2010年考研英语阅读训练题 第2篇

Text 2

　　Seventeenth-century houses in colonial North America were simple structures that were primarily functional, carrying over traditional designs that went back to the Middle Ages. During the first half of the eighteenth century, however, houses began to show a new elegance. As wealth increased, more and more colonists built fine houses.

　　Since architecture was not yet a specialized profession in the colonies, the design of buildings was life either to amateur designers or to carpenters who undertook to interpret architectural manuals imported from England. Inventories of colonial libraries show an astonishing number of these handbooks for builders, and the houses erected during the eighteenth century show their influence. Nevertheless, most domestic architecture of the first three-quarters of the eighteenth century displays a wide divergence of taste and freedom of application of the rules laid down in these books.

　　Increasing wealth and growing sophistication throughout the colonies resulted in houses of improved design, whether the material was wood, stone, or brick. New England still favored wood, though brick houses became common in Boston and towns, where the danger of fire gave an impetus to the use of more durable material. A few houses in New England were built of store, but only in Pennsylvania and adjacent area was stone widely used in dwellings. An increased use of brick in houses and outbuildings is noticeable in Virginia and Maryland, but wood remained the most popular material even in houses built by wealthy landowners. In the Carolinas, even in closely packed Charleston, wooden houses were much more common than brick.

　　Eighteenth-century houses showed great interior improvement over their predecessors. Windows were made larger and shutters removed. Large, clear panes replaced the small leaded glass of the seventeenth century. Doorways were larger and more decorative. Fireplaces became decorative features of rooms. Walls were made of plaster of wood, sometimes elaborately paneled. White paint began to take the place of blues, yellows, greens, and lead colors, which had been popular for walls in the earlier years. After about 1730, advertisements for wallpaper styles in scenic patterns began to appear in colonial newspapers.

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6. What does the passage mainly discuss?

〔A〕The improved design of eighteenth-century colonial houses.

〔B〕A comparison of eighteenth-century houses and modern houses.

〔C〕The decorations used in eighteenth-century houses.

〔D〕The role of carpenters in building eighteenth-century houses.

7. According to the passage, who was responsible for designing in eighteenth-century North America?

〔A〕Professional architects.

〔B〕Customers.

〔C〕Interior decorators.

〔D〕Carpenters.

8. Where were wood houses less common?

〔A〕Virginia.

〔B〕Pennsylvania.

〔C〕Boston.

〔D〕Charleston.

9. The word “predecessors” (Line 1, Para. 4) refer to

〔A〕colonists who arrived in North America in the seventeenth century.

〔B〕houses constructed before the eighteenth-century.

〔C〕interior improvements.

〔D〕wooden houses in Charleston.

10. What does the author imply about the use of wallpaper before 1730?

〔A〕Wallpaper samples appeared in the architectural manuals.

〔B〕Wallpaper was the same color as the paints used.

〔C〕Patterned wallpaper was not widely used.

〔D〕Wallpaper was not in stone houses.

核心词汇

architecture  n. 建筑学，建筑术；建筑风格，建筑式样

amateur  a.  业余的, 非职业的；外行的n. 业余爱好者；外行, 生手

impetus  n. 推动, 促进, 刺激；推动力

elaborate   vi.  详尽说明vt. 详细制定a. 复杂的；精心制作的