单选题
Do we need laws that prevent us from running risks with our lives? If so, then perhaps laws are needed prohibiting (禁止) the sale of cigarettes and alcoholic drinks. Both products have been known to kill people. The hazards of drinking too much alcohol are as bad or worse than the hazards of smoking too many cigarettes. All right then, let's pass a law closing the liquor stores and the bars in this country. Let's put an end once and for all to the disease from which as many as 10 million Americans currently suffer alcoholism (酗酒). But wait. We've already tried that. For 13 years, between 1920 and 1933, there were no liquor stores anywhere in the United States. They were shut down—abolished by an amendment (修正案), the Volstead Act. After January 20, 1920, there was supposed to be no more manufacturing, selling, or transporting of "intoxication liquors." Without any more liquor, people could not drink it. And if they did not drink it, how could they get drunk? There would be no more dangers to the public welfare from drunkenness and alcoholism (酒精中毒). It was all very logical. And yet prohibition of liquor, beer, and wine did not work. Why? Because, law or no law, millions of people still liked to drink alcohol. And they were willing to take risks to get it. They were not about to change their tastes and habits just because of a change in the law. And gangs of liquor smugglers (走私犯) made it easy to buy an illegal drink—or two or three. They smuggled millions of gallons of the illegal beverages (饮料) across the Canadian and Mexican Borders. Drinkers were lucky to know of an illegal bar that served Mexican or Canadian liquor. Crime and drunkenness were both supposed to decline as a result of prohibition. Instead people drank more alcohol than ever—often poisoned alcohol. On December 5, 1933, they removed prohibition by approving the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.
单选题
All of the following were reasons for the proposal of the amendment to the constitution, the Volstead Act, except that ______. A. without liquor, people would not drink B. there would be no further danger to the public from alcoholism C. there would be a rise in the cost of alcoholic beverages D. people would not become drunk or create a public nuisance
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】细节题。参见文中第二段，可以清晰地看出提出修正案的原因，显然C为干扰项。
单选题
When enacting (颁布) the prohibition laws, government officials assumed that ______. A. all criminal activities would cease B. every American would buy alcohol illegally C. the social threat from drunkenness would decline D. patrols of the Canadian border would halt the sale of alcohol
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】推论题。参见文中第二段中的三句话“Without any more liquor, people could not drink it...drunkenness and alcoholism”，说明了政府设想通过禁酒以达到C所叙述的目的。注意：“assume”一词含主观设想之意。
单选题
During Prohibition, people ______. A. lived in fear of the law B. endangered their communities C. were respectful of the legal sanctions placed of them D. were willing to risk arrest for the pleasure of liquor
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】细节题。参见文中第三段第二行：“And they were willing to take risks to get it.”
单选题
During Prohibition, illegal alcohol was ______. A. sold openly B. no longer a temptation C. a major factor in the passage of the Volstead Act D. brought across the Mexican and Canadian borders
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】细节题。参见文中第三段第四行：“They smuggled millions of gallons of the illegal beverages across....”
单选题
It can be inferred from the passage that ______. A. during Prohibition, most Americans stopped drinking B. the Congress was wise to repeal Prohibition C. laws should be passed to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages D. the Prohibition Era was characterized by a decrease in crime and drunkenness