Question

阅读理解

　　A “dark horse” is one that shows unexpected racing speed and comes in first, even though the experts said he had little chance of winning.

　　In politics, an unknown candidate(候选人)for office who wins a nomination(提名)or election is called a “dark horse”.British Prime Minister Benjamin Disrael is believed to have been the first to use the phrase. In his novel, “The Young Duke”, published in 1831. Disrael described a horse race and told how the two top choices fell behind, while “a dark horse” which had never been thought of rushing past the grandstand (看台)in a sweeping triumph. From racing to politics was a short step. As a political phrase, "dark horse" appeared for the first time in the national Democratic Party congress of 1844. The. “dark horse” was James Knox Polk who be－e the 11th President of the United States.

　　Polk had been the leader of the House of Representatives from 1835 to 1839．He had also been Governor of the state of Tennessee. But as a national leader, he was considered a political nobody. Nevertheless, he surprisingly won the Democratic nomination and was elected President.

　　Martin Van Buren of New York, a former President, seemed sure of getting the nomination. But he opposed making the territory of Texas part of the United States as another state. He was against it because there was slavery in Texas. Van Buren did not want another slave state in the Union. As a result, he lost support among those Democrats who supported slavery.

　　At the 1884 congress, Van Buren could not get enough votes to win the nomination. The congress got into trouble. Therefore, the Democratic leaders decided that the only wise thing would be to run a “dark horse”, a man who could unite the party.

　　And so, one of the party leaders, George Bancroft, proposed the name of James Knox Polk. He won, and the party united behind him. And he defeated his opponent, Henry Clay of the Whig Party. After the 1844 congress, the “dark horse” candidates became an established fact of national political life.

　　One historian said, “The invention of the dark horse was in itself a remarkable product of our professional politics.” This made it possible for party leaders to choose candidates who were not tied to certain ideas. Therefore, they represented nothing and had developed few enemies.

1．The term “dark horse” is often used to refer to ________.

[　　]

A．a horse that can be in the lead all the time

B．a horse that can attracts attention for its dark color

C．a person that people think the first to succeed

D．a person who achieves some goal unexpectedly

2．The author introduced the novel “The young Duke” with the intention that ________.

[　　]

A．he would come to tell us about a "dark horse" in politics

B．he would point out how the nobleman appreciated horse racing

C．he would tell us how the dark horse rushed past the two top horses

D．he would describe the fierce competition in the party

3．The failure of Martin Van Buren in the nomination lay in the fact that ________.

[　　]

A．he opposed the territory of Texas becoming a part of the United States

B．he had already been president of the United States for four years

C．he couldn't get support from the Democrats who would keep slavery

D．he had made few achievements during his presidency

4．According to the author, Polk's being nominated and elected President is considered entirely ________.

[　　]

A．a good choice

B．a lucky chance

C．a difficult process

D．an expected result

5．Nominating a candidate sometimes needs the invention of the dark horse. But it's only when ________.

[　　]

A．everyone in one party wouldn't make any enemies

B．there is quite a different point between groups of party members

C．each one in one party sticks to his idea

D．all the party members were not tied to certain ideas

Answer 1

答案：D;A;C;B;B
解析：