阅读理解 A century ago in the United States, when an individual brought suit against a company, public opinion tended to protect that company. But perhaps this phenomenon was most striking in the case of the railroads. Nearly half of all negligence cases decided through 1896 involved railroads. And the railroads usually won. Most of the cases were decided in state courts, when the railroads had the climate of the times on their sides. Government supported the railroad industry; the progress railroads represented was not to be slowed down by requiring them often to pay damages to those unlucky enough to be hurt working for them. Court decisions always went against railroad workers. A Mr. Farwell, an engineer, lost his right hand when a switchman''s (铁路的转辙员) negligence ran his engine, off the track. The court reasoned that since Farwell had taken the job of an engineer voluntarily at good pay, he had accepted the risk. Therefore the accident, though avoidable had the switchman acted carefully, was a "pure accident". In effect a railroad could never be held responsible for injury to one employee caused by the mistake of another. In one case where a Pennsylvania Railroad worker had started a fire at a warehouse and the fire had spread several blocks, causing widespread damage, a jury found the company responsible for all the damage. But the court overturned the jury''s decision because it argued that the railroad''s negligence was the immediate cause of damage only to the nearest buildings. Beyond them the connection was too remote to consider. As the century wore on, public sentiment began to turn against the railroads — against their economic and political power and high fares as well as against their callousness toward individuals.

单选题 In Paragraph 2, "had the climate of the times on their sides" means________.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】该题考察的是对句义的理解，但是要理解句义必需联系上下文。have sth．on one''s sides的意思是“站在自己一边”、“对自己有利”。这里要分析的是什么因素对于铁路公司有利，使它在法庭上能得到保护，接下来的一句Government supported the railroad industry；the progress railroads represented was not to be slowed down．(大气候对铁路公司有利，也不允许减缓铁路发展的良好势头。)就说明climate指的是国家支持铁路发展的大气候。

单选题 In Mr. Farwell''s case, the court________

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】细节题。考察学生对于第三段Therefore the accident，though avoidable had the switchman acted carefully，was a“pure accident．”一句的理解，这句话中的插入语用的是虚拟语气，省略了主语和系动词the accident would have been，意思是法庭也意识到这是一场有可能避免的事故。分析文章对于费尔维尔案的叙述，我们得知法庭未为费尔维尔争取任何赔偿，但也没有说他自己工作失职，因此A、B、C都违背了原文的意思。正确的答案是D。

单选题 In Paragraph 5, the word "callousness" might mean________.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】词义猜测题。大多数的考生都可能没见过callousness一词，那么就必须通过上下文来推测该词的意思。首先，我们在第五段看到，该词前面的“their”，说明callousness是铁路公司的特点；而their前面的against说明这是一种遭到大众反感的特点。通览全文，我们看到在文章提到的两个典型案例中，铁路公司的表现有一个共同点，那就是无视别人的痛苦，对他人遭受的损失无动于衷。所以，callousness一词的意思可能是选项中的A：冷漠。

单选题 In which of the following situations, the state court might not protect the railroad company?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】推理题。首先，我们通过全文获得以下三个信息点：第一段：1896年的过失伤人案有一半是针对铁路公司的，但是所有的案件审判中铁路公司都获胜；第三段：在费尔维尔案中，州法院力图保护铁路公司；第四段：在宾西法尼亚失火案中，州法院争取减轻铁路公司的罪责，因此我们判断A、B、D都不对。而在第五段中，作者提到：As the century wore on，public sentiment began to turn against the railroads(一个世纪的风风雨雨之后，人们开始对铁路公司产生反感，)这就为州法院不再保护铁路公司有了可能。因此答案是：C。