2016年12月英语四级阅读理解备考练习及答案(四)思维导图

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______.

2.Theword“grubstake”inparagraph2means______.

3.Tabormadehisfirstfortune______.

4.TheunderlyingreasonforTabor’slifecareeris______.

5.Ifthispassageisthefirstpartofanarticle,whomightbeintroducedinthefollowingpart?

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。

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”。

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“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?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。

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