青岛市2014高考英语阅读理解、完形填空及阅读类训练（十八）（答案及解析）.docVIP

青岛市2014高考英语阅读理解、完形填空及阅读类训练（18）（答案及解析） Words：327　难度系数：★★★　建议用时：9分钟 When one thinks of the expansion of the American West，the event most likely to come to mind is the California Gold Rush of 1849.However，there remained wide land between the Pacific Coast and，say，St.Louis，Missouri.Why mentions.St.Louis? You might be asking.Because the young United States started exploring the vast land mass to the west from that very point and almost fifty years before those gold nuggets started hitting the pan in California. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson sent a secret message to Congress calling for an expedition into the area west of the Mississippi River.He felt that a military man with some men could successfully chart the route.At that time France owned the territory and such an expedition would be considered invading. Then in July of the same year，Napoleon of France，in a surprise move，offered Louisiana to the United States for $15,000，000.America accepted and the United States grew by about one million square miles，from the Mississippi to the Rockies and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. Shortly before this news，Jefferson had handed his personal secretary，Meriweather Lewis his instructions for the expedition of the Missouri River.On May 14,1804，the Lewis and Clark Expedition started out from St.Louis in search of the Pacific Ocean. Two and a half years and 8,000 miles later the explorers returned to St.Louis and there’s a thunderous welcome from a grateful nation.Although the route never became widely used，it provided the impetus for the great western exploration movement.The search for America began. By 1848，when Mexico ceded its claim to all US territories to the north of its present-day border，the United States had acquired the land westward from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast，north to the 49th parallel and south to the Rio Grande.This lawful possession convinced thousands of settlers to move westward in search of land. 【解题导语】　本文讲述了美国领土扩张过程中的几个重大事件。 9．Why was Jefferson