1. In the author’s opinion, it was surprising that _______.

A. the whites would vote for a black mayor

B. a black mayor would be elected in such a large city

C. a black from a poor farmer’s family could be elected mayor of Los Angeles

D. there would be so many black mayors

4. D。主旨题。由文章第1段第2句：He was a man famous for his escapes - from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water，可知Harry 因逃脱出名，后面列举的例子谈的是他从监狱成功地逃出，所以答案为D。　

(3)

On May 29, 1973, Thomas Bradley, a black man, was elected mayor of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is the third largest city in the United States, with a population of three million. About sixteen percent of the city’s population are black.

News of this election appeared on the front pages of newspapers everywhere in the United States. Here is how one major newspaper reported the event:

LOS ANGELES ELECTS BRADLEY MAYOR UNSEATING YORTYBLACK WINS 56% OF VOTES

Bradley called his victory over Yorty “the fulfillment (实现) of a dream”. During his childhood and youth, people had kept telling him, “You can’t do this, you can’t go there, because you are a Negro.” Nevertheless he had won a decisive victory over a man who had been won 43.7 percent.

Los Angeles voters have had many opportunities to judge. Thomas Bradley had to form an opinion of him. The son of a poor farmer Texas, he joined the Los Angeles police force in 1940. During his twenty-one years on the police force he earned a law degree by attending school at night. He was elected to the city council (市政厅) ten years ago.

At the time of the Los Angeles election, three other American cities already had black mayors, but none of those cities had as large a population as Los Angeles. Besides, the percentage of blacks in those other cities was much larger. Cleveland, Ohio, had thirty-six percent black when Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967. In the same year Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Cary. In Newark, New Jersey, sixty percent of the population were black when Kenneth Gibson was elected in 1970. Thus election of a black mayor in those cities was not very surprising.

In Los Angeles thousands of white citizens voted for Thomas Bradley because they believed he would be a better mayor than the white candidate(候选人). Bradley had spent forty-eight of his fifty-five years in Los Angeles. Four years ago Bradley lost mayoral election to Yorty. This time Bradley won.

3. D。推断题。第3段第1句：他步入娱乐圈时是1891年，17岁；倒数第2句：第一次成功是1898年，时隔七年，应是24岁，可推知此题答案为D

2. A。单词理解题。根据语境，this指上文所表演的事情：第一次越狱成功。由此可推知此题答案为A。

1. B。细节题。根据第4段第2句：Harry把手、脚都训练得很灵活来摆脱手链脚铐及第4句后半部分：妻子通过接吻传给他万能钥匙，可推知此题答案为B。

4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. A Skeleton Key　　　　　　　　　　　 B. A Man of Many Secrets

C. World-wild Fame 　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. Great Escape　

[答案解析]

本文介绍了Harry Houdini特技成功的经历和方法。

3. It can be inferred from the passage that Houdini became famous _______.

A. in 1894　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. before he married

C. at the age of 17　　　　　　　　　　　 D. when he was about 24

2. In the fourth paragraph, the underlined word “this” refers to _______.

A. his first prison escape　　　　　　　　　　 B. the year 1898

C. the publicity　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. Harry Houdini’s success

1. According to the passage, Houdini’s success in prison escapes depends on _______.

A. his special tricks and supernatural powers

B. his unusual ability and a skeleton key

C. his magic tricks and unhuman powers

D. his wisdom and magic tricks

4. A。推断题。根据he stole 82 bases…the Senators’ leading hitter…threw out three batters…managed to catch a fly ball to make the third out in spite of the fog. 等细节，可以判断Hoy是他那个时代最杰出的棒球选手。

(2)

The Man of Many Secrets - Harry Houdini - was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater this century. He was a man famous for his escapes - from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.

Of course, his secret was not magic, or supernatural powers. It was simply strength. He had the ability to move his toes as well as he moved his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.

Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in club in New York. They called themselves the Houdini Brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant. But for a long time they were not very successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape, in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspapermen to watch.

It was the publicity(宣传) that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success. Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs and toes trained to escape ankle chins. But his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck - and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks, pass quickly from her mouth to his.

Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local prison of every town he visited. In the afternoon, the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? World-wild fame, and a name remembered today.