12.In its early history,Chicago had floods frequently,especially in the spring,making the streets so muddy that people,horses,and carts got stuck.An old joke that was popular at the time went something like this:A man is stuck up to his waist in a muddy Chicago street.Asked if he needs help,he replies,"No,thanks.I've got a good horse under me."
The city planner decided to build an underground drainage (排水) system,but there simply wasn't enough difference between the height of the ground level and the water level.The only two options were to lower the Chicago River or raise the city.
An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced the city that it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dirt.This raised the level of the city's streets by as much as 12feet.
This of course created a new problem:dirt practically buried the first floors of every building in Chicago.Building owners were faced with a choice:either change the first floors of their buildings into basements,and the second stories into main floors,or hoist the entire buildings to meet the new street level.Small wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily.But what about large,heavy structures like Tremont Hotel,which was a six-story brick building?
That's where George Pullman came in.He had developed some house-moving skills successfully.To lift a big structure like the Tremont Hotel,Pullman would place thousands of jackscrews (螺旋千斤頂) beneath the building's foundation.One man was assigned to operate each section of roughly 10jackscrews.At Pullman's signal each man tured his jackscrew the same amount at the same time,thereby raising the building slowly and evenly.Astonishingly,the Tremont Hotel stay open during the entire operation,and many of its guests didn't even notice anything was happening.
Some people like to say that every problem has a solution.But in Chicago's early history,every engineering solution seemed to create a new problem.Now that Chicago's waste water was draining efficiently into the Chicago River,the city's next step was to clean the polluted river.
28.The author mentions the joke to showB.
A.horses were fairly useful in Chicago
B.Chicago's streets were extremely muddy
C.Chicago was very dangerous in the spring
D.the Chicago people were particularly humorous
29.The city planners were convinced by Ellis Chesbrough toA.
A.build the pipes above ground B.lower the Chicago River
C.fight against heavy floods D.get rid of the street dirt
30.The underlined word"hoist"in Paragraph 4 means"B".
A.change B.lift C.repair D.decorate
31.The passage is mainly about the early Chicago'sC.
A.popular life styles and their influences
B.environmental disasters and their causes
C.engineering problems and their solutions
D.successful businessmen and their achievements.
分析 在早期的歷史中,芝加哥經(jīng)常發(fā)生洪水,尤其是在春天,街道變得如此的泥濘不堪以致于人們,馬和車經(jīng)常被困。敃r流行這樣一個古老的笑話:在芝加哥泥濘的街上,一個人的腰被困住了.問他是否需要幫助,他回答說:"不,謝謝.我還有一匹好馬在下面."
城市規(guī)劃者決定建造一套地下排水系統(tǒng),但只不過沒有地面與水平面之間足夠的高度差,只有兩個選擇即降低芝加哥河的水位或者抬高城市的高度.一個叫埃利斯切斯布羅的工程師說服我該城市除了將管道建在地面上,然后用泥土覆蓋上之外別無選擇,這會使城市的街道提高12英尺之多.
當然這樣會產(chǎn)生一個新的問題:事實上,泥土埋掉了芝加哥幾乎每一棟大樓的第一層.建筑業(yè)主們面臨著一個選擇:要么將建筑物的一樓改到地下室,把第二層改到主樓層,或?qū)⒄麄建筑提升到新的街水平.小的木結(jié)構(gòu)的建筑會相當容易地舉起來.但對于像特里蒙特酒店那樣大而重的六層磚混結(jié)構(gòu)的建筑怎么辦呢?
這里喬治普爾曼派上了用場.他已經(jīng)成功地開發(fā)了一些搬家技巧.提升一個像特里蒙特酒店那樣大的結(jié)構(gòu),鉑爾曼將成千上萬的置于建筑物的地基部.一個人被分配到操作每一段大致10個螺旋千斤頂.在鉑爾曼的指導下,每個人同時抬起同樣數(shù)量的螺旋千斤頂,從而緩慢、均勻地抬起建筑物.令人驚訝的是,在整個運作過程中特里蒙特酒店仍然在營業(yè),很多客人甚至沒有注意到有什么事情發(fā)生.有些人喜歡說,每個問題都有解決的方法.但在芝加哥的早期歷史,每一個工程的解決方案似乎創(chuàng)造著一個新的問題.現(xiàn)在芝加哥的廢水被有效地排放到芝加哥的河里,該城市的下一步就是治理污染的河流.
解答 28.B.細節(jié)推理題選.D 芝加哥的人們尤其的幽默.根據(jù)第一段的第一句話 In its early history,Chicago…and carts got stuck.(尤其是在春天,芝加哥經(jīng)常發(fā)生洪水,街道變得如此的泥濘不堪以致于人們,馬和車經(jīng)常被困。宰髡咛岬降男υ捠菫榱送怀鲞@一點即道路的泥濘.) 故選B
29.A.細節(jié)推理題選.根據(jù)第三段的第一句話An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced…then cover them with dirt.(一個叫埃利斯切斯布羅的工程師說服我該城市除了將管道建在地面上,然后用泥土覆蓋上之外別無選擇)可知,埃利斯切斯布羅的工程師認為應該在地上埋下排水管道.故選 A
30.B.細節(jié)推理題 根據(jù)后文Small wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily.(小的木結(jié)構(gòu)的建筑會相當容易地舉起來.)可知另一種方法就是將建筑升高.故選 B
60.C.主旨大意題 本題為總結(jié)概括全文的主旨大意題,第一段提到芝加哥城所存在的問題,接下來討論了解決這個問題的一些方法,最后一段講到雖然解決了當前的問題,但隨之而來又會產(chǎn)生一些新的有待解決的問題.故文章大致上講述的是建造的問題與解決的辦法.故選C.
點評 考察學生的細節(jié)理解和推理判斷能力,做細節(jié)理解題時一定要找到文章中的原句,和題干進行比較,再做出正確的選擇.在做推理判斷題不要以個人的主觀想象代替文章的事實,要根據(jù)文章事實進行合乎邏輯的推理判斷.