Free SAT Practice Question

Question 1 of 1
ID: SAT-RW-CS-028
Section: SAT Reading & Writing (RW) – Craft and Structure
Topic: Text Structure and Purpose
Difficulty level: Medium

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In 1956 the trucking entrepreneur Malcolm McLean sent a ship carrying fifty-eight identical metal boxes from one U.S. port to another. The idea was almost dull in its simplicity: pack goods once, into a container that could be lifted straight from truck to ship to train without ever being unpacked along the way. Yet the consequences reached far beyond the dock. Because a standard box could be handled by standard cranes at any port, the cost of moving goods between countries fell so sharply that factories could be split across oceans, and over the following decades the map of global manufacturing was quietly redrawn.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

ATo argue that McLean deserves greater recognition than he has received for reshaping modern trade.

BTo trace the technical improvements that eventually allowed dockside cranes to lift much heavier loads.

CTo show how a simple standardization produced large and largely unforeseen effects on global trade.

DTo contrast the simplicity of McLean's idea with the mechanical complexity of the ships he had to use.

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