Soal Latihan dan Jawaban Reading Comprehension 04

Overland transport in the United States was still extremely primitive in 1790. Roads were

few and short, usually extending from inland communities to the nearest river town or

seaport. Nearly all interstate commerce was carried out by sailing ships that served the

bays and harbors of the seaboard. Yet, in 1790 the nation was on the threshold of a new

(5) era of road development. Unable to finance road construction, states turned for help to

private companies, organized by merchants and land speculators who had a personal

interest in improved communications with the interior. The pioneer in this move was the

state of Pennsylvania, which chartered a company in 1792 to construct a turnpike, a road

for the use of which a toll, or payment, is collected, from Philadelphia to Lancaster. The

(10) legislature gave the company the authority to erect tollgates at points along the road

where payment would be collected, though it carefully regulated the rates. (The states had

unquestioned authority to regulate private business in this period.)

The company built a gravel road within two years, and the success of the Lancaster Pike

encouraged imitation. Northern states generally relied on private companies to build their

(15) toll roads, but Virginia constructed a network at public expense. Such was the road

building fever that by 1810 New York alone had some 1,500 miles of turnpikes extending

from the Atlantic to Lake Erie.

Transportation on these early turnpikes consisted of freight carrier wagons and passenger

stagecoaches. The most common road freight carrier was the Conestoga wagon, a vehicle

(20) developed in the mid-eighteenth century by German immigrants in the area around

Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It featured large, broad wheels able to negotiate all but the

deepest ruts and holes, and its round bottom prevented the freight from shifting on a hill.

Covered with canvas and drawn by four to six horses, the Conestoga wagon rivaled the log

cabin as the primary symbol of the frontier. Passengers traveled in a variety of

(25) stagecoaches, the most common of which had four benches, each holding three persons.

It was only a platform on wheels, with no springs; slender poles held up the top, and

leather curtains kept out dust and rain.

Reading Comprehension 04

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Question 1

Paragraph 1 discusses early road building in the United States mainly in terms of the

	popularity of turnpikes
	development of the interior
	financing of new roads
	laws governing road use

Question 2

The word "primitive" in line 1 is closest in meaning to

	unsafe
	unknown
	inexpensive
	undeveloped

Question 3

In 1790 most roads connected towns in the interior of the country with

	other inland communities
	river towns or seaports
	towns in other states
	construction sites

Question 4

The phrase "on the threshold of" in line 4 and 5 is closest in meaning to

	in need of
	at the start of
	in place of
	with the purpose of

Question 5

According to the passage, why did states want private companies to help with road building?

	The states could not afford to build roads themselves.
	The states were not as well equipped as private companies.
	Private companies could complete roads faster than the states.
	Private companies had greater knowledge of the interior.