大学英语四级各类练习讲解_四级阅读1.docVIP

四级阅读讲义 Reading For Band 4 Unit 1 Reading Comprehension Directions: There are 3 passages in this unit. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements For each of them there are four choices marked A ), B ), C )and D ). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center. Passage One Questions 1 to 4 are based on the following. Robert Spring, a 19th century forger, was so good at his profession that he was able to make his living for 15 years by selling false signatures of famous Americans. Spring was born in England in 1813 and arrived in Philadelphia in 1858 to open a bookstore. At first he prospered by selling his small but genuine collection of early U.S. autographs. Discovering his ability at copying handwriting, he began imitating signatures of George Washington and Ben Franklin and writing them on the tide pages of old books. To lessen the chance of detection, he set his forgeries to England and Canada for sale and circulation. Forgers have a hard time selling their products. A forger can’t approach a respectable buyer but must deal with people who dont have much knowledge in the field. Forgers have many ways to make their work look real. For example, they buy old books to use the aged paper of the tide page, and they can treat paper and ink with chemicals. In Spring’s time, right after the Civil War, Britain was still fond of the Southern states, so Spring invented a respectable maiden lady known as Miss Fanny Jackson, the only daughter of General “Stonewall” Jackson. For several years Miss Fannys financial problems forced her to sell a great number of letters and manuscripts belonging to her famous father. Spring had to work very hard to satisfy the demand. All this activity did not prevent Spring from dying in poverty, leaving sharp-eyed experts the difficult task of separating his forgeries from the originals. 1. After the Civil war, there was a