Question

Political controversy about the public-land policy of the United States began with the American Revolution. In fact, even before independence from Britain was won, it became clear that resolving the dilemmas surrounding the public domain might prove necessary to preserve the Union itself.

At the peace negotiation with Britain, Americans demanded, and got, a western boundary at the Mississippi River. Thus the new nation secured for its birthright a vast internal empire rich in agricultural and mineral resources. But under their colonial charters, seven states—Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia—claimed portions of the western wilderness. Virginia's claim was the largest, stretching north and west to encompass the later states of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The language of the charters was vague and their validity questionable, but during the war Virginia reinforced its title by sponsoring Colonel Georgia Rogers Clark's 1778 Expedition to Vicennes and Kaskaskia, Which strengthened America's trans- Appalachian pretensions at the peace table.

The six states holding no claim to the trans-mountain region doubted whether a confederacy in which territory was so unevenly apportioned would truly prove what it claimed to be, a union of equals. Already New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Maryland were among the smallest and least populous of the States. While they levied heavy taxes to repay state war debts, their larger neighbors might retire debts out of land-sale proceeds. Drawn by fresh lands and low taxes, people would desert the small states for the large, leaving the former to fall into bankruptcy and eventually into political subjugation. All the states shared in the war effort, said the New Jersey legislature, how then could half of them “be left no sink under an enormous debt, whilst others are enabled, in a short period, to replace all their expenditures from the hard earnings of the whole confederacy?” As the Revolution was a common endeavor, so ought its fruits, including the western lands, be a common property.

　　  1. With which of the following topics is the passage primarily concerned?

　　　　  A. A controversial public-land policy.

　　　　  B. How independence from Britain was won.

　　　　  C. The land holdings of Massachusetts.

　　　　  D. How New Jersey developed its western land.

　　  2. According to the passage, the British granted the new American nation a western boundary at——.

　　　　   A. Ohio　　　　   　　　　 B. Illinois

　　　　   C. the Mississippi River　　   D. the Appalachian Mountains

　　  3. Which state laid claim to the largest land-holdings?

　　　　   A. North Carolina.　　　　　　 B. South Carolina.

　　   C. Virginia.　　　　　　　　   D. Georgia.

　　  4. In line 13, the word “stretching” could best be replaced by which of the following?

　　　　   A. Lengthening.　　　　　　   B. Increasing.

　　　　   C. Exaggerating.　　　　　　  D. Extending.

 

Answer 1

答案：1A2C3C4D
解析：

1．A。文章第一句话就点明了主题：美国关于公共土地政策的政治纠纷始于美国独立战争，接下来作者阐明了这一纠纷的产生、发展以及解决。     2．C。见文章第二段第一句，大意为：在与英国的和平谈判中，美国人要求并获得了以密西西比河为其西部边界。     3．C。问题为哪一个州要求获得最大的土地管辖权。文章第二段第四句的大意为：弗吉尼亚要求最大的土地管辖权。     4．D。文章第二段第四句大意为：弗吉尼亚要求最大的土地管辖权，地区向北和向西延伸，包括后来的肯塔基、俄亥俄、印第安纳、伊利诺伊、密歇根和威斯康星。