[全国版][高三英语专题][第14讲 阅读理解之词义猜测题]演练方阵（学生版）.pdfVIP

演练方阵 第 讲 阅读理解之词义猜测题 14 （A ） In its early history,Chicago had floods frequently, especially in the spring, making the streets so muddy that people,horses, and carts got stuck.An oldjoke that was popular at the time went something like this:A man is stuck up to his waist in a muddy Chicago street.Asked if he needs help,he replies, No,thanks. Ive got a good horseunder me. The city planners decided tobuild an underground drainage(排水）system，but there simply wasnt enough difference between the height of the ground level and the water level.Theonlytwooptionsweretolower theChicagoRiver orraisethecity. An engineer named EllisChesbrough convincedthe city that it hadno choicebut tobuild thepipes above ground and then cover them with dirt.Thisraised the level of thecitys streetsby asmuch as 12 feet. This of course created a new problem: dirt practically buried the first floors of every building in Chicago. Building owners were faced with a choice: either change the first floors of their buildings into basements, and the second stories into main floors, or hoist the entire buildings to meet the new street level. Small wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily. But what about large, heavy structures like the Tremont Hotel,which wasa six-storybrickbuilding? Thats where George Pullman came in. He had developed some house-moving skillssuccessfully.Tolift abig structure liketheTremont Hotel,Pullman wouldplace thousands ofjackscrews (螺旋千斤顶）beneath the buildings foundation. One man was assigned to operate each section of roughly 10jackscrews. At Pullmans signal each man turned hisjackscrew the same amount at the same time,thereby raising the building slowly and evenly.Astonishingly, the Tremont Hotel stayed open during the entireoperation,andmany ofitsguestsdidnt even noticeanythingwashappening. Somepeople liket