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 12 feet .
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 10 jackscrews . At Pullman's signal each man turned 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 . Chicago was very dangerous in the spring
C . Chicago's streets were extremely muddy D . the Chicago people were particularly humorous
2 . The underlined word "hoist" in Paragraph 4 means________ .
A . change B . lift C . repair D . decorate
3 . What can we conclude about the moving operation of the Tremont Hotel ?
A . It went on smoothly as intended . B . It interrupted the business of the hotel .
C . It involved Pullman turning ten jackscrews . D . It separated the building from its foundation .
4 . What is the best title for the passage?
A . The early Chicago's popular life styles and their influences
B . The early Chicago's environmental disasters and their causes.
C . The early Chicago's engineering problems and their solutions.
D . The early Chicago's successful businessmen and their achievements .
1 . C
2 . B
3 . A
4 . C
【分析】
本文是一篇说明文。文章主要描述了芝加哥城的问题和改造方案,他们因为洪水的经常泛滥导致大街上总是泥泞不堪,但也已经出台了各种应对政策。
1 .
细节理解题。根据第一段 “In its early history , Chicago had floods frequently , especially in the spring , making the streets so muddy that people , horses, and carts got stuck . ” (在它的早期历史中,尤其是在春天,芝加哥经常发生洪水,街道变得如此的泥泞不堪以至于于人们、马和车经常被困住。)所以作者提到的笑话是为了突出这一点即道路的泥泞。 故选 C 项。
2 .
词义猜测题。根据第四段划线词后文 “Small wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily . ” (小的木结构的建筑会相当容易地举起来。)可知另一种方法就是将建筑升高。 A. change 改变; B. lift 升高; C. repair 维修; D. decorate 装修。故选 B 项。
3 .
推理判断题。根据最后一段 “At Pullman's signal each man turned his jackscrew the same amount at the same time , thereby raising the building slowly and evenly . ” (在普尔曼的信号下,每个人在同一时间转动起重螺旋相同的量,从而使建筑物缓慢而均匀地升起。)可知我们可以得出这样的结论:特雷蒙酒店的搬迁运营按照预期顺利进行。故选 A 项。
4 .
主旨大意题。本题为总结概括全文的主旨大意题,第一段提到芝加哥城所存在的问题,接下来讨论了解决这个问题的一些方法,最后一段讲到虽然解决了当前的问题,但随之而来又会产生一些新的有待解决的问题。故文章主要讲述的是建造的问题与解决的办法。故选 C 项。
图表作文的概念:
就是用文字结合表格、数字或图画作为写作信息提示的一种写作形式。
图表作文的分类:
图表作文可细分为表格、曲线图、柱形图和圆形图。弄懂这四种图在写作方面的各自特点,我们才可以写好这种类型的作文:
1)表格形式要求考生对表格中所给出的大量数字进行比较分析,从中找出其变化规律。
2)曲线图形式要求考生认真观察坐标系所显示的数据信息,并且密切注意交汇在坐标横轴和纵轴上的数字及单位。
3)柱形图形式要求考生通过宽度相等的柱形的高度或长度差别来判断事物的动态发展趋势,因此考生应密切关注坐标线上的刻度单位及图表旁边的提示说明与文字。
4)圆形图形式旨在要求考生准确理解并阐述一个被分割成大小不等切片的圆形图所传达的信息。考生应清楚掌握部分与整体,部分与部分之间的相互关系,这种关系通常是以百分比的数字形式给出的。
图表类英语作文具备以下特点:
1、题材涉及广泛,如人物介绍、地点介绍、新闻报道、生活话题及社会热门话题,试题设计真实性高,符合学生的认知水平,其中学校生活类题材占比例最大。体裁多种多样,包括应用文(书信、日记、通知、发言稿、寻物及招领启事等)、说明文、记叙文、议论文等。
2、图表类作文提示点一目了然,需要表达的信息一览无余。答题时无须花过多的时间去揣摩写作内容,要点一般不会遗漏。
3、图表类作文中通常是以不完整的汉语句子(包括术语或概括性的短语)作为提示形式出现。这样既能够让考生获得命题人所要求的信息,又留给考生一定的发挥空间,因而要求考生具备很强的语言驾驭能力和语篇整合能力。
注意事项:
第一步:审题,确定体裁格式、主体时态、中心人称和内容要点,避免填表式或履历表式表达。
第二步:拟定提纲,创造良好的开端;叙述得体,布局谋篇;巧妙过渡,完美结尾。
第三步:遣词造句,套用句型,上下衔接,地道表达,行文成篇(注意“参考词汇”的提示作用)。
图表式作文的几种形式:
一、表格形式(table):将统计的数据或被说明的事物直接用表格形式体现出来,即统计表。
二、图形形式:A、线形图(linegraph):以曲线形式表示数据变化;
B、条形图(bargraph):以条形方式表示数据的大小或数量之间的差异;
C、圆形图(piechart):以圆内扇形的大小表示总体内部结构变化;
图表作文四个层次要求:
图表式作文是说明文的一种。一般可分四个层次来写:
第一、按照题目要求描述图表反映的总情况,即概括大意或总趋势。
第二、对数字进行仔细的比较,分析其差异、归纳其变化。
第三、找出产生的变化及原因。
第四、写出读图表后的评论、预测或结论。
图表作文典型句式:
1、描述总趋势(单增单减)
As the chart above shows,…
We can see from the graph that…
As is described in the chart…
From the table we can find out that…
As can be seen from the chart…
As is shown in the chart, the production for all products is higher/lower/rising/increasing/falling…
2、数据分析:
Comparedwith…,/Incomparisonwith…:
(1)the number of…is more than/over…
(2)the amount of…increases/grows/rises/goes up to…/by…
(3)the number of…is similar to/almost the same as/smaller than/below…
(4)the amount of…is quite different from…/decreases/falls/drops from…to…
3、原因分析:
(1)Several factors contribute to the changes./There are some reasons for the rise in the number of
(2)First of all, In addition/More over, Perhaps the main cause is.
(3)Due to all those reasons, there is no doubt that such great changes happened.
4、结论或预测:
From the figures/statistics above,
we can conclude/draw a conclusionthat…
we can estimate(估计)that the population/amount of…will 增减increase/dropsteadily 稳固地/gradually逐渐地/rapidly迅速地稳定:remainstable 波动:rebound/wave
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2010年央视春晚的广告收入创新高,但节目中的植入广告引发了热议。最近,某网站举行了一次题为“对今年春晚植入广告的态度”的调查,请根据以下饼图(pie chart)所示信息用英语写一篇短文,并提出你自己的看法。
注意:
1、对所给提示,不要简单翻译,可适当增加细节,使行文连贯
2、词数150左右,开头已给出,不计入总词数。
3、植入广告:product placement
The 2010 Spring Festival Gala has set records for TV commercial rates, which accordingly has caused heated discussions due to product placement in the programmes.