Among the more colorful characters of Leadville’s golden age were H.A.W.Tabor and his second wife, Elizabeth McCourt, better known as “Baby Doe”. Their history is fast becoming one of the legends of the Old West. Horace Austin Warner Tabor was a school teacher in Vermont. With his first wife and two children he left Vermont by covered wagon in 1855 to homestead in Kansas. Perhaps he did not find farming to his liking, or perhaps he was lured by rumors of fortunes to be made in Colorado mines. At any rate, a few years later he moved west to the small Colorado mining camp known as California Gulch, which he later renamed Leadville when he became its leading citizen. “Great deposits of lead are sure to be found here.” he said.

　　As it turned out, it was silver, not lead, that was to make Leadville’s fortune and wealth. Tabor knew little about mining himself, so he opened a general store, which sold everything from boots to salt, flour, and tobacco.『It was his custom to “grubstake” prospective miners, in other words, to supply them with food and supplies, or“grub”, while they looked for ore, in return for which he would get a share in the mine if one was discovered.』①He did this for a number of years, but no one that he aided ever found anything of value.

　　Finally one day in the year 1878, so the story goes, two miners came in and asked for “grub”. Tabor had decided to quit supplying it because he had lost too much money that way. These were persistent, however, and Tabor was too busy to argue with them. “Oh help yourself. One more time won’t make any difference,” He said and went on selling shoes and hats to other customers. The two miners took $17 worth of supplies, in return for which they gave Tabor a one-third interest in their findings. They picked a barren place on the mountain side and began to dig. After nine days they struck a rich vein of silver. Tabor bought the shares of the other two men, and so the mine belonged to him alone. This mine, known as the “Pittsburgh Mine,” made 1 300 000 for Tabor in return for his $17 investment.

　　Later Tabor bought the Matchless Mine on another barren hillside just outside the town for $117 000. This turned out to be even more fabulous than the Pittsburgh, yielding $35 000 worth of silver per day at one time. Leadville grew. Tabor became its first mayor, and later became lieutenant governor of the state.

　　四級(jí)閱讀理解試題練習(xí)試題：

　　1.Leadville got its name for the following reasons EXCEPT.

　　A.because Tabor became its leading citizen

　　B.because great deposits of lead is expected to be found there

　　C.because it could bring good fortune to Tabor

　　D.because it was renamed

　　2.The word “grubstake” in paragraph 2 means.

　　A.to supply miners with food and supplies

　　B.to open a general store

　　C.to do one’s contribution to the development of the mine

　　D.to supply miners with food and supplies and in return get a share in the mine, if one was discovered

　　3.Tabor made his first fortune.

　　A.by supplying two prospective miners and getting in return a one-third interest in the findings

　　B.because he was persuaded by the two miners to quit supplying

　　C.by buying the shares of the other

　　D.as a land speculator

　　4. The underlying reason for Tabor’s life career is.

　　A. purely accidental

　　B. based on the analysis of miner’s being very poor and their possibility of discovering profitable mining site

　　C. through the help from his second wife

　　D. he planned well and accomplished targets step by step

　　5.If this passage is the first part of an article,who might be introduced in the following part?

　　A.Tabor’s life.

　　B.Tabor’s second wife, Elizabeth McCourt.

　　C.Other colorful characters.

　　D.Tabor’s other careers.

　　四級(jí)閱讀理解試題練習(xí)答案：

　　1. C細(xì)節(jié)題。因?yàn)長(zhǎng)eadville可以為T(mén)abor帶來(lái)巨富。這一點(diǎn)不是Leadville得名的原因，因?yàn)樵谖恼碌诙沃校v到這一點(diǎn)時(shí)，提及三個(gè)原因：A.因?yàn)門(mén)abor成為當(dāng)?shù)氐木用翊砣宋铮珺.因?yàn)樵贚eadville有豐富的鉛的儲(chǔ)藏量。D.因?yàn)長(zhǎng)eadville是因?yàn)門(mén)abor重要而起的名，唯獨(dú)C沒(méi)有，因?yàn)榈胶髞?lái)發(fā)現(xiàn)是銀礦才給他帶來(lái)巨富。

　　2. D詞匯題。第二段中g(shù)rubstake的詞義與D所述內(nèi)容是相同的，即“供給探礦者資金，衣物，食品以及其他物品”。(可參閱英華大辭典修訂第二版64頁(yè))但此處還補(bǔ)充地講，作為回報(bào)，供給者可以獲得礦中資源一定份額。(見(jiàn)文章第二段第4行)

　　3. A細(xì)節(jié)題。Tabor第一次真正發(fā)財(cái)是他為兩名礦工提供資助，為此他獲得他們礦資源三分之一的股份。見(jiàn)文章第三段4-9行內(nèi)容：兩名開(kāi)礦者從Tabor那兒借走價(jià)值17美元的物品，作為回報(bào)，Tabor獲得他們礦資源三分之一股份。于是兩位開(kāi)礦者在一座山旁的不毛之地開(kāi)始挖掘，九天之后，發(fā)現(xiàn)了銀的富礦，于是Tabor又將兩人的股份全買(mǎi)下，這樣，銀礦屬于Tabor一個(gè)人所有，這個(gè)礦就是后來(lái)著名的“匹茲堡”礦。Tabor用17美元的投資換來(lái)了130萬(wàn)美元的收獲。

　　4. B推斷題。由原文可知泰勃的財(cái)產(chǎn)來(lái)源是有一定偶然性的，但是畢竟也是基于他開(kāi)創(chuàng)的“grubstake”模式，因?yàn)锳、D都不對(duì)，C更是沒(méi)有根據(jù)，因?yàn)樗€沒(méi)有娶第二位夫人這一切就發(fā)生了。分析泰勃的做法，會(huì)得出B選項(xiàng)所示的結(jié)論。

　　5. B推斷題。如果本文是一篇文章的第一部分，那么在文章的第二部分將介紹誰(shuí)呢?key可以從文章第一句分析出來(lái)，在Leadville的黃金年代，其多彩的特點(diǎn)當(dāng)中，Tabor及其第二任妻子Elizabeth McCourt是值得大書(shū)特書(shū)的，接著，文章都在講述有關(guān)H.A.W.Tabor發(fā)家致富的歷史，如先買(mǎi)下匹茲堡礦，后又買(mǎi)下Matchless礦，最后成為，代理州長(zhǎng)，等等，所以涉及到的全是男主人公，因此下邊再講的話(huà)，應(yīng)成為女主人公即Elizabeth McCourt的天地了，她是Tabor的第二任妻子。這是順理成章的事。