Question

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 7 — At 26, many people haven’t even decided on a career. Luke Ravenstahl, cashing in on his family’s political tradition, is already the mayor of Pittsburgh, the youngest mayor of any major city in the country. Although mayors elsewhere have been younger, Jeff Dunkel was 18 in 2001 when he was elected mayor of Mount Carbon, small towns in New York, and elsewhere have also elected teenagers as mayors. But, Tallahassee, is the only other city with a population over 100,000 that has had a mayor as young as Mr. Ravenstahl. A supporter of Mr. Ravenstahl said concerns about Mr. Ravenstahl’s age would dissipate once the city saw his work ethic.

 But now comes the hard part. As he strives to be taken seriously and take charge of a city only recently back from the brink of bankruptcy, the baby-faced mayor said that even the smallest decisions felt weighty, even what to wear in the Steelers game matters.

And another pressing issue is to strengthen the city’s economy. Pittsburgh has lost all its mills, nearly half its population and much of its downtown commercial district in the last several decades. “But Pittsburgh has 50,000 college students, and our challenge is to figure out how to retain them and to increase downtown development.” He said.

But one of the biggest uncertainties is how long he will remain in office. According to the city charter, Mayor Ravenstahl’s term will not expire until November 2009. Some city lawyers, however, have argued that he must face the electorate next year. And residents in Pittsburgh are still withholding judgment on him. Deli, Jimmy Cvetic, a sandwich shop owner, said “I call him Cool Hand Luke. He’ll be all right, but he’s going to need a cool hand to get through this.”

Mayor Ravenstahl said he was still coming to terms with the challenge he faced.

41. About Luke Ravenstahl, which of the following statements is correct?

He is the youngest mayor in the U.S.A.

His family background has contributed to his successful political career.

His young age has won support from media and young voters.

He will be mayor of Pittsburgh at least until 2009.

42. The underlined word “dissipate” in the first paragraph probably means________.

A. disappear                 B. appear                      C. spread               D. reduce

43. What can you infer from the article about Pittsburgh?

A. It is a small town in New York famous for steel mills.

B. It has always enjoyed prosperous economic success.

C. Many young college students there are the new hope of the district.

D. It is a major city in the U.S.A with a population slightly smaller than 100,000.

44. Where can you find this article?

A. A magazine      

B. A brochure about politicians

C. A newspaper

D. An advertisement about some mayor candidates

45. What kind of Challenges will not Luke Ravenstahl cope with?

A. Distrust from his citizens                      B. pressure from other outstanding young majors

C. economical standstill of his city              D. decreasing population in his city

Answer 1

41. B  42. A  43. C  44. C  45. B 

解析:

41.細節(jié)理解題。由第一段cashing in on his family’s political tradition可知，選項B正確；由第一段第二、三行可知，他只是major city最年輕的州長，而Small towns還有更年輕的州長，排除選項A；由第一段末句可知他并未已經(jīng)獲得媒體和青年選民的支持，排除選項C；由倒數(shù)第二段可知，他不一定任期到209年，他還必須面臨次年的選舉，排除選項D。

42.  詞義猜測題。由語境可推知句意為“一旦選民看到他的職業(yè)道德，對他年齡的顧慮自然就消失了”，故dissipate表示“消失”之意。

43. C  細節(jié)推斷題。A項文中并未提到；B項與第二段第二行的事實正好相反；C項在第三段第三行有交待；由第一段第四句可知，10萬人口是指Tallahassee，而不是Pittsburgh，再說文中是over，與選項中的smaller也不符，選項D錯。

44. 推理判斷題。文段首PITTSBURGH, Sept. 7是新聞最明顯的標志。

45.  細節(jié)理解題。由第一段末句和第二段前兩句可知，選項A正確；由第二段the brink of bankruptcy 和第三段第一句可知，C項正確；由第三段第二句可知選項D正確。