The Impact of the Electric Telegraph
The advent of the electric telegraph－a device that sends electrical signals over wires－in the 1840s was as much a political as a technological milestone. The telegraph inaugurated a new phase in the history of communications, the rise of modern technological networks, and precipitated divergent national decisions about the role of the state that outlasted the telegraph itself. The new networks promised faster connections of people and places, of markets, armies, and governments－a change that was already in progress because of improvements in transportation. Steam power had only recently begun to accelerate movement on the oceans, rivers, and rails when the ”lightning” of the telegraph decoupled communication from transportation altogether. But many obstacles stood in the way of stretching the new iron cords across continents. Different jurisdictions and systems had conflicting policies and standards that needed to be reconciled, and the new networks required large capital investments as well as innovations in engineering and management. As in other formative periods, new technologies posed new choices. Would state security, commercial, or other interests guide the development of the new networks? What form of organization would they take? What sources would provide the capital and assume the risks?
European nations and the United States responded differently these to choices. ■In Europe, the domestic telegraph, and later the telephone, came under the control of the postal system. ■In the Unity States, in contrast, both the telegraph and the telephone were established as private enterprise and both faced intense competition before evolving into monopolies and becoming subject to government regulation. ■The differences between Europe and America involved more than ownership. ■American law and policy, as well as other conditions, were more favorable to telecommunications development and led to more rapid, early deployment of the technologies. Indeed, Americans played more of a pioneering role in developing both the telegraph and the telephone than one might reasonably have expected from the country’s overall level of industrial and scientific development in the mid-nineteenth century.
Different patterns, however, emerged in the telegraph and telephone networks. The telegraph in America became a service primarily for business, it also served as the basis for an unprecedented private monopoly in the national distribution of news. Ironically, the telegraph in private hands proved to be a far more powerful means of centralized control of information than the government-operated post office had been in the pre-telegraphic era. The telephone, in contrast, served households as well as businesses, and telephone service became far more widely diffused in the Unity States─particularly outside of metropolitan areas─than in any country in Europe.
Since the telegraph was the first electrical communications network, it stands at the head of a long line of innovations, and many historians tend to see in it the shape of things to come. One popular history, for example, calls it the ”Victorian Internet.” There is a danger, however, of reading the subsequent history of telecommunications into the beginnings, we may exaggerate what was of secondary importance in the past because it is of primary importance in the present. The novelty and tangibility of inventions also makes it easy to view them as history’s prime movers. At the time the telegraph and telephone were introduced, contemporary observes attributed to them vast social and economic effects, and historians have tended to do the same, often suggesting that the modern communications revolution begins with the telegraph.
But the telegraph arrived in a world already revolutionized, and its development continued a process that other forces had set in motion. Even in the dimension that the telegraph most directly affected－the speed of communication over long distances－the advances in postal service and transportation during the preceding decades had already resulted in considerable change. The time it took for news to travel between Charleston, South Carolina, and New York City fell from 20.2 days in 1794 to 5.5 days in 1841, by that time, the news lag between Washington, DC, and Boston had fallen drom18 days in 1790 to only 2.8 days. Several recent studies have rightly cautioned against an overemphasis on new inventions at the expense of less dramatic changes, such as improvements in postal service, that affected a far larger volume of communication.
The impact of the electric telegraph 電報發展史
科技進度，1840s電報已經有了長足進步，telegraph的出現有很重大的意義；拉近了long distance communication。電報發展的重要性不只體現在其自身，也體現於政治等因素，而其對於商業等的影響尚不及對政治的影響，不同於steam engineering，在歐美都原先都不是由國家管制。
電報的發展遇到了一些obstacles：需要龐大的資本，此外在管技術及管理上也要作很大的變革。
因為前面提到的缺點，使得當時傳統郵政業又恢復生機，並比較了telegram以及telephone在美國和歐洲的不同用途。隨著發展，歐洲國家把telegraph內入governmental control，主要運應用在郵政系統方面。然而美國人沒有這麼做， 在美國，電報系統的運用在與政府有關聯之前是純粹的私營企業。
一開始這種傳輸不得到大家的認可。先說這種方法是一個博士發現的，但是沒人覺得有什麼好處。又因為當時的技術還有侷限，然後那個博士也說服不了政府相信他，雖然當時有某方面已經有了進展，但是政府不肯資助他，所以他們就辦了公司自己發展（有題，問為什麼他們只能自己發展，原因選政府不給資助）。
電報和電話的發展非常迅速。然後電報在歐洲和美國的發展不同。在美國，是私人公司所屬，所以競爭極為激烈，後來逐漸發展後依然為私人為股東但是受限於國家管制（有題）。當時就這方面來說，是令人驚奇的，因為在美國這樣差的科學技術條件下，在電報發展方面卻是領頭羊（同義改寫題）。
在美國，telegraph system掌控在私人企業手裡（私有化的private），很多私人商務行為都用電報來聯繫。這些私企有些很壟斷monopoly。Telegraph由私人企業掌控，因為激烈的競爭，反而發展很快。然而，即使這些私企形成獨占產業，但因為由公眾share stocks，所以危害不大。這也催生了後來的股票，並使紐約成為第一個（最大的）證券交易市場。在19世紀，電報被納入政府監管under government regulation。之後，雖然美國那時有科技的限制，但電報在美國發展的很好，得到了普及。
由於telegraph的發展，使得美國從東岸到西岸的通訊，從以往的5~6天減少到2~3天。當時因為很多歐洲國家，擔心電報會使情報外流，因此猶豫是否應該立法來規範電報行為。隨著發展，歐洲國家把telegraph納入governmental control（國家政府管理）。主要應用在郵政系統postal system方面，使得歐洲國家的傳統郵政postal業又恢復生機（有題）。
最後一段提到，電報需要建立net，這為後來的網路的建立提供了很多思路，所以說telegraph是非常revolutionary invention。隨然當時telegram以及telephone，在美國的工業、新聞同步等方面有很重要的貢獻，但電報對時代的進步似乎被歷史學家誇大了，其實電報對社會只產生了little change（有題，問為什麼科學家覺得電報的作用被誇大）。因為當時運輸進步，縮短了人們間得距離，郵件也傳很快，相較於郵件telegram以及telephone使用的人少得多了。還說不要因為過於注重telegraph的重要性而忽視了其他對communication起重要貢獻的東西。
辭彙題：intriguing，選secretive
Questions
1. The word “advent” in the passage is closest in meaning to
(A) arrival
(B) improvement
(C) design
(D) concept
Answer: ( )
2. The word “posed” in the passage is closest in meaning to
(A) influenced
(B) presented
(C) demanded
(D) guaranteed
Answer: ( )
3. What can be inferred from paragraph 1 about long-distance communication before the 1840s?
(A) It depended on the transportation systems used for people and goods.
(B) It minimized the threat to the security and interests of nations.
(C) It was instrumental in the development of steam power technology.
(D) It was not under local or national government control.
Paragraph 1 is marked with an arrow[->].
Answer: ( )
4. In paragraph 1, all of the following are mentioned as obstacles to the establishment of the telegraph system EXCEPT
(A) the need for substantial amounts of money
(B) policy differences between jurisdictions
(C) the need for new approaches to management and engineering
(D) competition with other communication technologies
Paragraph 1 is marked with an arrow[->].
Answer: ( )
5. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
(The highlighted sentence:)
Indeed, Americans played more of a pioneering role in developing both the telegraph and the telephone than one might reasonably have expected from the country's overall level of industrial and scientific development in the mid-nineteenth century.
(A) Contrary to expectations, Americans failed to reach a high level of technological and scientific development by the mid-nineteenth century.
(B) It is not reasonable to expect that America, which had a low overall level of technological development, could have led the way in telecommunications.
(C) Despite the level of their technological and scientific development in the mid-nineteenth century, Americans became pioneers in the development of telecommunications.
(D) Given America's level of industrial and scientific development, it is surprising that they did not devote more resources to telecommunications.
Answer: ( )
6. According to paragraph 2, what was true about European telephone and telegraph systems in the nineteenth century?
(A) They became private monopolies.
(B) They were government controlled.
(C) The benefited from a high level of scientific development.
(D) They could not communicate with American systems.
Paragraph 2 is marked with an arrow[->].
Answer: ( )
7. According to paragraph 2, what happened to the telegraph and telephone industries in the United States in the nineteenth century after the phase of intense competition?
(A) They became monopolies, and their ownership was transferred to the government.
(B) They remained privately owned but became monopolies and were regulated by the government.
(C) They became privately owned monopolies that were then broken up by the government in order to restore competition.
(D) They were assimilated by the government into the organization of the postal system.
Paragraph 2 is marked with an arrow[->].
Answer: ( )
8. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about European nations in the nineteenth century?
(A) They were the first to adopt telecommunications on a wide scale.
(B) They encouraged the growth of private telecommunications monopolies.
(C) They had more sophisticated postal systems than the United States had.
(D) They had laws that had the effect of slowing the development of telecommunications.
Paragraph 2 is marked with an arrow[->].
Answer: ( )
9. The word “unprecedented” in the passage is closest in meaning to
(A) unnecessary
(B) novel
(C) artificial
(D) corrupt
Answer: ( )
10. The word “diffuse” in the passage is closest in meaning to
(A) promoted
(B) controlled
(C) spread out
(D) accepted
Answer: ( )
11. Why does the author mention “the novelty and tangibility of inventions” in the passage?
(A) To support a claim that the telegraph began a communications revolution leading ultimately to the Internet.
(B) To indicate a factor that can lead to an exaggeration of the telegraph's historical importance.
(C) To argue that technology has been one of the dominant forces shaping history.
(D) To explain why developments such as the telegraph have extensive social and economic effects.
Answer: ( )
12. According to paragraph 5, one reason that the introduction of the telegraph should not be overemphasized is that
(A) messages could not be sent over very long distances by telegraph
(B) the telegraph was not faster than other forms of telecommunication
(C) the use of the telegraph system was largely limited to rural areas
(D) improvements in the postal service affected a much larger volume of communication
Paragraph 5 is marked with an arrow[->].
Answer: ( )
13. Look at the four squares [ ] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
They remained, however, private companies owned by their stockholders.
Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [ ] to add the sentence to the passage.
Answer: ( )
14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
Drag your choices to the spaces where they belong. To review the passage, click on View Text.
Introduction of the telegraph in the 1840s speeded communications and led governments to adopt policies that have continued to affect the development of telecommunications
*
Answer Choices
(A) In Europe, telegraph and telephone systems were controlled by the government, whereas in the United States privately owned networks competed with each other before becoming regulated monopolies.
(B) The introduction of the telegraph was the beginning of a revolution in communications and was in effect a forerunner of the internet.
(C) The importance of the introduction of the telegraph tends to be overestimated because less dramatic improvements in the postal system tend to be ignored.
(D) In the United States the telegraph system developed faster than in Europe, primarily for business use and in particular for the privately controlled news services.
(E) In Europe the public tended to rely on the telephone for communications, while in the United States most people continued to use the postal system.
(F) The postal service responded to the telegraph by introducing improvements that reduced the time it took mail to travel between major cities.
Answer:( ) & ( ) & ( )
Answer Key:
Q1. The word “advent” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A1. arrival
Q2. The word “posed” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A2. presented
Q3. What can be inferred from paragraph 1 about long-distance communication before the 1840s?
A3. It depended on the transportation systems used for people and goods.
Q4. In paragraph 1, all of the following are mentioned as obstacles to the establishment of the telegraph system EXCEPT
A4. competition with other communication technologies
Q5. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
A5. Despite the level of their technological and scientific development in the mid-nineteenth century, Americans became pioneers in the development of telecommunications.
Q6. According to paragraph 2, what was true about European telephone and telegraph systems in the nineteenth century?
A6. They benefited from a high level of scientific development.
Q7. According to paragraph 2, what happened to the telegraph and telephone industries in the Unite States in the nineteenth century after the phase of intense competition?
A7. They remained privately owned but became monopolies and were regulated by the government.
Q8. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about European nations in the nineteenth century?
A8. They had laws that had the effect of slowing the development of telecommunication.
Q9. The word “unprecedented” in the passage is closet in meaning to
A9. novel
Q10. The word “diffused” in the passage is the closest in meaning to
A10. spread out
Q11. Why does the author mention “The novelty and tangibility of inventions” in the passage?
A11. To indicate a factor that can lead to an exaggeration of the telegraph’s historical importance
Q12. According to paragraph5, one reason that the introduction of the telegraph should not be overemphasized is that
A12. improvements in the postal service affected a much larger volume of communication
Q13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
They remained, however, private companies owned by their stockholders.
A13. (C)
Q14.In Europe, telegraph and telephone systems were controlled by the government, whereas in the United States privately owned networks competed with each other before becoming regulated monopolies.
The importance of the introduction of the telegraph tends to be overestimated because less dramatic improvements in the postal system tend to be ignored.
In the United States the telegraph system developed faster than in Europe, primarily for business use and in particular for the privately controlled news services.
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