Part B Directions: Read the following text and decide whether each
of the statement is true or false. Choose A if the statement is true or B if the
statement is not true. Highways Early in the
20th century, most of the streets and roads in the U. S. were made of dirt,
brick, and cedar wood blocks. Built for horse, carriage, and foot traffic, they
were usually poorly cared for and too narrow to accomrrmdate(容纳) automobiles.
With the increase in auto production, private turnpike (收费公路)
companies under local authorities began to spring up, and by 1921 there were
387, 000 miles of paved roads. Many were built using specifications of 19th
century Scottish engineers Thomas Telford and John MacAdam (for whom the macadam
surface is named ), whose specifications stressed the importance of adequate
drainage. Beyond that, there were no national standards for size, weight
restrictions, or commercial signs. During World War I , roads throughout the
country were nearly destroyed by the weight of trucks. When General Eisenhower
returned from Germany in 1919, after serving in the U.S. Amy’s first
transcontinental motor convoy(车队) , he noted： "The old convoy had started me
thinking about good, two-lane highways, but Germany’s Autobahn or motorway had
made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land. " It
would take another war before the federal government would act on a national
highway system. During World War Ⅱ, a tremendous increase in trucks and new
roads were required. The war demonstrated how critical highways were to the
defense effort. Thirteen percent of defense plants received all their
supplies by truck, and almost all other plants shipped more than half of their
products by vehicle. The war also revealed that local control of highways had
led to a confusing variety of design standards. Even federal and state highways
did not follow basic standards. Some states allowed trucks up to 36, 000 pounds,
while others restricted anything over 7,000 pounds. A government study
recommended a national highway system of 33,920 miles, and Congress soon passed
the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, which called for Strict, centrally
controlled design criteria. The interstate highway system was
finally launched in 1956 and has been hailed as one of the greatest engineering
public works projects of the century. To build its 44, 000-mile web of highways,
bridges, and tunnels, hundreds of unique engineering designs and solutions had
to be worked out. Consider the many geographic features of the country:
mountains, steep grades, wetland, rivers, deserts and plains. Variables included
the slope of the land, the ability of the pavement to support the load, the
intensity of road use, and the nature ot"the underlying soil. Urban areas were
another problem. Innovative designs of roadways, tunnels, bridges, overpasses,
and interchanges that could run through or bypass urban areas soon began to
weave their way across the country, forever altering the face of America.
Long-span, segmented-concrete, cable-stayed bridges such as
Hale Boggs in Louisiana and the Sunshine Skyway in Florida, and remarkable
tunnels like Fort McHenry in Maryland and Mt. Baker in Washington, met many of
the nation’s physical challenges. Traffic control systems and methods of
construction developed under the interstate program soon influenced highway
construction around the world, and were invaluable in improving the condition of
urban streets and traffic patterns. Today the interstate system
links every major city in the U. S. , and the U.S. with Canada and Mexico. Built
with safety in mind, the highways have wide lanes and shoulders, dividing
medians or barriers, long entry and exit lanes, curves engineered for safe
turns, and limited access. The death rate on highways is half that of all other
U. S. roads (0.86 deaths per 100 million passenger miles compared to 1.99 deaths
per 100 million on all other roads). By opening the North
American continent, highways have enabled .consumer goods and services to reach
people in remote and rural -areas of the country, spurred the growth of suburbs,
and provided people with greater options in terms of jobs, access to cultural
programs, health care, and other benefits. Above all, the interstate system
provides individuals with what they cherish most：personal freedom of mobility.
The interstate system has been an essential element of the
nation’s economic growth in terms of shipping and job creation：more than 75
percent of the nation’s freight deliveries arrive by truck; and most products
that arrive by rail or air use interstates for the last leg of the journey by
vehicle. Not only has the highway system affected the American economy by
providing shipping routes, it has led to the growth of spin-off industries like
service stations, motels, restaurants, and shopping centers. It has allowed the
relocation of manufacturing plants and other industries from urban areas to
rural. By the end of the century there was an immense network
of paved roads, residential streets, expressways, and freeways built to support
millions of vehicles. The highway system was officially renamed for Eisenhower
to honor his vision and leadership. The year constrution began he said：
"Together, the united forces of our commuunication and transportation
systems are dynamic elements in the very name we bear—United States. Without
them, we would be a mere alliance of many separate parts. " In spite of safety considerations, the death rate on interstate highways is still higher than that of other American roads.