however， for the first decade or more， there was not yet a true railroad system. even the longest of the lines was relatively short in the 1830s， and most of them served simply to connect water routes to each other， not to link one railroad to another. even when two lines did connect， the tracks often differed in width， so cars from one line couldnt fit onto tracks of the next line. schedules were unreliable and wrecks were frequent. significantly， however， some important developments during the 1830s and 1840s included the introduction of heavier iron rails， more flexible and powerful locomotives， and passenger cars were redesigned to become more stable， comfortable， and larger. by the end of 1830 only 23 miles of track had been laid in the country. but by 1936， more than 1，000 miles of track had been laid in eleven states， and within the decade， almost 3，000 miles had been constructed. by that early age， the united states had already surpassed great britain in railroad construction， and particularly from the mid-1860s， the late nineteenth century belonged to the railroads.

　　1 the word stimulating in line 5 is closest in meaning to

　　(a) helping

　　(b) changing

　　(c) promoting

　　(d) influencing

　　2 the word their in line 6 refers to

　　(a) railroad pioneers

　　(b) railroads

【2011托福考试阅读模拟试题】相关文章：

★ 2011年托福阅读模拟题（三）

★ 英语词汇 音乐常用术语

★ 2009年托福考试阅读模拟试题

★ TPO托福阅读真题答案及解析(2)

★ 2008年托福考试阅读模拟试题

★ 中考英语精选真题讲解

★ 2011年托福阅读模拟题（一）

★ 托福考试语法选择题模拟练习

★ 高考英语单项填空经典百题

★ 2011年托福阅读模拟题（四）