题目内容
Some of the members demanded to know why they had been kept the true facts until they reached the present critical stage.
A.in view of B.in honor of C.in place of D.in ignorance of
D
As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(发电)and transmission (输送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.
The 19 th century saw land grants(政府拨地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.
Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.
So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物种) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.
The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.
The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.
【小题1】What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?
A.Small towns along the railways became abandoned. |
B.Land in the West was hard to manage. |
C.Some railroad stops remained underused. |
D.Land grants went into private hands. |
A.The use of money and power. |
B.The transmission of power. |
C.The conservation of solar energy. |
D.The selection of an ideal place. |
A.Disapproving. | B.Approving. | C.Doubtful. | D.Cautious. |
A.How the Railways Have Affected the West |
B.How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced |
C.How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West |
D.How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled |
As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(发电)and transmission (输送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.
The 19 th century saw land grants(政府拨地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.
Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.
So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物种) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.
The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.
The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.
【小题1】What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?
A.Small towns along the railways became abandoned. |
B.Land in the West was hard to manage. |
C.Some railroad stops remained underused. |
D.Land grants went into private hands. |
A.The use of money and power. |
B.The transmission of power. |
C.The conservation of solar energy. |
D.The selection of an ideal place. |
A.Disapproving. | B.Approving. | C.Doubtful. | D.Cautious. |
A.How the Railways Have Affected the West |
B.How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced |
C.How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West |
D.How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled |
It is not often realized that women held a high place in southern European societies in the 10 th and 11 th centuries. As wife, the woman was protected by the setting up of a dowry (嫁妆) or decimum. Admittedly, the purpose of this was to protect her against the risk of desertion (遗弃),but in reality its function in the social and family life of the time was much more important. The decimum was the wife’s right to receive a tenth of all her husband’s property. The wife had the right to withhold consent, in all transactions the husband would make, And more than just a right: the documents showed that she enjoyed a real power of decision, equal to that of her husband. In no case did the documents indicate any degree of difference in the legal status of husband and wife.
The wife shared in the management of her husband’s personal property, but the opposite was not always true. Women seemed perfectly prepared to defend their own inheritance(遗产,继承物)against husbands who tried to exceed their rights, and on occasion they showed a fine fighting spirit. A case in point is that of Maria, Vivas, a Catalan woman of Barcelona. Having agreed with her husband Miro to sell a field she had inherited, for the needs of the household, she insisted on compensation. None being offered, she succeeded in dragging her husband to the scribe to have a contract duly drawn up assigning her a piece of land from Miro’s personal inheritance. The unfortunate husband was obliged to agree, as the contract says, “for the sake of peace.” Either through the dowry or through being hot-tempered, the Catalan wife knew how to win herself, within the context of the family, a powerful economic position.
1. A decimum was .
A.the wife’s inheritance from her father |
B.a gift of money to the new husband |
C.a written contract |
D.the wife’s right to receive one-tenth of her husband’s property |
2. In the society described in the passage, the legal standing of the wife in marriage was .
A.higher than that of her husband |
B.lower than that of her husband |
C.the same as that of her husband |
D.higher than that of a single woman |
3. What compensation did Maria Vivas get for the field?
A.Some of the land Miro had inherited. |
B.A tenth of Miro’s land. |
C.Money for household expenses. |
D.Money from Miro’s inheritance. |
4. Which of the following is Not mentioned as an effect of the dowry system?
A.The husband had to share the power of decision in marriage. |
B.The wife was protested from desertion. |
C.The wife gained a powerful economic position. |
D.The husband was given control over his wife’s property. |