The United States is usually given credit for creating and developing the musical comedy as it is known today. The first musical shows were based (1) everyday American life and the (2) development of the form took place in the United States for more than half a century. (3) the early 1970s, (4) , the London theater has (5) the Broadway stage.
The Black Crook, which opened at Niblo’s Garden in New York City on Sept. 12, 1866, is usually (6) as the inspiration for musical comedy. A troupe of French ballet dancers (7) to be stranded in New York without work (8) a fire damaged the theater (9) they had been booked. In order to keep a (10) to them, the theater producer put the dancers into a melodrama written by Charles M. Barres.
The first stage production that was (11) a musical comedy was a show that was (12) from the Prince of Wales Theater to the Gaiety Theater in London in 1892. Staged by George Edwards, the show called In Town featured a chorus line of Gaiety Girls. The (13) year A Gaiety Girl was equally successful, and a (14) of the show played in New York in the same year. When it was (15) in newspapers, it was designated a musical comedy and regarded as a new (16) of entertainment.
It did not take the form long to (17) in the United States. Almost (18) one of the most renowned talents of the American stage went to work on his own musicals. The singer-dancer George M. Cohan staged Little Johnny Jones in 1904. Cohan, (19) own life story was made into the musical George M (1968), also wrote the books, words, and (20) for Forty-five Minutes from Broadway ( 1906 ), The Little Millionaire ( 1911 ), The Song and Dance Man ( 1923 ), and American Born (1925).
2（）
A.big
B.large
C.little
D.chief
参考答案：D
解析：
[解题思路] 形容词辨析。形容词作定语时，看与名词能否构成合理的修饰关系。正确答案作定语修饰名词development“发展、进步”。同时，根据前文内容，美国是产生和发展了歌舞喜剧，而little“少许，一点”是负向含义，与行文逻辑方向矛盾，为错误答案，其余三项在逻辑方向上是正确的。尽管中文中经常使用“进步很大”的搭配，英文中big和。large却不能修饰development，此处是典型的“中文代入”的出题手法，chief可以用于修饰development。