[沖刺中考]英語(yǔ)閱讀與填空：23-Wednesday 歷史故事 267詞

23-Wednesday 歷史故事 267詞

題材： 歷史故事　 詞數(shù)： 267　 建議閱讀時(shí)間： 5.5分鐘

閱讀下面的短文，回答問(wèn)題。

Very recently，the state of Arkansas decided to keep its history alive by teaching children stories about the past．One of the stories is a sad one about a steamboat called the Sultana．

Here is a newspaper report dated 27th April 1995 that will tell you the story too．

Today，the Mississippi River is flowing silently and peacefully through our state．What a difference to this day，27th April，130 years ago！

The Sultana was built to carry about 380 people，but on that fateful journey as many as 2,000 were aboard．Why？Well，the Civil War had just ended and many soldiers had been told they could travel home on the Sultana．Some said that the boat was too full，but，of course，the homesick soldiers wanted to be home．“We will see our wives and children again in less than two weeks！”they said．So they all went aboard and were willing to accept the crowded conditions．

Sadly，at about 2 a．m．on the 27th April，1865，the three boilers on the steamboat suddenly exploded．Flames went up so high into the sky that they could be seen 10 kilometers away．Loud screams could be heard coming from the boat but little could be done to help those on board．

A few of them were able to jump into the cold，dark river and swim to safety．And small boats along the river looked for hours to try to find survivors．But as the sun rose in the sky a few hours later，it was obvious that most of the 2,000 had died．

The wreck of the Sultana was found about 20 years ago and this has made people in the region keep alive the sad story of that miserable night.

生詞

keep alive 　將……持續(xù)下去，使……流傳下去：The argument was kept alive by the politicians．那些政治家使?fàn)幷摮掷m(xù)下去。

date　v． 標(biāo)明……的日期：His letter is dated from Shanghai，1 July．他信上寫(xiě)的日期是7月1日，發(fā)自上海。

fateful　adj． 對(duì)未來(lái)有重大影響的，決定性的：the fateful day of President Kennedy's assassination肯尼迪總統(tǒng)遇刺那災(zāi)難性的一天

boiler　n． 鍋爐：A boiler cracked．鍋爐開(kāi)裂。

wreck　n． 遇難的船，失事的船：The divers found a wreck on the sea-bed．潛水員在海底發(fā)現(xiàn)一條沉船。

1．Why did so many people die in the Sultana disaster？

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2．What caused the accident？

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3．How did people along the River help？

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4．Did more people die than survived？

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5．How did people several kilometers away know that a terrible disaster had happened？

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6．Why are people interested today in the disaster？

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參考譯文

就在最近，阿肯色州決定把過(guò)去的事情告訴孩子們，以使本州的歷史流傳下去。其中的一個(gè)悲慘故事講的是一艘叫做蘇爾塔納號(hào)的汽船。

下面是1995年4月27日的一篇新聞報(bào)道，這篇報(bào)道將告訴你故事的經(jīng)過(guò)。

今天，密西西比河平靜而安詳?shù)亓鬟^(guò)我州，但130年前的今天，也就是4月27日，是多么不同啊！

蘇爾塔納號(hào)建造時(shí)的設(shè)計(jì)容量為380人左右，但在那次災(zāi)難性的旅程中，有多達(dá)2000人上了船。這是為什么呢？原來(lái)內(nèi)戰(zhàn)剛剛結(jié)束，許多士兵被告知可以乘坐蘇爾塔納號(hào)回家。有些人說(shuō)，船超載得太厲害，但思鄉(xiāng)心切的士兵們當(dāng)然想回家?！坝貌涣藘芍?，我們又將看到妻子和孩子！”他們說(shuō)。所以他們?nèi)忌狭舜?，甘心接受擁擠的狀況。

不幸的是，在1865年4月27日凌晨2點(diǎn)左右，汽船上的3個(gè)鍋爐突然爆炸。烈焰沖上高空，10公里之外都能看到。人們可以聽(tīng)到船上傳來(lái)的高聲尖叫，但卻幾乎沒(méi)有辦法幫助他們。

少數(shù)人跳進(jìn)冰冷漆黑的河中，游到了安全地帶。沿河的小船搜尋了數(shù)個(gè)小時(shí)，想尋找幸存者。但等到太陽(yáng)升起時(shí)，大多數(shù)人顯然已經(jīng)死亡。

大約20年前，蘇爾塔納號(hào)的遺骸被找到了，這使該地區(qū)的人們重新回憶起那個(gè)悲慘的夜晚所發(fā)生的不幸故事。

參考答案

Wednesday 1．The boat had too many people on board．　2．The three boilers exploded．　3．They used small boats to find survivors．　4．Yes，more people died than survived.　5．They could see flames in the sky．　6．The wreck of the boat was found recently.