European relations. D:the level of literacy in New England communities was very high.

Text 2
As the merchant class expanded in the eighteenth - century North American colonies, the silversmith and the coppersmith businesses rose to serve it. Only a few silversmiths were available in New York or Boston in the late seventeenth century, but in the eighteenth - century they could be found in all major colonial cities. No other colonial artisans rivaled the silversmiths’ prestige. They handled the most ex pensive material and possed direct connections to prosperous colonial merchants. Their products, primarily silver plates and bowls, reflected their exalted status and testified to their customers’ prominence.
Silver stood as one of the surest ways to store wealth at a time before neighborhood banks existed. Unlike the silver coins from which they were made, silver articles were readily identifiable. Often formed to individual specifications, they always carried the silversmith’ s distinctive markings and consequently could be traced and retrieved.
Customers generally secured the silver for the silver objects they ordered. They saved coins, took them to smiths, and discussed the type of pieces they desired. Silversmiths complied with these requests by melting the money in a small furnace, adding a bit of copper to form a stronger alloy, and casting the alloy in rectangular blocks. They hammered these ingots to the appropriate thickness by hand, shaped them, and pressed designs into them for adornment. Engraving was also done by hand. In addition to plates and bowls, some customers sought more intricate products, such as silver teapots. These were made by shaping or casting pans separately and then soldering them together.
Colonial coppersmithing also came of age in the early eighteenth century and prospered in northern cities. 12opper’ s ability to conduct heat efficiently and to resist corrosion’ contributed to its attractiveness. But because it was expensive in colonial America, coppersmiths were never very numerous. Virtually all copper worked by smiths was imported as sheets or obtained by recycling old copper goods. Copper was used for practical items, but it was not admired for its beauty. Coppersmiths employed it to fashion pots and kettles for the home. They shaped it in much the same manner as silver or melted it in a foundry with lead or tin. They also mixed it with zinc to make brass for maritime and scientific instruments.

According to the passage, which of the following eighteenth -century developments had a strong impact on silversmiths（）

A:A decrease in the cost of silver. B:The invention of heat efficient furnaces. C:The growing economic prosperity of colonial merchants. D:The development of new tools used to shape silver.

Text 2
As the merchant class expanded in the eighteenth - century North American colonies, the silversmith and the coppersmith businesses rose to serve it. Only a few silversmiths were available in New York or Boston in the late seventeenth century, but in the eighteenth - century they could be found in all major colonial cities. No other colonial artisans rivaled the silversmiths’ prestige. They handled the most ex pensive material and possed direct connections to prosperous colonial merchants. Their products, primarily silver plates and bowls, reflected their exalted status and testified to their customers’ prominence.
Silver stood as one of the surest ways to store wealth at a time before neighborhood banks existed. Unlike the silver coins from which they were made, silver articles were readily identifiable. Often formed to individual specifications, they always carried the silversmith’ s distinctive markings and consequently could be traced and retrieved.
Customers generally secured the silver for the silver objects they ordered. They saved coins, took them to smiths, and discussed the type of pieces they desired. Silversmiths complied with these requests by melting the money in a small furnace, adding a bit of copper to form a stronger alloy, and casting the alloy in rectangular blocks. They hammered these ingots to the appropriate thickness by hand, shaped them, and pressed designs into them for adornment. Engraving was also done by hand. In addition to plates and bowls, some customers sought more intricate products, such as silver teapots. These were made by shaping or casting pans separately and then soldering them together.
Colonial coppersmithing also came of age in the early eighteenth century and prospered in northern cities. 12opper’ s ability to conduct heat efficiently and to resist corrosion’ contributed to its attractiveness. But because it was expensive in colonial America, coppersmiths were never very numerous. Virtually all copper worked by smiths was imported as sheets or obtained by recycling old copper goods. Copper was used for practical items, but it was not admired for its beauty. Coppersmiths employed it to fashion pots and kettles for the home. They shaped it in much the same manner as silver or melted it in a foundry with lead or tin. They also mixed it with zinc to make brass for maritime and scientific instruments.

Based on the information in paragraph 4, which of the following was probably true about copper in the colonies（）

A:The copper used by colonists was not effective in conducting heat. B:The copper items created by colonial coppersmiths were not skillfully made. C:There were no local copper mines from which copper could be obtained. D:The price of copper suddenly decreased.

Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United States by applying new social research findings on the experiences of European migrants. In his reinterpretation, migration becomes the organizing principle for rewriting the history of pre-industrial North America. His approach rests on four separate propositions.
The first of these asserts that residents of early modern England moved regularly about their countryside.- migrating to the New World was simply a "natural spillover". Although at first the colonies held little positive attraction for the English they would rather have stayed home--by the eighteenth century people increasingly migrated to America because they regarded it as the land of opportunity. Secondly, Bailyn holds that, contrary to the notion that used to flourish in American history textbooks, there was never a typical New World community. For example, the economic and demographic character of early New England towns varied considerably.
Bailyn’s third proposition suggests two general patterns prevailing among the many thousands of migrants: one group came as indentured servants, another came to acquire land. Surprisingly, Bailyn suggests that those who recruited indentured servants were driving forces of transatlantic migration, These colonial entrepreneurs helped determine the social character of people who came to pre-industrial North America. At first, thousands of unskilled laborers were recruited: by the 1730’s, however, American employers demanded skilled workers.
Finally, Bailyn argues that the colonies were a half-civilized hinterland of the European culture system. He is undoubtedly correct to insist that the colonies were part of the Anglo-American empire. But to divide the empire into English core and colonial periphery, as Bailyn does, devalues the achievements of colonial culture. It is true, as Bailyn claims, that high culture in the colonies never matched that in England. But what of seventeenth-century New England, where the settlers created effective laws, built a distinguished university, and published books Bailyn might respond that New England was exceptional. However, the ideas and institutions developed by New England Puritans had powerful effects on North American culture.
Although Bailyn goes on to apply his approach to some thousands of indentured servants who migrated just prior to the revolution, he fails to link their experience with the political development of the United States. Evidence presented in his work suggests how we might make such a connection. These indentured servants were treated as slaves for the period during which they had sold their time to American employers. It is not surprising that as soon as they served their time they gave up good wages in the cities and headed west to ensure their personal independence by acquiring land. Thus, it is in the west that a peculiarly American political culture began, among colonists who were suspicious of authority and intensely anti-aristocratic.
It can be inferred from the text that American history textbooks used to assert that

A:many migrants to colonial North America were nor successful financially. B:New England communities were much alike in terms of their economics and demographics. C:many migrants to colonial North America failed to maintain ties with their European relations. D:the level of literacy in New England communities was very high.

Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United States by applying new social research findings on the experiences of European migrants. In his reinterpretation, migration becomes the organizing principle for rewriting the history of pre-industrial North America. His approach rests on four separate propositions.
The first of these asserts that residents of early modern England moved regularly about their countryside.- migrating to the New World was simply a "natural spillover". Although at first the colonies held little positive attraction for the English they would rather have stayed home--by the eighteenth century people increasingly migrated to America because they regarded it as the land of opportunity. Secondly, Bailyn holds that, contrary to the notion that used to flourish in American history textbooks, there was never a typical New World community. For example, the economic and demographic character of early New England towns varied considerably.
Bailyn’s third proposition suggests two general patterns prevailing among the many thousands of migrants: one group came as indentured servants, another came to acquire land. Surprisingly, Bailyn suggests that those who recruited indentured servants were driving forces of transatlantic migration, These colonial entrepreneurs helped determine the social character of people who came to pre-industrial North America. At first, thousands of unskilled laborers were recruited: by the 1730’s, however, American employers demanded skilled workers.
Finally, Bailyn argues that the colonies were a half-civilized hinterland of the European culture system. He is undoubtedly correct to insist that the colonies were part of the Anglo-American empire. But to divide the empire into English core and colonial periphery, as Bailyn does, devalues the achievements of colonial culture. It is true, as Bailyn claims, that high culture in the colonies never matched that in England. But what of seventeenth-century New England, where the settlers created effective laws, built a distinguished university, and published books Bailyn might respond that New England was exceptional. However, the ideas and institutions developed by New England Puritans had powerful effects on North American culture.
Although Bailyn goes on to apply his approach to some thousands of indentured servants who migrated just prior to the revolution, he fails to link their experience with the political development of the United States. Evidence presented in his work suggests how we might make such a connection. These indentured servants were treated as slaves for the period during which they had sold their time to American employers. It is not surprising that as soon as they served their time they gave up good wages in the cities and headed west to ensure their personal independence by acquiring land. Thus, it is in the west that a peculiarly American political culture began, among colonists who were suspicious of authority and intensely anti-aristocratic.

It can be inferred from the text that American history textbooks used to assert that（）

A:many migrants to colonial North America were nor successful financially B:New England communities were much alike in terms of their economics and demographics C:many migrants to colonial North America failed to maintain ties with their European relations D:the level of literacy in New England communities was very high

Passage 3

The writer of the passage refers to Washington’s troops as all if the following except ______.

A:revolutionary forces B:the colonial army C:the U.S. Army infantry D:the Continental Army

Seventeenth-century houses in colonial North America were simple structures that were primarily functional, carrying over traditional designs that went back to the Middle Ages. During the first half of the eighteenth century, however, houses began to show a new elegance. As wealth increased, more and more colonists built fine houses.
Since architecture was not yet a specialized profession in the colonies, the design of buildings was left either to amateur designers or to carpenters who undertook to interpret architectural manuals imported from England. Inventories of colonial libraries show an astonishing number of these handbooks for builders, and the houses erected during the eighteenth century show their influence. Nevertheless, most domestic architecture of the first three-quarters of the eighteenth century displays a wide divergence of taste and freedom of application of the rules laid down in these books.
Increasing wealth and growing sophistication throughout the colonies resulted in houses of improved design, whether the material was wood, stone or brick. New England still favored wood, though brick houses became common in Boston and towns, where the danger of fire gave an impetus to the use of more durable material. A few houses in New England were built of store, but only in Pennsylvania and adjacent area was stone widely used in dwellings. An increased use of brick in houses and outbuildings is noticeable in Virginia and Maryland, but wood remained the most popular material even in houses built by wealthy landowners. In the Carolinas, even in closely packed Charleston, wooden houses were much more common than brick.
Eighteenth-century houses showed great interior improvement over their predecessors. Windows were made larger and shutters removed. Large, clear panes replaced the small leaded glass of the seventeenth century. Doorways were larger and more decorative. Fireplaces became decorative features of rooms. Walls were made of plaster of wood, sometimes elaborately paneled. White paint began to take the place of blues, yellows, greens, and lead colors, which had been popular for walls in the earlier years. After about 1730, advertisements for wallpaper styles in scenic patterns began to appear in colonial newspapers.
What does the passage mainly discuss

A:The improved design of eighteenth-century colonial houses. B:A comparison of eighteenth-century houses and modern houses. C:The decorations used in eighteenth-century houses. D:The role of carpenters in building eighteenth-century houses.