SAT OwlQuestion bank / Central Ideas and Details
The standard steel shipping container, which came into wide use in the 1960s, is often credited with cutting the cost of moving goods by sea. Most accounts focus on the box itself and on the giant cranes that lift it. Historian Ruth Calder argues that the container's real innovation was less mechanical than organizational. Before containers could cut costs, she notes, shipping lines, railroads, trucking firms, and ports had to agree on common sizes, fittings, and paperwork, so that a single box could move from factory to ship to train without being unpacked. The box, in Calder's view, mattered because of the agreements around it.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Calder argues that the cranes used to lift containers mattered more than the containers themselves.
Calder maintains that containers cut costs mainly because the industries that handled them agreed on shared standards.
Calder claims that shipping containers did little to reduce the cost of moving goods by sea.
Calder contends that railroads and trucking firms resisted shipping containers because the containers threatened their share of the business.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
Calder calls the container's innovation "less mechanical than organizational." Costs fell only after shipping lines, railroads, trucking firms, and ports agreed on common standards. Choice B states her main point.
Choice C misreads Calder. She doesn't deny that containers cut costs; she explains what made the savings possible.
Why the other choices are wrong
- A. Calder plays down the mechanical side, cranes included, and stresses the agreements between industries.
- C. Calder accepts that containers cut costs. Her argument is about why they were able to.
- D. The text says these groups "had to agree" on standards, but it never says they resisted containers.
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