Question

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中选出最佳选项。

　　Now the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.

　　Baloney is a kind of sausage that many Americans eat often. The word also has another meaning in English. It is used to describe something, usually something someone says that is false or wrong or foolish. Baloney sausage comes from a name of the Italian city Balonia. The city is famous for its sausage, a mixture of smoked, spiced meat from cows and pigs.

　　But baloney sausage does not taste the same as beef or pork alone. Some language experts think this different taste is responsible for the birth of the expression“baloney”.“Baloney”is an idea or statement that is nothing like the truth. In the same way that baloney sausage tastes nothing like the meat that is used to make it.

　　“Baloney”is a word often used by politicians to describe the ideas of their opponents. The expression has been used for years. Fifty years ago, a former governor of New York State, Alfred Smith, criticized some claims by President Franklin Roosevelt about the successes of the Roosevelt administration. Smith said,“No matter how thin you slice it, it is still baloney.”

　　A similar word has almost the same meaning as“baloney”. It even sounds almost the same. The word is“blarney”. It began in Ireland about 1600. The lord of blarney castle near Cork agreed to surrender the castle to British troops. But he kept making excuses for postponing the surrender. And he made them sound like very good excuses. This is just more of the saying“blarney”.

　　The Irish castle now is famous for its Blarney Stone. Kissing the stone is thought to give a person special powers of speech. One who has kissed the Blarney Stone, so the story goes, can speak words of praise so smoothly and sweetly that you believe them even when you know they are false.

　　A former Roman Catholic bishop of New York City Fortin Shin once explained,“Baloney is prayed so thick it cannot be true, and blarney is prayed so thin we like it.”

　　Another expression is“pulling the wool over someone's eyes”. It means to make someone believe something that is not true. The expression goes back to the days when men wore false hair or wigs similar to those worn by judges today in British courts. The word“wool”was a popular joking work for hair. If you pull the man's wig over his eyes he could not see what was happening. Today, when you pull the wool over someone's eyes he cannot see the truth.

1．Which city does the Baloney sausage come from?

[　　]

A．Italian city.　　　　　　B．American city.

C．British city.　　　　　　D．Canadian city.

2．What kinds of meat is the Balonia's sausage from?

[　　]

A．Cows and dogs.　　　　　　B．Cows and pigs.

C．Cows and sheep.　　　　　　D．Pigs and sheep.

3．What is the meaning of“baloney”in the passage?

[　　]

A．It's a kind of sausage.

B．It's a mixture of smoked, spiced meat from cows and pigs.

C．It's an idea or statement that is nothing like the truth.

D．It's nothing but meat.

4．What is the Irish Castle famous for?

[　　]

A．Blarney Stone.　　　　　　B．Special Power of speech.

C．Sausage.　　　　　　　　D．Catholic bishop.

Answer 1

答案：A;B;C;A
解析：

1．A　由文章第二段中的“Baloney sausage comes from a name of the Italian city Balonia.”可直接做出答案。 2．B　文章第二段最后一句“The city is famous for its sausage, a mixture of smoked, spiced meat from cows and pigs.”可做出选择。 3．C　由文中第三段第三句话可知答案。 4．A　由第六段第一句话可做出选择。