Question

Among the more colorful characters of Leadville’s golden age were H. A. W. Tabor and his wife, Elizabeth McCourt, better known as “Baby Doe”. Their history is fast becoming one of the legends of the Old West.

Horace Austin Warner Tabor was a school teacher in Vermont. Then he moved west to the small Colorado mining camp known as California Gulch, which he later renamed Leadville when he became its leading citizen. “Great deposits of lead are sure to be found here.” he said.

As it turned out, it was silver, not lead, that was to make Leadville’s fortune and wealth. Tabor knew little about mining himself, so he opened a general store, which sold everything from boots to salt, flour, and tobacco. It was his custom to “grubstake” prospective miners, in other words, to supply them with food and supplies, or “grub”, while they looked for ore（礦石）, in return for which he would get a share in the mine if one was discovered. He did this for a number of years, but no one that he aided ever found anything of value.

Finally one day in the year 1878, so the story goes, two miners came in and asked for “grub”. Tabor had decided to quit supplying it because he had lost too much money that way. These were persistent, however, and Tabor was too busy to argue with them. “Oh help yourself. One more time won’t make any difference,” He said and went on selling shoes and hats to other customers. The two miners took $17 worth of supplies, in return for which they gave Tabor a one-third interest in their findings. They picked a barren place on the mountain side and began to dig. After nine days they struck a rich vein of silver. Tabor bought the shares of the other two men, and so the mine belonged to him alone. This mine, known as the “Pittsburgh Mine,” made $1,300,000 for Tabor in return for his $17 investment.

Later Tabor bought the Matchless Mine on another barren hillside just outside the town for $117,000. This turned out to be even more fabulous than the Pittsburgh, yielding $35,000 worth of silver per day at one time. Leadville grew. Tabor became its first mayor, and later became lieutenant governor of the state.

 

1.Leadville got its name for the following reasons EXCEPT that

A.Tabor became its leading citizen.

B.great deposits of lead is expected to be found there.

C.it could bring good fortune to Tabor

D.it was renamed

2.The underlined word “grubstake” in Paragraph 3 means

A.to supply miners with food and supplies

B.to open a general stores

C.to do one's contribution to the development of the mine

D.to supply miners with food and supplies and in return get a share in the mine, if one was discovered

3.We can infer that Tabor’s life career is.

A.purely lucky

B.based on his managing theory of “grubstake’

C.through the help from his wife

D.because he planned well and accomplished targets step by step

4.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A．Tabor’s Life.                        B．A legend of the Old West

C．Lead Makes Leadville’s Fortune        D．The Best Investment

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.C

2.D

3.B

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：本文主要講述霍塞斯·奧斯汀·沃納·泰勃發(fā)家的故事。先買下匹茲堡礦，后又買下Matchless礦，最后成為市長，代理州長的傳奇故事。

1.細節(jié)題。因為Leadville可以為Tabor帶來巨富。這一點不是Leadville得名的原因，因為在文章第二段中，講到這一點時，提及三個原因：A.因為Tabor成為當?shù)氐木用翊�表人物，B.因為在Leadville有豐富的鉛的儲藏量。D.因為Leadville是因為Tabor重要而起的名，唯獨C沒有，因為到后來發(fā)現(xiàn)是銀礦才給他帶來巨富。選C

2.猜詞題：第二段中, in other words, to supply them with food and supplies, or “grub”, while they looked for ore（礦石）, in return for which he would get a share in the mine if one was discovered.，可知grubstake的詞義與D所述內(nèi)容是相同的，即“供給探礦者資金，衣物，食品以及其他物品”。此處還補充地講，作為回報，供給者可以獲得礦中資源一定份額。選D

3.推斷題。由原文可知泰勃的財產(chǎn)來源是有一定偶然性的，但是畢竟也是基于他開創(chuàng)的“grubstake”模式，因為A、D都不對，C更是沒有根據(jù)，因為他還沒有娶第二位夫人這一切就發(fā)生了。選B

4.主旨題：文章都在講述有關(guān)H.A.W.Tabor發(fā)家致富的歷史，如先買下匹茲堡礦，后又買下Matchless礦，最后成為市長，代理州長，等等，所以涉及到的全是男主人公，從第一段的句子：Their history is fast becoming one of the legends of the Old West. 可知A legend of the Old West是最貼切的標題。選B。

考點：考查人物傳記類短文