Question

The heart of Mexico is a high, oval valley surrounded by mountains. Once, forests covered the mountainsides, and broad, shining lakes covered nearly all the valley floor. Now, the mountains are bare and scarred with erosion（侵蝕）, and much of the valley floor is dry and dusty.

Cortez and his Spanish soldiers were the first Europeans to enter this valley. They saw the thriving Aztec city of Tenochtitlan rising from an island in one of the lakes. Surrounding it were green floating gardens. The Spaniards said it was as beautiful as a dream. Then the conquest  began. 

By 1521, when the Spaniards had conquered the fierce Aztecs, the island city was in ruins. Cortez decided to rebuild it after the pattern of European cities. Using the conquered Aztecs as slave laborers, Cortez built the new city, now Mexico City, in just four years.

“But a generation had scarcely passed after the conquest before a sad change came over these scenes so beautiful,” writes one historian. The broad, shining lakes began to dry up.

Modern historians believe that Cortez began the destruction of the valley’s lakes when be ordered the city rebuilt. A great deal of charcoal was needed to burn the limestone (石灰石) from which cement (水泥) and mortar were made. Wood was needed to finish the interiors of the buildings.

The mountainside forests were destroyed to provide the charcoal and wood. Once the sloped were bare, rainfall o longer seeped (滲漏) slowly into the earth to feed the springs that filled the valley’s lakes. Instead, rainfall poured off the mountainsides the city from floods, later rulers made a cut through the mountains so that the water drained away into another valley. Mexico City, once an island, had become a city of a dry plain.

The underlined word “thriving” in the second paragraph means _______.

A. developing successfully          B. increasing

C. failing                         D. growing little

Which statement does this article lead you to believe?

Keeping nature’s balance is not important any more.

Men thought nature’s resources would last forever.

New forests always automatically replace old ones.

The Aztecs didn’t begin to flourish until Cortez came.

Why did later rulers cut through the mountains ?

They wanted to fill the city with rainwater.

They wanted the valleys to flood regularly.

They wanted to plant more trees.

They wanted to protect the city from floods.

One the whole, the article tells about ______.

Mexico as it looked when it was a European city

Modern historians who write about Mexico City

Mexico city before and after the Spaniards came

The beautiful scenery in Mexico

What is the author’s purpose of writing this article?

A .To tell the beauty and ugliness of Mexico City

B. To introduce the terrible change of Mexico City

C. To explain how Mexico City changed

D. To make people aware of the importance of nature balance

Answer 1

【小題1】A

【小題2】B

【小題3】D

【小題4】C

【小題5】D

解析:

【小題1】本題考查根據(jù)上下文猜測特定詞語含義的能力。由本段下文 “Surrounding it were green floating gardens. The Spaniards said it was as beautiful as a dream”.可知A為最佳答案。thriving 繁榮的。

【小題2】 本題考查根據(jù)文章相關(guān)信息進行正誤判斷的能力。通讀全文可知，由于大肆亂砍亂伐，原來一個美麗的城市變成了干燥的平原，由此可推知保持自然的平衡很重要，A項錯誤；從故事的結(jié)局可知森林一去不復(fù)返，所以C錯誤；D項屬事實錯誤，只有B項符合題意。

【小題3】本題考查理解文章細節(jié)信息的能力。根據(jù)最后一段 “Instead, rainfall poured off the mountainsides the city from floods, later rulers made a cut through the mountains so that the water drained away into another valley.” 可知D為最佳答案。

【小題4】本題考查理解文章主旨要義的能力。由文章第一段和文章結(jié)尾的一句話 “Mexico City, once an island, had become a city of a dry plain.”可知C為最佳答案。

【小題5】本題考查根據(jù)文章內(nèi)容判斷作者寫作意圖能力。本文主要講述了Mexico City原來一個美麗的城市,而現(xiàn)在卻變成了干燥的平原，讓人們意識到保護自然平衡的重要性。