题目内容
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During the early years of American settlement, a new form of English was beginning to develop in the islands of the West Indies and the southern part of the mainland, spoken by the black population. The beginning of the seventeenth century saw the happening of the slave trade. Ships from Europe travelled to the West African coast, where they exchanged cheap goods for black slaves. The slaves were shipped in terrible conditions to the Caribbean islands and the American coast, where they were in turn exchanged for such products as sugar and molasses(糖蜜). The ships then returned to England, completing an “Atlantic triangle”of journeys, and the process began again. Britain and the United States had outlawed the slave trade by 1865, but by that time, nearly 200 years of trading had taken place. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there were over four million black slaves in America.
The policy of the slave-traders was to bring people of different language backgrounds together in the ships, to make it difficult for groups to plan rebellion. The result was the growth of several pidgin (混杂语言) forms of communication, and in particular a pidgin between the slaves and the sailors many of whom spoken English. Once arriving in the Caribbean, this pidgin English continued to act as a major means of communication between teh black population and the new landowners, and among the blacks themselves. Then, when children came to be born, the pidgin became their mother tongue, thus producing the first black Creole(克里奥尔语) speech in the region. This Creole English rapidly came to be used throughout the cotton plantations (种植园), and in the coastal towns and islands.
【小题1】Which of the following shows the route of slave trade correctly?
A．Europe West African coastthe Caribbean islands and the American coastEurope |
| B．EuropeWest African coastEuropethe Caribbean islands and the American coast |
| C．West African coastEuropethe Caribbean islands and the American coastEurope |
D．West African coastEuropethe Caribbean islands and the American coast West African coast |
| A．didn’t communicate with each other |
| B．could understand several languages |
| C．spoke different languages |
| D．came from the same place |
| A．Spanish and English |
| B．English and an African language |
| C．a European language and an American language |
| D．an African language and an American language |
| A．The history of slave trade. | B．“Atlantic triangle” of journeys. |
| C．Languages spoken in America | D．The birth of black English |
__51__It crossed New York from Buffalo on Lake Erie Troy to Albany on the Hudson River.__52__The canal served as a route over which industrial goods could flow into the west，and materials could pour into the east.The Erie Canal helped New York develop into the nation’s largest city.
The building of the canal was paid for entirely by the state of New York.__53__Between 1825，when the canal was opened，and 1882，when toll charges (过运河费) were stopped，the state collected $121,461,891.
For a hundred years before the Erie was built，people had been talking about a canal which could join the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.The man who planned the Erie Canal and carried the plan through was De Witt Clinton.Those who were against the canal laughingly called it “Clinton’s Ditch(沟)”．__54__ He and Governor Morris went to Washington in 1812 to ask for help for the canal，but they were unsuccessful.
Clinton became governor of New York in 1817，and shortly afterwards，on July 4,1817，broke ground for the canal in Rome，N.Y.The first part of the canal was completed in 1820.__55__The length of the canal is 363 miles.
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A．As the canal grew，towns along its course developed fast. |
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B．It cost $ 7,143,789，but it soon gained its price many times over. |
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C．The Erie Canal was the first important national waterway built in the US. |
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D．More workers were needed to build the canal. |
E．Clinton talked and wrote about the canal and drew up plans for it.
F．To dig the canal benefited Americans.
G．It joined the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean.
Imagine, one day, getting out of bed in Beijing and being at your office in Shanghai in only a couple of hours, and then, after a full day of work, going back home to Beijing and having dinner there.
Sounds unusual, doesn't it? But it's not that unrealistic, with the development of China’s high—speed railway system. And that’s not all. China has an even greater high-speed railway plan—to connect the country with Southeast Asia, and eventually Eastern Europe.
China is negotiating to extend its own high·-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 10 to 15 years, eventually reaching London and Singapore.
China has proposed three such projects. The first would possibly connect Kunming with Singapore via Vietnam and Malaysia. Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and possibly to Germany. The third would start in the northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe.
If China’s plan for the high-speed railway goes forward, people could zip over from London to Berlin in under two days.
The new system would still follow China’s high-speed railway standard. And the trains would be able to go 346 kilometers an hour, almost as fast as some airplanes.
China’s bullet train(高速客车),the one connecting Wuhan to Guangzhou, already has the World’s fastest average speed. It covers 1,069 kilometers in about three hours.
Of course, there are some technical challenges to overcome. There are so many issues that need to be settled, such as safety, rail gauge(轨距),maintenance of railway tracks. So, it’s important to pay attention to every detail.
But the key issue is really money. China is already spending hundreds of billions of yuan on domestic railway expansion.
China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital investment. Resources from those countries could stream into China to sustain development.
It’ll be a win-win project. For other countries, the railway network will definitely create more opportunities for business, tourism and so on, not to mention the better communication among those countries.
For China, such a project would not only connect it with the rest of Asia and bring some much-needed resources, but would also help develop China’s far west. We foresee that in the coming decades, millions of people will migrate to the western regions, where the land is empty and resources unused. With high-speed trains, people will set up factories and business centers in the west once and for all. And they’11 trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries.
1.China’s new high-speed railway plan will be a win-win project because .
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A．China will get much-needed resources and develop its western regions |
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B．China and the countries involved will benefit from the project in various ways |
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C．China will develop its railway system and communication with other countries |
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D．the foreign countries involved will develop their railway transportation, business and tourism |
2.According to the passage, the greatest challenge to the new high-speed railway plan is .
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A．technical issues |
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B．safety of the system |
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C．financial problems |
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D．maintenance of railway tracks |
3.Which of the following words best describes the author’s attitude towards China’s high-speed railway plan?
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A．Critical. |
B．Reserved. |
C．Doubtful |
D．Positive. |
4.Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
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A．New Railway Standards |
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B．Big Railway Dreams |
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C．High-speed Bullet Trains |
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D．International Railway Network |