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AmongthemorecolorfulcharactersofLeadville’sgoldenagewereH.A.W.Taborandhissecondwife,ElizabethMcCourt,betterknownas“BabyDoe”.TheirhistoryisfastbecomingoneofthelegendsoftheOldWest.HoraceAustinWarnerTaborwasaschoolteacherinVermont.WithhisfirstwifeandtwochildrenheleftVermontbycoveredwagonin1855tohomesteadinKansas.Perhapshedidnotfindfarmingtohisliking,orperhapshewasluredbyrumorsoffortunestobemadeinColoradomines.Atanyrate,afewyearslaterhemovedwesttothesmallColoradominingcampknownasCaliforniaGulch,whichhelaterrenamedLeadvillewhenhebecameitsleadingcitizen.“Greatdepositsofleadaresuretobefoundhere.”hesaid.
Asitturnedout,itwassilver,notlead,thatwastomakeLeadville’sfortuneandwealth.Taborknewlittleaboutmininghimself,soheopenedageneralstore,whichsoldeverythingfrombootstosalt,flour,andtobacco.『Itwashiscustomto“grubstake”prospectiveminers,inotherwords,tosupplythemwithfoodandsupplies,or“grub”,whiletheylookedforore,inreturnforwhichhewouldgetashareinthemineifonewasdiscovered.』①Hedidthisforanumberofyears,butnoonethatheaidedeverfoundanythingofvalue.
Finallyonedayintheyear1878,sothestorygoes,twominerscameinandaskedfor“grub”.Taborhaddecidedtoquitsupplyingitbecausehehadlosttoomuchmoneythatway.Thesewerepersistent,however,andTaborwastoobusytoarguewiththem.“Ohhelpyourself.Onemoretimewon’tmakeanydifference,”Hesaidandwentonsellingshoesandhatstoothercustomers.Thetwominerstook$17worthofsupplies,inreturnforwhichtheygaveTaboraone-thirdinterestintheirfindings.Theypickedabarrenplaceonthemountainsideandbegantodig.Afterninedaystheystruckarichveinofsilver.Taborboughtthesharesoftheothertwomen,andsotheminebelongedtohimalone.Thismine,knownasthe“PittsburghMine,”made1300000forTaborinreturnforhis$17investment.
LaterTaborboughttheMatchlessMineonanotherbarrenhillsidejustoutsidethetownfor$117000.ThisturnedouttobeevenmorefabulousthanthePittsburgh,yielding$35000worthofsilverperdayatonetime.Leadvillegrew.Taborbecameitsfirstmayor,andlaterbecamelieutenantgovernorofthestate.
1.LeadvillegotitsnameforthefollowingreasonsEXCEPT______.
A.becauseTaborbecameitsleadingcitizen
B.becausegreatdepositsofleadisexpectedtobefoundthere
C.becauseitcouldbringgoodfortunetoTabor
2.Theword“grubstake”inparagraph2means_______.
A.tosupplyminerswithfoodandsupplies
C.todoone’scontributiontothedevelopmentofthemine
D.tosupplyminerswithfoodandsuppliesandinreturngetashareinthemine,ifonewasdiscovered
3.Tabormadehisfirstfortune__________.
A.bysupplyingtwoprospectiveminersandgettinginreturnaone-thirdinterestinthefindings
B.becausehewaspersuadedbythetwominerstoquitsupplying
C.bybuyingthesharesoftheother
4.TheunderlyingreasonforTabor’slifecareeris_________.
B.basedontheanalysisofminer’sbeingverypoorandtheirpossibilityofdiscoveringprofitableminingsite
C.throughthehelpfromhissecondwife
D.heplannedwellandaccomplishedtargetsstepbystep
5.Ifthispassageisthefirstpartofanarticle,whomightbeintroducedinthefollowingpart?
B.Tabor’ssecondwife,ElizabethMcCourt.
C.Othercolorfulcharacters.
5.grubstakev.下注
①【解析】“It”是形式主语,真正的主语是“to”后面的句子,“while”引导时间状语从句。
【译文】他的通常做法是对来采矿的人“下注”,说得更明确一点就是泰勃供给这些人食品、用品等物品,作为回报,当他们采到矿后就会分给他一部分股份。
【短文大意】本文主要讲述霍塞斯·奥斯汀·沃纳·泰勃发家的故事。
1.C细节题。因为Leadville可以为Tabor带来巨富。这一点不是Leadville得名的原因,因为在文章第二段中,讲到这一点时,提及三个原因:A.因为Tabor成为当地的居民代表人物,B.因为在Leadville有丰富的铅的储藏量。D.因为Leadville是因为Tabor重要而起的名,唯独C没有,因为到后来发现是银矿才给他带来巨富。
2.D词汇题。第二段中grubstake的词义与D所述内容是相同的,即“供给探矿者资金,衣物,食品以及其他物品”。(可参阅英华大辞典修订第二版64页)但此处还补充地讲,作为回报,供给者可以获得矿中资源一定份额。(见文章第二段第4行)
3.A细节题。Tabor第一次真正发财是他为两名矿工提供资助,为此他获得他们矿资源三分之一的股份。见文章第三段4-9行内容:两名开矿者从Tabor那儿借走价值17美元的物品,作为回报,Tabor获得他们矿资源三分之一股份。于是两位开矿者在一座山旁的不毛之地开始挖掘,九天之后,发现了银的富矿,于是Tabor又将两人的股份全买下,这样,银矿属于Tabor一个人所有,这个矿就是后来著名的“匹兹堡”矿。Tabor用17美元的投资换来了130万美元的收获。
4.B推断题。由原文可知泰勃的财产来源是有一定偶然性的,但是毕竟也是基于他开创的“grubstake”模式,因为A、D都不对,C更是没有根据,因为他还没有娶第二位夫人这一切就发生了。分析泰勃的做法,会得出B选项所示的结论。
5.B推断题。如果本文是一篇文章的第一部分,那么在文章的第二部分将介绍谁呢?key可以从文章第一句分析出来,在Leadville的黄金年代,其多彩的特点当中,Tabor及其第二任妻子ElizabethMcCourt是值得大书特书的,接着,文章都在讲述有关H.A.W.Tabor发家致富的历史,如先买下匹兹堡矿,后又买下Matchless矿,最后成为市长,代理州长,等等,所以涉及到的全是男主人公,因此下边再讲的话,应成为女主人公即ElizabethMcCourt的天地了,她是Tabor的第二任妻子。这是顺理成章的事。
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