单选题
Born in Scotland, in 1835, Andrew Carnegie entered the world in poverty. Carnegie's father came to America when Andrew was twelve, and his brother, Thomas, was five. Arriving in New York in 1848, the Carnegies settled in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania Allegheny City provided Carnegie's first job, as a bobbin boy in a cotton factory, working for $1.20 a week. At 15, Carnegie became a telegraph messenger boy in Pittsburgh. Carnegie's next job was as a railroad clerk, working for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He worked his way up the ladder, through his dedication and honest desire to succeed, to become train dispatcher and then division manager. At this time, young Carnegie, age 24, had already made some small investments that laid the foundations of his what would be tremendous fortune. One of these investments was the purchase of stock in the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company.
In 1864, Carnegie entered the iron business, but did not begin to make steel until years later. In 1873, he built the Edgar Thomson works in Braddock, Pennsylvania, to make Bessemer steel. He established many other steel plants, and in 1892, he merged all of his interests into the Carnegie Steel Company. This act from Carnegie is fitting with one of his most famous quotations, "Put all of your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket." This firm became one of the greatest industrial enterprises in America. Carnegie later sold it to J. P. Morgan's United States Steel Corporation in 1901 for $400 million, which would be a little over $4 billion today!
After retiring, Carnegie's fortune was estimated to be as large as half a billion dollars. From that time on, with the philosophy that the rich have a moral obligation to give away their money, he devoted himself to philanthropy. Although ironic, this man of great fortune strongly believed in the merits of poverty for the development of character and work ethic, and determined that wealthy men should not leave their fortunes to their children, but should give it away, claiming "The man who dies thus rich, dies disgraced." With the picture of community service, Carnegie is quoted as saying, "Pittsburgh entered the core of my heart when I was a boy, and cannot be torn out. I can never be one hair's breadth less loyal to her, or less anxious to help her in any way, than I have been since I could help anything. My treasure is still with you, and how best to serve Pittsburgh is the question which occurs to me almost every day of my life."
单选题
Andrew Carnegie was ______
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】本题是细节题。原文第二段第一句就说明了他的出生地在Dunfermline,Scotland,on November 25,1835。
单选题
Andrew Carnegie was beginning to make investments ______
单选题
Which of the following statements is true, according to the passage?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】本题是推理题。卡内基的成功在于他大胆投资。谚语put all one's eggs in one basket:孤注一掷;冒风险的意思。选项B错了,是把谚语按照字面意思理解了,而且意思也变成了目的是为了安全,而不是冒险。而把几家公司合并并不是成功的根本原因。
单选题
From the last paragraph of this passage, it can be concluded that Andrew Carnegie would agree that ______
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】根据提问,应该注意这一段里卡内基的观点:贫穷使人奋进;不要把财富留给自己的后代;富人按照道德有责任将财富用于慈善事业;匹兹堡已经是他日思夜想要回报的城市。选项A不符合内容。选项C错了,因为本段里只讲到要把财富用于慈善事业,没有说不用光或者没有使用。卡内基的原话是“The man who dies thus rich,dies disgraced.”他只是说“死于富是耻辱”。选项D不合适,是因为他自己确实是这样认为他应该对匹兹堡做出贡献,但这并不说明他会让每一个人都这样去做。然后选项A是根据这一段里这句话推理出来的。Although ironic,this man of great fortune strongly believed in the merits of poverty for the development of character and work ethic:贫穷可以锻炼性格奋斗可以获得成功的好处。词组get somewhere:有所作为。
单选题
Which of the following statements is true, according to the passage?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】根据短文中相关的段落:this man of great fortune strongly believed in the merits of poverty for the development of character and work ethic,我们知道卡内基相信贫穷具有促使个性发展和树立奋斗创业的优点。贫穷当然不会是罪恶、罪孽,也不是优良品德,而是激励奋斗的起点。