大学英语四级阅读训练

AmongthemorecolorfulcharactersofLeadville’sgoldenagewereH.A.W.Taborandhissecondwife,ElizabethMcCourt,betterknownas“BabyDoe”.TheirhistoryisfastbecomingoneofthelegendsoftheOldWest.HoraceAustinWarnerTaborwasaschoolteacherinVermont.WithhisfirstwifeandtwochildrenheleftVermontbycoveredwagonin1855tohomesteadinKansas.Perhapshedidnotfindfarmingtohisliking,orperhapshewasluredbyrumorsoffortunestobemadeinColoradomines.Atanyrate,afewyearslaterhemovedwesttothesmallColoradominingcampknownasCaliforniaGulch,whichhelaterrenamedLeadvillewhenhebecameitsleadingcitizen.“Greatdepositsofleadaresuretobefoundhere.”hesaid.Asitturnedout,itwassilver,notlead,thatwastomakeLeadville’sfortuneandwealth.Taborknewlittleaboutmininghimself,soheopenedageneralstore,whichsoldeverythingfrombootstosalt,flour,andtobacco.『Itwashiscustomto“grubstake”prospectiveminers,inotherwords,tosupplythemwithfoodandsupplies,or“grub”,whiletheylookedforore,inreturnforwhichhewouldgetashareinthemineifonewasdiscovered.』①Hedidthisforanumberofyears,butnoonethatheaidedeverfoundanythingofvalue.Finallyonedayintheyear1878,sothestorygoes,twominerscameinandaskedfor“grub”.Taborhaddecidedtoquitsupplyingitbecausehehadlosttoomuchmoneythatway.Thesewerepersistent,however,andTaborwastoobusytoarguewiththem.“Ohhelpyourself.Onemoretimewon’tmakeanydifference,”Hesaidandwentonsellingshoesandhatstoothercustomers.Thetwominerstook$17worthofsupplies,inreturnforwhichtheygaveTaboraone-thirdinterestintheirfindings.Theypickedabarrenplaceonthemountainsideandbegantodig.Afterninedaystheystruckarichveinofsilver.Taborboughtthesharesoftheothertwomen,andsotheminebelongedtohimalone.Thismine,knownasthe“PittsburghMine,”made1300000forTaborinreturnforhis$17investment.LaterTaborboughttheMatchlessMineonanotherbarrenhillsidejustoutsidethetownfor$117000.ThisturnedouttobeevenmorefabulousthanthePittsburgh,yielding$35000worthofsilverperdayatonetime.Leadvillegrew.Taborbecameitsfirstmayor,andlaterbecamelieutenantgovernorofthestate.1.LeadvillegotitsnameforthefollowingreasonsEXCEPT.A.becauseTaborbecameitsleadingcitizenB.becausegreatdepositsofleadisexpectedtobefoundthereC.becauseitcouldbringgoodfortunetoTaborD.becauseitwasrenamed2.Theword“grubstake”inparagraph2means.A.tosupplyminerswithfoodandsuppliesB.toopenageneralstoreC.todoone’scontributiontothedevelopmentofthemineD.tosupplyminerswithfoodandsuppliesandinreturngetashareinthemine,ifonewasdiscovered3.Tabormadehisfirstfortune.A.bysupplyingtwoprospectiveminersandgettinginreturnaone-thirdinterestinthefindingsB.becausehewaspersuadedbythetwominerstoquitsupplyingC.bybuyingthesharesoftheotherD.asalandspeculator4.TheunderlyingreasonforTabor’slifecareeris.A.purelyaccidentalB.basedontheanalysisofminer’sbeingverypoorandtheirpossibilityofdiscoveringprofitableminingsiteC.throughthehelpfromhissecondwifeD.heplannedwellandaccomplishedtargetsstepbystep5.Ifthispassageisthefirstpartofanarticle,whomightbeintroducedinthefollowingpart?A.Tabor’slife.B.Tabor’ssecondwife,ElizabethMcCourt.C.Othercolorfulcharacters.D.Tabor’sothercareers.Vocabulary1.barrenadj.贫瘠的2.fabulousadj.神话般的，难以置信的3.lurevt.诱惑，引诱4.depositn.沉淀，储蓄5.grubstakev.下注长难句解析①【解析】“It”是形式主语，真正的主语是“to”后面的句子，“while”引导时间状语从句。【译文】他的通常做法是对来采矿的人“下注”，说得更明确一点就是泰勃供给这些人食品、用品等物品，作为回报，当他们采到矿后就会分给他一部分股份。答案与详解【短文大意】本文主要讲述霍塞斯·奥斯汀·沃纳·泰勃发家的故事。1.C细节题。因为Leadville可以为Tabor带来巨富。这一点不是Leadville得名的原因，因为在文章第二段中，讲到这一点时，提及三个原因：A.因为Tabor成为当地的居民代表人物，B.因为在Leadville有丰富的铅的储藏量。D.因为Leadville是因为Tabor重要而起的名，唯独C没有，因为到后来发现是银矿才给他带来巨富。2.D词汇题。第二段中grubstake的词义与D所述内容是相同的，即“供给探矿者资金，衣物，食品以及其他物品”。(可参阅英华大辞典修订第二版64页)但此处还补充地讲，作为回报，供给者可以获得矿中资源一定份额。(见文章第二段第4行)3.A细节题。Tabor第一次真正发财是他为两名矿工提供资助，为此他获得他们矿资源三分之一的股份。见文章第三段4-9行内容：两名开矿者从Tabor那儿借走价值17美元的物品，作为回报，Tabor获得他们矿资源三分之一股份。于是两位开矿者在一座山旁的不毛之地开始挖掘，九天之后，发现了银的富矿，于是Tabor又将两人的股份全买下，这样，银矿属于Tabor一个人所有，这个矿就是后来著名的“匹兹堡”矿。Tabor用17美元的投资换来了130万美元的收获。4.B推断题。由原文可知泰勃的财产来源是有一定偶然性的，但是毕竟也是基于他开创的“grubstake”模式，因为A、D都不对，C更是没有根据，因为他还没有娶第二位夫人这一切就发生了。分析泰勃的做法，会得出B选项所示的结论。5.B推断题。如果本文是一篇文章的第一部分，那么在文章的第二部分将介绍谁呢?key可以从文章第一句分析出来，在Leadville的黄金年代，其多彩的特点当中，Tabor及其第二任妻子ElizabethMcCourt是值得大书特书的，接着，文章都在讲述有关H.A.W.Tabor发家致富的历史，如先买下匹兹堡矿，后又买下Matchless矿，最后成为市长，代理州长，等等，所以涉及到的全是男主人公，因此下边再讲的话，应成为女主人公即ElizabethMcCourt的天地了，她是Tabor的第二任妻子。这是顺理成章的事。TherearepeopleinItalywhocan’tstandsoccer.NotallCanadianslovehockey.AsimilarsituationexistsinAmerica,wheretherearethoseindividualsyoumaybeoneofthemwhoyawnorevenfrownwhensomebodymentionsbaseball.『Baseballtothemmeansboringhourswatchinggrownmeninfunnytightoutfitsstandingaroundinafieldstaringawaywhileverylittleofanythinghappens.』①Theytellyouit’sagamebettersuitedtothe19thcentury,slow,quiet,gentlemanly.Thesearethesamepeopleyoumaybeoneofthemwholovefootballbecausethere’sthesportthatglorifies“thehit”.Bycontrast,baseballseemsabstract,cool,silent,still.OnTVthegameisfracturedintoadozenperspectives,replays,closeups.Thegeometryofthegame,however,isessentialtounderstandingit.Youwillcontemplatethegamefromonepointasapainterdoeshissubject;youmay,ofcourse,projectyourselfintothegame.Itisinthisprojectionthatthegameaffordssomuchspaceandtimeforinvolvement.TheTVwon’tdoitforyou.