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. I've got a good horse under me."
The city planner decided to build an underground drainage(排水) system,but there simply wasn'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 city'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 wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily. But what about large, heavy structures like the Tremont Hotel, which was a six-story brick building?
That's where George Pullman came in. He had developed some house-moving skills successfully.To lift a big structure like the Tremont Hotel, Pullman would place thousands of jackscrews(螺旋千斤顶)beneath the building's foundation. One man was assigned to operate each section of roughly 10 jackscrews. At Pullman's signal 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 didn't even notice anything was happening.
Some people like to say that every problem has a solution. But in Chicago's early history, every engineering solution seemed to create a new problem. Now that Chicago's waste water was draining efficiently into the Chicago River, the city's next step was to clean the polluted river.
The author mentions the joke to show_______.
根据第一段内容可知，在芝加哥的早期历史中，洪水频繁，尤其是在春天，使街道泥泞不堪，以至人、马和车都被困住了。当时流行的一个古老的笑话是这样的：在芝加哥泥泞的街道上，一名男子被卡在齐腰高的地方，当被问及是否需要帮助时，他回答说：“不用了，谢谢。我身下有匹好马。”由此可推知，作者提到这个笑话是为了表明芝加哥的街道极其泥泞。故选B。
The city planners were convinced by Ellis Chesbrough to_______.
根据第三段第一句“.…it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dirt.”可知，一位名叫Ellis Chesbrough的工程师使市民们相信，它别无选择，只能把管道建在地面上，然后用泥土覆盖。故选D。
The underlined word"hoist”in Paragraph 4 means"_______".
根据第四段第二、三句“.…or hoist the entire buildings to meet the new street level. Small wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily.”可知，建筑业主面临着一个选择：要么将建筑的第一层改成地下室，第二层改成主要的楼层，要么将整个建筑提升到新的街道高度。小型的木制结构建筑可以相当容易地被吊起。由此可推知，hoist与lifted的意思相近，意为“吊起”。change:改变；lift:吊起；repair:修理；decorate:装饰。故选B。
What can we conclude about the moving operation of the Tremont Hotel?
根据第五段最后一句“..and many of its guests didn't even notice anything was happening.”可知，令人惊讶的是，在整个操作过程中，特雷蒙特酒店一直在营业，许多客人甚至没有注意到正在发生什么。由此可推知，特雷蒙特酒店的移动操作十分顺畅。故选A。
The passage is mainly about the early Chicago's________.
通读全文可知，第一段提出早期的芝加哥所存在的问题；第二至五段讨论了解决这个问题的工程方法；最后一段讲到这些方法虽然能解决当前的问题，但是之后又会冒出一些新的问题。由此可推知，本文主要介绍了早期芝加哥的工程问题与解决办法。故选C。