【正文】 ed with enough roads B. be asked to ride on their own lanes C. be made to pay less tax for cycling D. be fined for laughing at policemen 23. The underlined word they in the third letter refers to ______. A. accidents B. vehicles C. pedestrians D. cyclists 24. The three letters present viewpoints on _______. A. real source of road danger B. ways to improve road facilities C. measures to punish road offences D. increased awareness of road rules B 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 old joke 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. I39。ve got a good horse under me. The city planner decided to build an underground drainage (排水 ) system, but there simply wasn39。t enough difference between the height of the ground level and the water level. The only two options were to lower the Chicago River or raise the city. An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced the city that it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dirt. This raised the level of the city39。s streets by as much 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 woodframe buildings could be lifted fairly easily. But what about large, heavy structures like Tremont Hotel, which was a sixstory brick building? That39。s where Gee Pullman came in. He had developed some housemoving skills successfully. To lift a big structure like the Tremont Hotel, Pullman would place thousands of jackscrews (螺旋千斤頂 ) beneath the building39。s foundation. One man was assigned to operate each section of roughly 10 jackscrews. At Pullman39。s sign each man turned his jackscrew the same amount at the same time, thereby raising the building slowly and evenly. Astonishingly, the Tremont Hotel stay open during the entire operation, and many of its guests didn39。t even notice anything was happening. Some people like to say that every problem has a solution. But in Chicago39。s early history, every engineering solution seemed to create a new problem. Now that Chicago39。s waste water was draining efficiently into the Chicago River, the city39。s next step was to clean the polluted river. 25. The author mentions the joke to show ______. A. horses were fairly useful in Chicago B. Chicago39。s streets were extremely muddy C. Chicago was very dangerous in the spring D. the Chicago people were particularly humorous 26. The city planners were convinced by Ellis Chesbrough to_______. A. get rid of the street dirt B. lower the Chicago River C. fight against heavy floods D. build the pipes above ground can we conclude about the moving operation of the Tremont Hotel? A. It went on smoothly as intended. B. It interrupted the business of the hotel. C. It involved Pullman turning ten jackscrews. D. It separated the building from its foundation. passage is mainly about the early Chicago39。s ______. A. popular life styles and their influences B. environmental disasters and their causes C. engineering problems and their solutions D. successful businessmen and their achievements C Have your parents ever inspected your room to see if you cleaned it properly? Imagine having your entire houses, garage, and yard inspected at any time with no warning. Inspections were a regular part of lighthouse (燈塔 ) living, and a keeper39。s reputation depended on results. A few times each year, an inspector arrived to look over the entire light station. The inspections were supposed to be a surprise, but keeper sometimes had advance notice. Once lighthouses had telephones, keepers would call each other to warn that the inspector was approaching. After boats began flying special flags noting the inspector aboard, the keeper39。s family made it a game to see who could notice the boat first. As soon as someone spotted the boat, everyone would do lastminute tidying and change into fancy clothes. The keeper then scurried to put on his dress uniform and cap. Children of keepers remember inspectors wearing white gloves to run their fingers over door frames and windowsills looking for dust. Despite the serious nature of inspections, they resulted in some funny moments. Betty Byrnes remembered when her mother did not have time to wash all the dishes before an inspection. At the time, people did not have dishwashers in their homes. In an effort to clean up quickly, Mrs. Byrnes tossed all the dishes into a big bread pan, covered them with a cloth and stuck them in the oven. If the inspector opened the oven door, it would look like bread was baking. He never did. One day, Glenn Furst39。s mother put oil on the kitchen floor just before the inspector entered their house. Like floor wax, the oil made the floors shiny and helped protect the wood. This time, though, she used a little too much oil. When the inspector extended his hand to greet Glenn39。s mother, he slipped on the freshly oiled surface. He came across that floor waving his arms like a young bird attempting its first flight, Glenn late wrote. After he steadied himself, he shook Glenn39。s mother39。s hand, and the inspection continued as though nothing had