单选题 Relations between the United States and Colombia suffered for many years because of an incident involving the Republic of Panama. By the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, many Americans felt that an easier and faster way was needed to get ships from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Some people in the United States first believed that a canal across Nicaragua was the answer. However, President Theodore Roosevelt decided that a canal through Panama would be a better choice.
In order to build the canal, the United States had to negotiate a treaty with Colombia, which at that time controlled Panama. Roosevelt offered Colombia $10 million plus $ 250000 a year for 99 years for a six-mile-wide strip of land across Panama. Colombia rejected the United States" offer. This angered President Roosevelt, and negotiations with Colombia ended.
In 1903, a revolution broke out in Panama. The United States ships were sent by President Roosevelt to protect the Panamanian revolutionaries from Colombian forces. The revolution succeeded, and Panama declared its independence from Colombia. The United States then negotiated with the newly formed government. A treaty was signed, and the United States began building the canal.
As a result of the incident, Colombia and the United States remained on bad terms for many years. Not until 1921, when the United States agreed to pay Colombia some compensation for its lost territory, did relations between the two countries improve.

单选题 According to the passage, the United States and Colombia were on bad terms because the United States had

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】文中第四段第一句说：“这次事件的结果导致了哥伦比亚和美国交恶多年。”由第三段我们得知，这次事件是指巴拿马的革命者在争取独立时遭到哥伦比亚政府的镇压，而美国派军舰对革命者进行了保护。所以美国支持巴拿马革命者为争取从哥伦比亚获得独立而进行的战斗是美国和哥伦比亚交恶多年的原因。

单选题 From the information in the passage, it can be concluded that the United States ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】在文中第二段我们看到，美国为修建巴拿马运河不惜付重金给哥伦比亚，在遭哥伦比亚拒绝后，罗斯福总统被激怒了，从而引发了后来美国派军舰支持巴拿马的革命者之事。由此我们可以推断出，美国为修建巴拿马运河不惜与哥伦比亚为敌，肯定认为为修建运河这么做是值得的。
本题也可以用排除法找到答案。文中第一段第二句说：“在1898年美国和西班牙的战争结束时，许多美国人感到需要一条能使船只从大西洋进入太平洋更容易、更快捷的通道。”由此我们可以看出，美国修建一条运河不是为了发动一场战争，也不是因为在同西班牙的战争中失利，因为文中并未提及战争的结果，所以选项A和D均可以排除。文中第一段最后两句说：“一些美国人起初相信通过尼加拉瓜修建运河是对的，然而，罗斯福总统决定：通过巴拿马的运河是最好的选择。”因此，选项C与文章内容有出入，可排除。

单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that an important reason for the decision of the United States to build a canal was to ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】这同样是一道推断题。从第一段中我们得知，在美国和西班牙的战争结束时美国人想到了要修建一条能更快、更容易地从大西洋进入太平洋的运河。我们由此可以推断出，因为美国在战争中遇到了从大西洋进入太平洋的交通不便，从而使美国人迫切地感到修建这样一条运河的必要性，所以美国为了在以后的战争中赢得主动，首先感到有必要缩短这段航程的时间。

单选题 As it is used in the fourth paragraph of the passage, the phrase "on bad terms" means ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】我们从文中最后一句得知，美国在为哥伦比亚失去领土作了一些补偿后，两国关系才得到改善。由此我们可以推知，在此之前两国关系是紧张的。结合第三段中所讲的美国支持巴拿马革命者争取独立，可知哥伦比亚和美国的关系一定是处于恶化状态。