2024年6月16日发(作者：)

专业英语四级阅读-25

(总分100,考试时间90分钟)

READING COMPREHENSION

TEXT A

Horse thieves, cattle rustlers, bank robbers, train and stagecoach robbers, highwaymen,

murderers, these were but some of the criminals who infested (遍布于) the American frontier

during the 19th century. In English legend Robin Hood can be considered a bandit, but the outlaws

of the Old West were far more violent men and women without any scruples when it came to

taking property or life.

The careers of many outlaws have been glamorized through fictional accounts of their deeds

and their exploits have been the basis for many movie scripts.

The era of the American outlaw lasted about 100 years roughly from 1800 until 1900. There

had been lawlessness during the colonial era. Frontiers have always attracted misfits, failures, and

renegades (背教者) who hope to profit by being beyond the reach of government. In the years just

before the Revolutionary War, gangs of horse thieves in the back country of South Carolina were

broken up by organized bands of farmers called Regulators.

As frontier settlement expanded rapidly after the Revolution, more opportunities for criminals

opened. **mon types of bandits were highwaymen and river pirates. Highwaymen accosted (搭讪)

people who traveled on foot or horseback, while river pirates preyed upon the boat traffic on the

Ohio, Mississippi, and other rivers. Some bandits engaged in both.

Criminality in the West gathered momentum (势头) with the gold rushes to California, Idaho,

Montana, Nevada, and other states. Stagecoaches and trains carrying gold and money became

prime targets for bands of outlaws. Bank robberies emerged after the California Gold Rush of

1849 and as prosperity found its way to frontier towns. The first stage robbery was recorded in

1851, and the first train robbery happened in 1866.

After the Civil War there was the growth of the cattle kingdom in Texas and neighboring states.

Cattle rustling and horse theft turned into significant operations. Range wars bred a great amount

of violence. Cattlemen fought over land and water rights, and they fought with great bitterness

against sheep farmers. In Texas, range wars were fought over the use of barbed wire to fence

grazing land.

By the end of the 19th century, the frontier era was past. Major crime shifted to the cities.

Ethnic gangs had existed in the slums for decades, preying mostly on their fellow immigrants.

With the arrival of Prohibition in the 1920s, an impetus was given to the formation of organized

crime as it exists today.

1. At the beginning of the passage the author indicates thatA. Robin Hood was as creel as a

bandit. B. the story of Robin Hood has never been documented. C. the criminals in America's

Old West were extremely cruel. D. the Western countries used to be infested with bandits.

2. We can infer from the passage that the careers of some outlawsA. are materials of many

fictions. B. have been glorified in some movies. C. are criticized by people in our time. D.

have been recorded.

3. What happened immediately after the American Revolution?A. The number of crimes was less

than that after frontier settlement. B. Major criminal behaviors took a new tuna. C. The number

of criminals largely increased. D. Crimes shifted from the land to the sea.

4. According to Paragraphs 5 and 6, which of the following is INCORRECT?A. The gold rushes

brought about more opportunities for crimes. B. Banks gained their prosperity in frontier towns

after 1849. C. After the Civil War, thieves turned to steal cattle and horses. D. In Texas,

cattlemen had to fight for the access to land and water.

5. Modern crime is characterized byA. unlimited violence. B. great diversity. C.

unimaginable cruelty. D. careful planning.

TEXT B

Once upon a time, in the "Dominion of New Haven" it was illegal to kiss your children on

Sunday. Or make a bed or cut your hair or eat mince pies or cross a river unless you were a

clergyman riding your circuit. If you lived in Connecticut in 1650, there was no mistaking Sunday

for just another shopping day; regardless of whether you'd go to hell for breaking the Sabbath (安

息日), you could certainly go to jail. Centuries later, the sense that Sunday is special is still wired

in us, a miniature sabbatical (休假) during which to peel off the rest of the week and savor ritual,

religious or otherwise.

The idea that rest is a right has deep roots in our history. Blue laws were a gift as much as a

duty, a command to relax and reflect. America does not readily sit still, even for a day. The Civil

War and a demand for news brought the Sunday paper into being; industrialization inspired

progressives to argue that libraries and museums should open on Sundays so working people

could elevate themselves. Major league baseball held its first Sunday game in 1892. Over time,

Sunday has gone from a day we could do only a very few things to the only day we can do just

about anything we want.

If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan, Albert Schweitzer said—which raise a

question for our times: what do we lose if Sunday becomes just like any other day? Lawmakers in

Virginia got to spend part of their summer break debating that question, thanks to a mistake they

made last winter when they unintentionally revived a "day of rest" rule: hotels and hospitals and

nuclear power plant would have had to give workers a weekend day off or be fined $500. After a

special legislative session was convened to fix the error, Virginia's workers, like the rest of us, are

once more potentially on call 24/7. Social conservatives may want to honor the Fourth

Commandment, but businesses want the income, states need the tax revenues, and busy families

want the flexibility.

With progress, of course, comes backlash from those who desperately want to preserve the old

ways. Mom-and-pop liquor stores (夫妻酒店) in New York fought to keep the Blue laws to have

more time with their families. Chich-fil-A, a chain of more than 1,100 restaurants in 37 states,

closes on Sundays because its founder, Truett Cathy, promised employees time to "worship, spend

time with family and friends or just plain rest from the work week", says the chain's website.

"Made sense then, still makes sense now." Pope John Paul even wrote a letter in defense of

Sunday: "When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes merely part of a 'weekend',"

he wrote, "people stay locked within a horizon so limited that they can no longer see 'the

heavens'."

In an age with no free time, we buy it through hard choices. Do we skip church so we can

sleep in or skip soccer so we can go to church or find a family ritual—cook together, read together,

a Parcheesi challenge—that we treat as sacred? That way, at least some part of Sunday faces in a

different direction, whether toward heaven or toward one another.

6. People in Connecticut in 1650A. could go shopping on Sundays. B. should not make mistakes

on Sundays. C. would go to hell for not having the Sabbath. D. would be imprisoned for

breaking the Sabbath.

7. Centuries gone, the sense of SundayA. has **pletely. B. still stay the same. C.

has been rooted in our mind. D. is more or less forgotten by us.

8. According to the passage, a "day of rest" rule of VirginiaA. was abandoned at last. B. finally

let workers enjoy a weekend day off. C. was finally approved by the Virginia government. D.

gained support from all kinds of business.

9. According to the passage, the Fourth Commandment probablyA. allowed people to have a day

off in a week. B. went against the Blue laws. C. was supported by businessmen. D. was not

feasible.

10. Which is the best title of the passage?A. Dominion of New Haven B. Blue

Laws C. On the Seventh Day We Rested D. Sunday

TEXT C

By the time Laszlo Polgar's first baby was born in 1969 he already had firm views on

child-rearing. An eccentric citizen of communist Hungary, he had written a book called Bring up

Genius and one of his favourite sayings was "Geniuses are made, not born".

An expert on the theory of chess, he proceeded to teach little Zsuzsa at home, spending up to

ten hours a day on the game. Two more daughters were similarly hot-housed. All three obliged

their father by becoming world-class players. The youngest, Judit, is currently ranked 13th in the

world, and is by far the best female chess player of all time.

Would the experiment have succeeded with a different trio of children! If any child can be