Ⅰ.阅读理解
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 planners 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 woodframe buildings could be lifted fairly easily. But what about large, heavy structures like the Tremont Hotel, which was a sixstory brick building?
That's where George Pullman came in. He had developed some housemoving 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 stayed 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.
芝加哥早期城市规划不合理，一遇洪灾路面就会十分泥泞，后来在工程师Ellis Chesbrough和George Pullman的努力下，成功将城市路面以及建筑物提高，避免路面受洪灾影响，但这又导致了另外一个问题的出现。
1．The author mentions the joke to show ________.
A．horses were fairly useful in Chicago
B．Chicago's streets were extremely muddy
C．Chicago was very dangerous in the spring
D．the Chicago people were particularly humorous
答案：B
解析：细节理解题。从文章第一段的内容可知，作者讲这个笑话是为了说明芝加哥的路面十分泥泞。
2．The city planners were convinced by Ellis Chesbrough to ________.
A．get rid of the street dirt B．lower the Chicago River
C．fight against heavy floods D．build the pipes above ground
答案：D
解析：细节理解题。从文章第三段第一句“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.”可得出答案。
3．The underlined word “hoist” in Paragraph 4 means “__________”．
A．change B．lift
C．repair D．decorate
答案：B
解析：词义猜测题。根据文章第四段画线词后面的“Small woodframe buildings could be lifted fairly easily.”可知，hoist与lift同义。
4．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.
答案：A
解析：推理判断题。根据第五段最后一句“Astonishingly, the Tremont Hotel stayed open during the entire operation, and many of its guests didn't even notice anything was happening.”可推断出Tremont Hotel的移动工程进行得很顺利。
