2014辽宁省灯塔市高考英语阅读理解连载（九）及答案.docVIP

2014辽宁省灯塔市高考英语阅读理解连载（9）及答案 阅读理解 Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821, on the island of St. Helena off the coast of Africa. He was 51 years old at the time. When doctors examined Napoleons body, they said that the former emperor of France had died from cancer of the stomach. That was the cause of death recorded in the official report. However, other doctors disagreed. One doctor who was present during the examination of the body said that Napoleon died of hepatitis（肝炎）. Other historians and medical experts have suggested that Napoleon died of syphilis（梅毒）, tuberculosis（肺结核）, or perhaps malaria. Now, after careful research, a British chemist thinks that Napoleon might have been poisoned -- not by a person, but by his wallpaper. Napoleon was sent to the island of St. Helena in 1815 after he lost the battle of Waterloo. He was a prisoner on the island. Although he had servants to attend to him, he had to live in one small building. St. Helena is a very wet island, so the walls of the building were always covered with mold. Napoleon became ill from spending too much time inside his house. Almost constantly he had a fever, chills, and felt sick to his stomach. He often felt pain in his shoulders and in his side. His skin turned yellow. He got frequent headaches, and he would become dizzy and vomit. None of the medicine that the doctors gave Napoleon seemed to help. They were not sure what was the matter. Finally, Napoleon was too weak to leave the house. One night, while he was sleeping, he went into a coma （昏迷）and died. Many doctors who later reviewed the reports of Napoleons illness found that the symptoms did not show a man who suffered from stomach cancer. It seemed obvious that Napoleon had died from some other cause. In 1961, a Swedish doctor examined some of Napoleon’s hair and found a high level of arsenic（砒霜）, a chemical poison. Was Napoleon murdered? It is doubtful. Arsenic was used in many types of medicine during Napoleon’s time, so he might have taken t