Question

In its early history，Chicago had floods frequently，especially in the spring，making the streets so muddy that people，horses，and carts got stuck.An old joke that was popular at the time went something like this：A man is stuck up to his waist in a muddy Chicago street.Asked if he needs help，he replies，"No，thanks.I've got a good horse under me."

The city planner decided to build an underground drainage （排水） system，but there simply wasn't enough difference between the height of the ground level and the water level.The only two options were to lower the Chicago River or raise the city.

An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced the city that it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dirt.This raised the level of the city's streets by as much as 12feet.

This of course created a new problem：dirt practically buried the first floors of every building in Chicago.Building owners were faced with a choice：either change the first floors of their buildings into basements，and the second stories into main floors，or hoist the entire buildings to meet the new street level.Small wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily.But what about large，heavy structures like Tremont Hotel，which was a six-story brick building？

That's where George Pullman came in.He had developed some house-moving skills successfully.To lift a big structure like the Tremont Hotel，Pullman would place thousands of jackscrews （螺旋千斤顶） beneath the building's foundation.One man was assigned to operate each section of roughly 10jackscrews.At Pullman's signal each man tured his jackscrew the same amount at the same time，thereby raising the building slowly and evenly.Astonishingly，the Tremont Hotel stay open during the entire operation，and many of its guests didn't even notice anything was happening.

Some people like to say that every problem has a solution.But in Chicago's early history，every engineering solution seemed to create a new problem.Now that Chicago's waste water was draining efficiently into the Chicago River，the city's next step was to clean the polluted river.

1.The author mentions the joke to show ______ .

A. horses were fairly useful in Chicago

B. the Chicago people were particularly humorous

C. Chicago was very dangerous in the spring

D. Chicago's streets were extremely muddy

2.The underlined word "hoist" in Paragraph 4 means" ______ ".

A. change    B. lift

C. repair    D. decorate

3.The city planners were convinced by Ellis Chesbrough to ______ .

A. build the pipes above ground    B. lower the Chicago River

C. fight against heavy floods    D. get rid of the street dirt

4.The passage is mainly about the early Chicago's ______ .

A. popular life styles and their influences

B. environmental disasters and their causes

C. engineering problems and their solutions

D. successful businessmen and their achievements.

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.A

4.C

【解析】

本文讲述了芝加哥城的问题和改造方案．

1.细节推理题。根据文章的第一段第一句话：In early history，Chicago had floors frequently，especially in the spring，making the streets so muddy that people，horses，and carts got stuck．可知芝加哥因为洪水的经常泛滥导致大街上总是泥泞不堪，行人、马和车全部都堵在路上。所以作者提及那个玩笑是为了突出芝加哥这一特点，故选D。

2.细节推理题。根据后文：Small wood-frame building could be lifted fairly easily．可知另一种方法就是将建筑升高。故选B。

3.细节理解题。根据第三段第一句话An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced the city that it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dir可知以Ellis为首的人们认为应该在地上埋管道。故选A。

4.主旨大意题。文章的第一段就提出早期芝加哥城所存在的问题，接下来的段落讨论了解决这个问题的一些方法，最后一段讲到这些方法虽然解决当前的问题，但是随之而来的又会冒出一些新的问题有待解决。故文章介绍的早期芝加哥的建造问题与解决办法。C选项正确。