Question

    Up till about 130 years ago, newspapers in the United States attracted only the most serious readers. They used no illustration (插图) and the articles were about politics or business.

Two men changed that - Joseph Pulitzer bought the New York World and William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal. Pulitzer bought the New York World in 1883. He changed it from a traditional newspaper into a very exciting one overnight. He added lots of illustrations and he told his reporters to write articles on every crime they could find. And they did. One of them-a woman reporter, even pretended she was mad and was sent to a hospital. She then wrote many articles about the poor treatment of patients in those hospitals where mad men were kept.

In 1895, Hearst came to New York from California. He wanted the Journal to be more exciting than the World. He also wanted it to be cheaper, so he lowered the price to a penny. Hearst attracted attention because his newspaper headings were bigger than anyone else’s. He often says, “Big print makes big news.”

Pulitzer and Hearst did anything they could to sell newspapers. For example, Hearst sent Frederic Remington, the famous illustrator, to draw pictures of the Spanish-American War. When he got there, he told Hearst that no fighting was going on, Hearst answered, “You provide the pictures. I’ll provide the war.”

1.What kind of news did American newspapers carry 130 years ago?

A.Only serious matters. B.All kinds of exciting news.

C.Crimes and mad people. D.The treatment of patients in hospital.

2.What can we know about the woman reporter in the second paragraph?

A.She helped Joseph Pulitzer buy the New York Journal.

B.She was forced to be mad and was sent to a hospital.

C.She learned a lot about the real life of the mad patients in hospital.

D.She made the newspaper from traditional to exciting.

3.Pulitzer and Hearst used all the means EXCEPT ________ to make newspapers exciting.

A.adding illustrations into newspapers

B.satisfying the needs of politicians

C.getting the reporters to write about crimes

D.printing big newspaper headings

4.What does this passage mainly talk about?

A.The difficulties that the newspaper owners faced.

B.Two most famous reporters of the United States.

C.Newspaper owners were fond of crimes and war.

D.Two important men changed newspapers greatly.

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.B

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要讲述了Joseph Pulitzer和William Randolph Hearst这两个人使报纸发生了很大的变化。

1.细节理解题。根据文章第一段中“Up till about 130 years ago, newspapers in the United States attracted only the most serious readers. They used no illustration (插图) and the articles were about politics or business(直到大约130年前，美国的报纸只吸引最严肃的读者。他们没有使用插图和文章是关于政治或商业。)”由此可知，130年前，美国报纸上刊登的新闻只有严肃的事情。结合选项，故选A。

2.推理判断题。根据文章第二段中“One of them-a woman reporter, even pretended she was mad and was sent to a hospital. She then wrote many articles about the poor treatment of patients in those hospitals where mad men were kept.”其中一名女记者甚至假装自己疯了，被送进了医院。接着，她写了许多文章，讲述《广告狂人》所在医院里病人的糟糕待遇。由此可以推知，她了解了很多关于医院里那些疯病人的真实生活。结合选项，故选C。

3.细节理解题。根据第二段中“He added lots of illustrations and he told his reporters to write articles on every crime they could find. (他加了很多插图，并告诉记者，要写每一个罪行。)”以及倒数第二段中“Hearst attracted attention because his newspaper headings were bigger than anyone else’s. He often says, “Big print makes big news.” (赫斯特之所以引起人们的注意，是因为他的报纸标题比其他任何人的标题都大。他经常说：“大的报纸能带来大的新闻。” ) ”结合选项，A，C和D文中均有提到，但B文章并未提到。故选B。

4.主旨大意题。根据文章第二段中“Two men changed that - Joseph Pulitzer bought the New York World and William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal. Pulitzer bought the New York World in 1883. He changed it from a traditional newspaper into a very exciting one overnight. (两个人改变了这一点——约瑟夫·普利策买下了《纽约世界》，威廉·伦道夫·赫斯特买下了《纽约日报》。普利策在1883年买下了纽约世界。他一夜之间把它从一份传统报纸改成了一份非常激动人心的报纸。)”由此可知，这篇文章主要讲了两个重要人物使报纸发生了很大的变化。结合选项，故选D。