A
I visited Elba last June, joining Mary and John on a bicycling vacation. They made arrangements for the car, hotel and bicycles. I studied the history of the island, which of course particularly features Napoleon.
Napoleon (now I know) picked Elba as a place for peace when he was forced to give up the throne (王权) as Emperor of France in 1814. Far from being a prison island, Elba is beautiful with towering mountains, thick forest and sweeping bays and beaches.
It is also an island filled with treasure. Very early on this island, locals discovered rich deposits of iron. Soon outsiders, too, discovered iron and 150 other valuable minerals on this little piece of land. Long before Etruscans and other Greeks set foot on it, Dorians had moved in by the tenth century BC and were mining the island. The Romans ruled next, obtaining the minerals and building grand houses overlooking the sea. From the twelfth century until the nineteenth, the island was traded back and forth and was passed to France in 1802. Then came Napoleon, the new ruler of Elba.
I was eager to visit his house in Portoferraio. The Emperor lived with his court and his mother, but his wife, Marie Louise had ensconced herself in the splendid Viennese palace of her father, Emperor of Austria. She lived safely there and showed little interest in visiting her husband in his minikingdom. Apparently, Napoleon wasn't troubled much by this. He was too busy riding everywhere on horseback, building roads, modernizing agriculture and, above all, sharpening his tiny army and navy in readiness for his escape.
In the formal gardens behind the house it seemed to me that I could imagine the exiled (流放的) conqueror's anxious thoughts. He might gaze over where I stood now, toward the lighthouse of the Stella fort, the sandy bay, and across it, the green mountains of the Tuscan coast. Napoleon spent only ten months here before making his victorious return to France and the throne.
作者介绍了自己的厄尔巴岛之行。为了这次旅行，作者研究了厄尔巴岛的历史尤其是关于拿破仑的故事。
1．What did the author do for the visit to Elba?
A．He did research on its past.
B．He arranged transportation.
C．He planned bicycling routes.
D．He booked accommodation.
答案：A
解析：细节理解题。根据第一段中的“I visited Elba last June”和“I studied the history of the island”可知，为了去厄尔巴岛，作者研究了该岛的历史。
2．Who might be the earliest outsiders to Elba according to the text?
A．Napoleon and his army.
B．Etruscans and other Greeks.
C．Dorians.
D．Romans.
答案：C
解析：细节理解题。根据第三段中的“Long before Etruscans and other Greeks set foot on it, Dorians had moved in by the tenth century BC”可知，多里安人可能是最早来到厄尔巴岛的外来人。
3．What does the underlined word “ensconced” probably mean?
A．Settled. B．Locked.
C．Cured. D．Controlled.
答案：A
解析：词义猜测题。根据画线词后的“in the splendid Viennese palace of her father, Emperor of Austria”及“She lived safely there and showed little interest in visiting her husband in his minikingdom”并结合语境可知，应该选A项。
4．What came to the author's mind during his visit to Napoleon's gardens?
A．Beautiful views on Elba.
B．Terrible living conditions on Elba.
C．Napoleon's ambition to regain power.
D．Hardship of Napoleon's return to France.
答案：C
解析：推理判断题。题干中的“Napoleon's gardens”是解题关键。可以据此将答案锁定在最后一段。根据“I could imagine the exiled (流放的) conqueror's anxious thoughts”和最后一句“Napoleon spent only ten months here before making his victorious return to France and the throne”可以判断出，作者在房子后面的花园里联想到了拿破仑夺回王位的雄心壮志。
