大學英語六級閲讀衝刺測試16

As many as one thousand years ago in the Southwest, the Hopi and ZuniIndians of North America were building with adobe-sun baked brickplastered with mud. Their homes looked remarkably like modern apartmenthouses. Some were four stories high and contained quarters for perhaps athousand people, along with store rooms for grain and other goods. Thesebuildings were usually put up against cliffs, both to make construction easierand for defense against enemies. They were really villages in themselves, aslater Spanish explorers must have realized since they called them "pueblos", which is Spanish for town.

The people of the pueblos raised what are called"the three sisters" - corn, beans, and squash. They made excellent pottery and wove marvelous baskets, some so fine that they could hold water. The Southwest has always been adry country, where water is scarce. The Hopi and Zuni brought water fromstreams to their fields and gardens through irrigation ditches. Water was soimportant that it played a major role in their religion. They developedelaborate ceremonies and religious rituals to bring rain.

The way of life of less settled groups was simpler and more stronglyinfluenced by nature. Small tribes such as the Shoshone and Ute wanderedthe dry and mountainous lands between the Rocky Mountains and the PacificOcean. They gathered seeds and hunted small animals such as small rabbitsand snakes. In the Far North the ancestors of today’s Inuit hunted seals, walruses, and the great whales. They lived right on the frozen seas in shelterscalled igloos built of blocks of packed snow. When summer came, they fishedfor salmon and hunted the lordly caribou.

The Cheyenne, Pawnee, and Sioux tribes, known as the Plains Indians, lived onthe grasslands between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. Theyhunted bison, commonly called the buffalo. Its meat was the chief food ofthese tribes, and its hide was used to make their clothing and covering oftheir tents and tipis.

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. The architecture of early American Indian buildings.

B. The movement of American Indians across North America.

C. Ceremonies and rituals of American Indians.

D. The way of life of American Indian tribes in early North America.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that the dwellings of the Hopi and Zuniwere______.

A. very small?B. highly advanced?C. difficult to defend?D. quickly constructed

【答案解析】

1. D)根據閲讀短文可知，作者主要描述了北美地區不同印第安部落的不同的生活方式。故選項D為正確答案。

2. B)此題為推斷題。根據文章第一段可知，早在一千年前Hopi和Zuni兩支北美印第安部落就用一種磚坯“adobe”來建造房屋，高可達四層樓高，有居住室還有儲藏室，頗像現代的公寓，故選項B(高度發達)為正確答案。