TEXT B In early Colonial America
settlers used makeshift shelters, the most primitive of which was the dugout,
like a cave dug into the side of a hill, sometimes built up with sod and covered
over with poles and bark. Somewhat more ambitious was the palisade hut, or
cabin, built of upright poles driven into the ground, woven with wattles,
chinked with clay, and roofed with turf or thatch. The "wigwam" may be derived
from the building traditions of local Indians. These were constructed by bending
and tying stripped saplings into a vault, interweaving them with twigs, and
covering them with bark. The interior might also be insulated with straw. Only
the iron cooking pots they had brought with them gave any indication of the
advanced technology out of which these people had come. Most of the New England
settlers came from the rural areas of East Anglia, and the Gothic building forms
of that region were transplanted, though modified by local conditions and
materials. The framed half-timbered house in America continued a long medieval
European tradition of carpentry construction. Tile heavy timbers were
intricately joined and pegged into a rigid timber interlocking frame.
In the beginning, most houses consisted of one room and an attic, with a
fireplace on a short wall. Roofs were shingled or thatched and chimneys were
made of logs daubed with clay. This type was long continued in use by poorer
inhabitants, new arrivals, and those who pushed on into the wilderness. For the
more affluent, the earlier form was soon supplanted by the socalled "classic"
type. It had two stories and an attic, two rooms to a floor, one on either side
of a central chimney built of brick. Brick and stone buildings were rare at
first in the colonies because of the shortage of lime for mortar. Even when
masonry houses began to symbolize status, New England retained throughout the
colonial period a preference for its earlier wood tradition. The
major English variant from the New England cottage was the plantation house of
the southern colonies. The same Gothic traditions prevailed there, but because
of the differences in economic and social life and background of these
colonists, their architecture tended to imitate the English manor house rather
than the yeoman’s cottage. Also, these settlers crone from different areas of
England, bringing with them a greater variety and preference for brick. Which of the following statements about early colonial housing is NOT mentioned in the passage
A．The plantation house of the southern colonies was based on the wealthier houses in England. B．New England continued to prefer timber rather than brick, even when masonry house began to symbolize status. C．The English Gothic building traditions influenced the way houses were built in both New England and the South. D．Brick and stone buildings were most common where the influence of English traditions was the strongest.