Question

As a young adult, Noah Webster was a teacher. At this time, the colonies were fighting for independence from Britain. Yet the books that American children used in school all came from Britain. The books were all about British people and British places. Webster wanted books that would mean more to American children. So he wrote three books that used American examples — a grammar book, a spelling book, and a reader. These books were very popular, and millions of them were sold.

Webster was interested in changing the spellings of words. He wanted words to be spelled the way they were pronounced. For example, he thought the word “head” should be spelled “hed”, and the word “laugh” should be spelled “laf”. People liked Webster’s suggestions.

However, few words were actually changed. One group of words that were changed were words in which an unpronounced “u” followed an “o”. That is why Americans write “color” and “labor”, and the British write “colour” and “labour”.

With the money he made from his books, Webster was able to write. It was the first American English dictionary, published in 1828. Webster’s dictionary had over 70000 words and gave the meaning and origin of each. To this day, Webster’s work is the example that most dictionaries of American English follow.

1.Which of the following statements is right?

A. Noah Webster had to borrow books from Britain when he was a student.

B. Noah Webster had his own government when he was very young.

C. When Noah Webster taught at schools, he wrote some story books.

D. As a teacher, Noah Webster wasn’t satisfied with the books he used.

2.The third paragraph mainly tells us that ________.

A. Webster spoke English in a different way

B. American people didn’t write English as exactly as English people did

C. Webster was good at correcting mistakes in textbooks

D. American people didn’t like speaking English

3.In American history, Noah Webster is famous for ________.

A. his teaching methods

B. his dictionary

C. his fighting for freedom

D. learning foreign languages

4.The last sentence of this passage means ________.

A. most dictionaries in the world are the copies of Webster’s

B. most dictionaries in American English have the characteristics of Webster’s

C. most American people followed Webster’s advice on writing

D. Webster’s dictionary is the only one used in the United States

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.B

4.D

【解析】

试题分析: 本文主要讲了韦伯斯特英语字典的来源，一位美国教师韦伯斯特为了让学生更好的了解美国，他编写了语法，拼写等教材，后来他对英语的拼写很感兴趣，他想把英语拼写成它发音的方式，最后他编了美国第一本英语字典。

1.1】D 细节理解题。根据文中第一段At this time, the colonies were fighting for independence from Britain. Yet the books that American children used in school all came from Britain. The books were all about British people and British places. Webster wanted books that would mean more to American children.可知，那时候美国正在争取脱离英国独立，但美国孩子使用的课本都来自英国，课本讲述的都是英国的事情，所以韦伯斯特想让学生使用对美国课本，也就是他对课本不满意，故选D。

2.2】B 细节理解题。根据文中第三段One group of words that were changed were words in which an unpronounced “u” followed an “o”. 可知，美国人在语言上是有所改变的，并不像英国人那样拼写的准确。所以选B。

3.3】B 推理判断题。根据文中最后一段可知，韦伯斯特编写的字典是美国第一本字典，以后的字典都是以他的字典为典范，所以他是以字典而闻名的。故选B。

4.4】D 推理判断题。根据文中最后一段To this day, Webster’s work is the example that most dictionaries of American English follow.可知，韦伯斯特的字典是美国曾经使用过的唯一的字典，故选D。

考点：考查人物类短文阅读。