TOEFL Reading Comprehension
Questions 23-31
As the merchant class expanded in the eighteenth-century North American colonies,
the silversmith and the coppersmith businesses rose to serve it. Only a few silversmiths
were available in New York or Boston in the late seventeenth century, but in the
Line eighteenth century they could be found in all major colonial cities. No other colonial
(5) artisans rivaled the silversmiths' prestige. They handled the most expensive materials
and possessed direct connections to prosperous colonies merchants. Their products,
primarily silver plates and bowls, reflected their exalted status and testified to their
customers' prominence.
Silver stood as one of the surest ways to store wealth at a time before neighborhood
(10) banks existed. Unlike the silver coins from which they were made, silver articles were
readily identifiable. Often formed to individual specifications, they always carried the
silversmith's distinctive markings and consequently could be traced and retrieved.
Customers generally secured the silver for the silver objects they ordered. They
saved coins, took them to smiths, and discussed the type of pieces they desired.
(15) Silversmiths complied with these requests by melting the money in a small furnace,
adding a bit of copper to form a stronger alloy, and casting the alloy in rectangular
blocks. They hammered these ingots to the appropriate thickness by hand, shaped
them, and pressed designs into them for adornment. Engraving was also done by hand.
In addition to plates and bowls, some customers sought more intricate products, such as
(20) silver teapots. These were made by shaping or casting parts separately and then
soldering them together.
Colonial coppersmithing also came of age in the early eighteenth century and
prospered in northern cities. Copper's ability to conduct heat efficiently and to resist
corrosion contributed to its attractiveness. But because it was expensive in colonial
(25) America, coppersmiths were never very numerous. Virtually all copper worked by
smiths was imported as sheets or obtained by recycling old copper goods. Copper was
used for practical items, but it was not admired for its beauty. Coppersmiths employed
it to fashion pots and kettles for the home. They shaped it in much the same manner as
silver or melted it in a foundry with lead or tin. They also mixed it with zinc to make
(30) brass for maritime and scientific instruments.
23. According to the passage, which of the following eighteenth-century developments had a strong impact
on silversmiths?
(A) a decrease in the cost of silver
(B) the invention of heat-efficient furnaces
(C) the growing economic prosperity of colonial merchants
(D) the development of new tools used to shape silver
24. The word "They" in line 5 refers to
(A) silversmiths (B) major colonial cities
(C) other colonial artisans (D) materials
25. The word "exalted" in line 7 is closest in meaning to
(A) unusual (B) uncertain (C) surprising (D) superior
26. In colonial America, where did silversmiths usually obtain the material to make silver articles?
(A) From their own mines (B) From importers
(C) From other silversmiths (D) From customers
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