问题 单项选择题

George Williams, one of Scottsdale’s last remaining cowboys, has been raising horses and cattle on his 120 acres for 20 years. The cattle go to the slaughterhouse, the horses to rodeos. But Mr. Williams is stomping mad. His problems began last year when dishonest neighbours started to steal his cattle. Then other neighbours, most of them newcomers, took offence at his horses roaming on their properties.

Such grumbles are common in Arizona. The most recent Department of Agriculture census shows that 1 213 of Arizona’s 8 507 farms closed down between 1997 and 2002. Many cattlemen are moving out to remoter parts of the state.

Doc Lane is an executive at the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association, a trade group. He says Arizona’s larger ranch owners are making decent profits from selling. It is the smaller players who are the victims of rising land values, higher mortgages and stiffer city council rules. What happens all too often is that people move in next to a farm because they think the land pretty. But soon they start complaining to the council. In Mr. Williams’s case it was the horses that annoyed them. Other newcomers don’t like the noise, the pesticides and the smell of manure.

Locals worry about the precious, dwindling cowboy culture. Arizona’s tourism boards like to promote a steady interest in all things about cowboy and western. Last year more British and German tourists came than usual, and many of them were looking precisely for that. Arizona’s Dude Ranch Association fills its $ 350-a-night luxury ranches most of the year; roughly a third of the guests are European.

Many of the ranchers themselves see all this tourism as a cheeky attempt to commercialise a real and vanishing culture. In Prescott, estate agents promote "American Ranch-style" homes with posters of horse riders. On the other side of the street is Whiskey Row, a famous strip of historic cowboy bars. But in Matt’s Saloon on Saturday night, real cattlemen could not be found.

Farm folk like Mr. Knox and Mr. Williams are weighing up their options. Many will migrate to remoter places where land is cheaper and not crowded with city people. Younger ones take on side-jobs as contractors and are cattle-hands part-time. Older cowboys aren’t sure what to do.

The word "grumble" (Line 1 , Paragraph 2) most probably means ()

A. mutter

B. phenomenon

C. complaint

D. gamble

答案

参考答案:C

解析:

[直击题眼] 第一段结尾和第二段开头:His problems…dishonest neighbours started to steal;his cattle.…newcomers,took offence at his horses….Such grumbles are common in Arizona.

[深层剖析] 本题在考查考生词汇知识的同时,也考查大家对全文第一段和第二段逻辑关系的理解。全文第一段的结尾具体讲述了一个老牛仔的问题,第二段开头表明这种问题的普遍性。而Such grumbles就是指其他邻居对他的马took offence(生气)的事情,可以推断,这些邻居是有抱怨的,所以选[C]。

[主干扰项分析] [A]mutter“咕哝,低声地嘟哝或者不清楚地说话”,不少同学看到此选项很容易误选,认为 grumble与mutter是同义词,这两个词都有表示“嘟囔地说话”这种具体动作的意思,但在文章中,作者要表达的是一种意识行为“抱怨”,故[A]不对。[B]phenomenon“现象,事件”是个中性词,不如[C]贴切。

[次干扰项分析] [D]gamble“冒险”,从词形上形成干扰,但意思与文章不符。◆谨记:备选答案和题干存在的形近词往往是错误选项。

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