Until now the Country Council has only beenprepared to provide bus services for children livingmore than three miles from their school, orsometimes less if special reasons existed. Now it has been decided that if a group of parents askfor help in organizing transport they will be prepared to go ahead, provided the arrangementwill not lose money and that children taking part will be attending their nearest school.

　　The new scheme is to be tried out this term for children living at Milton who attendImpington school. The children live just within the three-mile limit and the Council has said inthe past it will not undertake to provide free transport to the school. But now they have agreedto organize a bus service from Milton to Impington and back, a plan which has the support ofthe school's headmaster.

　　Between 50 and 60 parents have said they would like their children to take part. Finalcalculations have still to be carried out, but a council official has said the cost to parents shouldbe less than ￡6. 50 a term.

　　They have been able to arrange the service at a low cost because there is already anagreement with the, bus company for a bus to take children who live further away toImpington. The same bus would now just make an extra journey to pick up the Milton children.The official said they would get in touch with other groups of parents who in the past had askedif transport could be provided for their children, to see if they would like to take part in thenew scheme.

　　21. The children the Council ran buses for in the past were those______.

　　A. whose parents were worried about them

　　B. who would have had to walk otherwise

　　C. who could not walk

　　D. who had to travel a long way

　　22. Taking part in the Council's trial scheme are children who______.

　　A. live in Milton and go to Impington school

　　B. live in Impington and go to Milton school

　　C. live in Milton and go to Milton school

　　D. live in Impington and go to Impington school

　　23. The new bus service will run______.

　　A. on morning journeys to school only

　　B. in connection with an existing service

　　C. only for children living more than three miles away

　　D. only in wet weather

　　24. Agreement to pay for the new bus service has been obtained from______.

　　A. the school's headmaster B. the education department

　　C. the bus company D. the parents

　　25. The parents the Council is now going to contact are those______.

　　A. who had not yet answered letters B. who didn't want to pay

　　C. whose children stayed away from school D. who had asked about transport before

　　參考答案：

　　21. D 22. A 23. B 24. D 25. D

　　六級閱讀理解模擬練習(xí)題二：

　　The Louisiana Purchase

　　On April 30, 1803, the area of the United Statesapproximately doubled. Until that time, UnitedStates territory had extended from the AtlanticOcean to the banks of the Mississippi and from theGreat Lakes and the St. Lawrence River to the thirty-first parallel. The national land now was expandedwestward to include practically all of the areabetween the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains and between the Gulf of Mexico and theCanadian border. On that day, for fifteen million dollars, the United States purchased fromFrance 875,000 square miles of territory. After Robert R. Livingston, an American whorepresented President Jefferson in France, signed his name to the treaty, he rose, shook handswith James Monroe and Marbois, the Frenchman representing Napoleon and remarked, "Wehave lived long, but this is the noblest work of our lives. " As we glance backward upon thisimportant event in history, we must agree that the signing of the treaty for the purchase ofLouisiana was probably the most important event in Thomas Jefferson's administration.Without the acquisition of this territory, the United States would most probably have notdeveloped into the powerful nation which it is today.

　　What Causes Led to Purchase of the Louisiana Territory

　　Until 1763, Louisiana had been a possession of France, but in that year it was given toSpain to repay an old debt. Twenty years later in Paris, the treaty ending the AmericanRevolution was signed between the United States and Great Britain. One of the terms of thistreaty was that the western border of the United States was to stretch to the MississippiRiver. Immediately settlers and pioneers crossed westward over the Allegheny Mountains toclear the territory and establish farms. Since roads were scarce and difficult to travel, theproducts of these farmers had to be shipped on the waterways leading to the Mississippi Riverand then down this great stream to New Orleans. At this port city, the produce wastransferred to larger ocean-going vessels and transported to markets on the Eastern Seaboardor to Europe. However, Spain's ownership of both shores of the river for at least two hundredmiles north of New Orleans permitted this foreign nation to control the trade moving on theMississippi. As a monarchy (君主政體) ，the Spanish government distrusted the rising spirit ofdemocracy in the United States, especially the much freer expression of democracy thatexisted among the western farmers. This distrust of democracy resulted in the desire of theSpanish to deny the use of the great river to any Americans. The reaction was instantaneous(瞬間的 ) and furious, western farmers raised their voices to protest and the United states sentJohn Jay to Madrid to discuss this matter. In 1795 this conflict was settled. Spain consentedto allow citizens of the United States the right to use the lower Mississippi River and also the"right of deposit" at New Orleans, the right of deposit permitted American farmers, without aduty charge, to remove their products from smaller boats at New Orleans after havingnavigated down the Mississippi, and then to transfer the agricultural commodities to largerocean-going vessels.

　　For the succeeding five years this agreement was observed and little conflict existed. OnOctober 1, 1800, however, Spain signed a treaty giving the ownership of the Louisianaterritory back to France. The news of this treaty did not reach Jefferson until May of thefollowing year. As soon as he became aware of the change in ownership of the territory,Jefferson realized that this was part of a plan by which Napoleon hoped to establish France as agreat power in the New World. Although Napoleon still permitted Spain to remain in control ofthe port of New Orleans, the future threat to the navigation rights of the western farmers stillremained. At any moment, Napoleon might send troops to the "Gateway" and forbid Americansto use it for navigation. This would affect almost forty per cent of the total export trade of theUnited States. By April 1802 Jefferson's concerns in this matter became even more intense.Napoleon had shipped armed forces to Santo Domingo to suppress the uprising. Once this hadbeen accomplished, the troops were under orders to take possession of Louisiana with its keyport city of New Orleans. On the eighteenth of that month the President wrote his now-famousletter to the American Minister to France, Robert R. Livingston.

　　There is one place on the globe, one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural andhabitual enemy. It is New Orleans through which the produce of three eighths of ourterritory must pass to market. . . it seals the union of two nations who in conjunction canmaintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From that moment we must marry ourselves tothe British fleet and nation.

　　Seven months later Jefferson learned that the Spanish officials at New Orleans hadsuspended(暫不實行) the right of deposit. Immediately western

　　farmers protested. Many demanded immediate action. Others pressed for a declaration ofwar. The Federalists in the East who opposed Jefferson sided with those who wished to declarewar, in order to split the ranks of his followers. In January 1803, Congress appropriated twomillion dollars "to defray (支付) expenses to help improve relations between the United Statesand foreign nations. " Jefferson asked James Monroe to sail for France to resolve the difficulty.Monroe was instructed to negotiate for the purchase of New Orleans and Florida. He waspermitted to offer 50,000,000 francs for this concession of territory. If this offer wererefused, then an alternative offer of 37,500,000 francs was to be made for New Orleans alone.A third alternative to be used in the negotiation was to insist upon the permanent right ofdeposit at New Orleans and navigation along the lower Mississippi. If all three offers wererejected by Napoleon, Monroe and Livingston were instructed to negotiate an alliance with theBritish Government "not to make any peace with France. "

　　Why Napoleon Sold Louisiana

　　Events favored the United States. Napoleon had transported 35,000 troops to wipe out therebellion in Santo Domingo, but yellow fever and the rebels did away with most of the Frenchtroops. With this disaster Napoleon's visions of expanding in the mainland at New Orleansvanished. He also recognized he inevitability of a conflict with Great Britain. How could hehope to keep Louisiana, thousands of miles away across the Atlantic, as long as Britain was"Empress of the Seas"? The revenue that the sale of Louisiana would bring to.

　　France was a temptation to Napoleon, whose treasury was almost depleted (消耗).Confronted with so many problems Napoleon quickly arrived at a decision.On April 11, 1803,even before the arrival of Monroe in Paris, Talleyrand proposed that the United States purchaseall of the Louisiana territory.Livingston's first offer for this "bargain" was 20, 000, 000 francs,but Talleyrand countered with a demand for 125,000,000. In a brief negotiation both finallycompromised on 80,000,000 francs, equivalent to $ 15,000,000 in

　　American money. On April 30, 1803, Louisiana became the possession of the UnitedStates. Three-fourths of the sum went to France, the balance was reserved to pay the claims ofAmerican citizens against France.

　　1. The passage gives a general description of the reasons for and the effect of theLouisiana purchase.

　　2. The purchase of Louisiana helped the U. S. to grow into the powerful nation which it istoday.

　　3. The Louisiana purchase only expanded the territory of the U. S. .

　　4. The rising spirit of democracy in the U. S. was introduced to Spain and Franceinstantaneously.

　　5. The purchase of Louisiana was accomplished at a much lower price than originallyintended.

　　6. Spain was the original possessor of the Louisiana territory.

　　7. Livingston's eloquence persuaded Marbois to accept an unreasonably low price for theLouisiana territory.

　　8. Louisiana was sold to the U. S, for______francs.

　　9. The Federalists in the East of U. S. were in favor of declaring war on Spain because theywished to______of President Jefferson's followers.

　　10. When Louisiana was purchased, the export trade moving on the Mississippi accountedfor___of the total export trade of the U. S.

　　參考答案：

　　I. Y 2. Y 3. N 4. N 5. Y 6. N 7. NG 8. 80,000,000 9. split the ranks 10. 40%