2013年职称英语考试综合类阅读理解练习(7)

Florence Nightingale

　　Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, while her wealthy English parents were traveling in Europe. As a child, she traveled to many places with her family and learned how to speak several languages.

　　When Nightingale was 17, she told her family that she was going to help sick people. Her parents did not approve, but Nightingale was determined.

　　She traveled to hospitals all over Europe. She saw that doctors were working too hard．She saw that patients died because they did not get enough care. Nightingale felt that women could be doing more to help doctors take care of sick people.

　　Nightingale knew that in order for nurses to do more, they needed special training in how to take care of sick people. Nightingale went to a hospital in Germany to study nursing. Then she returned to London and became the head of a group of women called Gentlewomen during Illness. These women cared for sick people in their homes.

　　In 1854, England was fighting a war with Russia. No reporters wrote about the terrible conditions in the hospitals that cared for the wounded. People demanded that something be done about it. A leader of the government asked Florence Nightingale to take some nurses into the war hospitals. So, in November 1 854, Nightingale finally got to work in a hospital.

　　She took along 3 8 nurses whom she had trained herself.

　　At first, the doctors on the battlefields did not want Nightingale and her nurses in their hospitals. They did not believe that women could help. But in fact, the nurses did make a difference. They worked around the clock, tending the sick. Thanks to their hard work, many wounded soldiers survived.

　　After the war, Nightingale and her nurses were treated 1ike heroes. Finally, in 1 860, she started the Nightingale School for Nurses. In time, thanks to Florence Nightingale, nursing became an important part of medicine.

　　1 Florence Nightingale was born into a rich __________

　　A Italian family

　　B Russian family

　　C English family

　　D German family

　　2 Nightingale’s parents did not approve of her decision __________

　　A to work as a doctor

　　B to care for sick people

　　C to fight in the war with Russia

　　D to travel to hospitals all over Europe

　　3 It was not until the War with Russia that Nightingale __________

　　A got to work in a hospital

　　B began to study nursing

　　C started to care for sick people in their homes

　　D became the head of Gentlewomen During Illness

　　4 On the battlefields Nightingale and her nurses proved to be __________

　　A as bad as the doctors had expected．

　　B quite generous

　　C less than useful

　　D very helpful

　　5 Nightingale played a great role in __________

　　A the building of war hospitals

　　B the education of women

　　C the development of nursing

　　D the improvement of working conditions for women