20、
四、阅读理解(45分)
the Cherokee nation
Long before the white man came to America, the land belonged to the American Indian nations. The nation of the Cherokees lived in what is now the southeastern part of the United States.
After the white man came, the Cherokees copied many of their ways. One Cherokee named Sequoyah saw how important reading and writing was to the white man. He decided to invent a way to write down the spoken Cherokee language. He began by making word pictures. For each word he drew a picture. But that proved impossible -- there were just too many words. Then he took the 85 sounds that made up the language. Using his own imagination and an English spelling book, Sequoyah invented a sign for each sound. His alphabet proved amazingly easy to learn. Before long, many Cherokees knew how to read and write in their own language. By 1828, they were even printing their own newspaper.
In 1830, the U.S. Congress passed a law. It allowed the government to remove Indians from their lands. The Cherokees refused to go. They had lived on their lands for centuries. It belonged to them. Why should they go to a strange land far beyond the Mississippi River?
The army was sent to drive the Cherokees out. Soldiers surrounded their villages and marched them at gunpoint into the western territory. The sick, the old and the small children went in carts, along with their belongings. The rest of the people marched on foot or rode on horseback. It was November, yet many of them still wore their summer clothes. Cold and hungry, the Cherokees were quickly exhausted by the hardships of the journey. Many dropped dead and were buried by the roadside. When the last group arrived in their new home in March 1839, more than 4,000had died. It was indeed a march of death.
1. The Cherokee Nation used to live
A) on the American continent.
B) in the southeastern part of the US.
C) beyond the Mississippi River.
D) in the western territory.
2. One of the ways that Sequoyah copied from the white man is the way of
A) writing down the spoken language.
B) making word pictures.
C) teaching his people reading.
D) printing their own newspaper.
3. A law was passed in 1830 to
A) allow the Cherokees to stay where they were.
B) send the army to help the Cherokees.
C) force the Cherokees to move westward.
D) forbid the Cherokees to read their newspaper.
4. When the Cherokees began to leave their lands,
A) they went in carts.
B) they went on horseback.
C) they marched on foot.
D) all of the above.
5. Many Cherokees died on their way to their new home mainly because
A) they were not willing to go there.
B) the government did not provide transportation.
C) they did not have enough food and clothes.
D) the journey was long and boring.
标准答案： B,A,C,D,C
21、
Star quality
标准答案： C,D,D,A,B
22、
The business of wedding
Every couple who goes to the altar believes that they will make that trip only once in their lives. They want the day to be perfect, and they are asking for much more than good weather. they want the most beautiful clothes, the freshest flowers. Moreover, her family who will foot the bill is not in any mood to economize.
A quick look at any bride magazine will reveal that plenty of attractive goods and services compete for a share of the wedding budget. Besides the obvious choices of rings, dresses, flowers, and photographs, there are the less apparent expenses: a lavish cake, a rehearsal dinner, a receptions, music for both the ceremony and the reception, tips, and even napkins and matchbooks printed with the couple’s names and the wedding date.
As the arrangements are generally complicated, there are plenty of services that can ea hired to help with the planning and execution of the every aspect of the wedding: planning the photographs, selecting the wedding rings, choosing the flowers, picking the honeymoon spot, and so on. One magazine lists over 350such pamphlets published of course by businesses who have something to offer. Considering that weddings do more than 12billion dollars worth of business annually in the US alone, such activity isn’t surprising.
What is surprising is that no one company dominates the industry. It seems that when people plan for a day as special to them as a wedding, they resist standardization. They turn instead to the small local suppliers known to them or to their friends. Family members or friends often serve as photographers, caterers and musicians. This not only helps bring the wedding cost down, but makes it more personal.
What about the couple that doesn’t want to take in this billion-dollar industry? They can go to city hall and get married for less than the price of a hamburger.
练习：
1. What does the expression“this billion-dollar industry”refer to ?
A) The budgets of weddings.
B) The business of weddings.
C) The planning and execution of weddings.
D) The high wedding expense.
2. Which of the following is not mentioned?
A) The wedding budget.
B) The wedding breakfast.
C) The wedding date.
D) The wedding cost.
3. Not a single company can dominate the industry because
A) People resist standardization.
B) Parents want to reduce the wedding cost
C) Many couples can’t afford more than the price of a hamburger.
D) Family members are surprised at the complicated arrangements.
4. Which of the following can best replace the phrase “foot the bill”in the first paragraph?
A) play football
B) bring the bill
C) approve the bill
D) pay the bill
5. The writer’s attitude towards the annual 12-billion-dollar business of wedding appears to be
A. positive.
B. negative.
C. indifferent.
D. objective.
标准答案： B,B,A,D,D
责任编辑：虫虫
