A
Henry Ford grew up on an un-electrified farm. Edison was Ford's role model and as a young man Ford took a job at the Edison Illuminating Company working his way up to chief engineer.
In 1896 Ford was thirty-three and, though still working for Edison Co., he had created his first experimental automobile the Ford Quadricycle2 during his off-time. At an Edison company party in New York, Ford had his first chance to meet his hero Edison and was able to explain his new automobile to the great inventor. Edison was impressed. Edison is said to have slammed his fist down and shouted, "Young man, that’s the thing! You have it! Your car is self-contained and carries its own power plant." Edison himself had been working on the idea, but had only been considering electricity as the power source, so the idea of a gas engine was a somewhat new one. The words comforted Ford greatly, who immediately set out building a second model which was to become the Model-T.6.
The two men became fast friends and would go on camping trips together. When Edison later became confined to a wheelchair, Ford brought an extra one to his house so they could race.
As the legend goes, Ford asked Thomas Edison's son Charles to sit by the dying inventor's bedside and hold a test tube next to his father's mouth to catch his final breath. Ford was a man with many strange behaviors (as was Edison) and some say that he was trying to catch Edison's soul as it escaped his body in hopes of later bringing the inventor back to life.
The truth of the story is somewhat similar to the legend. While by no means did Charles hold up a test tube to Edisons lips as he lay dying, there were indeed a series of eight test tubes very nearby his bed. In the words of his son Charles: "Though he is mainly remembered for his work in electrical fields, his real love was chemistry. It is not strange that those test tubes were close to him at the end. Immediately after his death I asked his doctor to seal them with paraffin (用石蜡封住). He did. Later I gave one of them to Mr. Ford.”
There is a further mystery of this "last breath" test tube. It would seem as if Edison had quite a last breath indeed, as the Edison Estate holds a collection of 42 test tubes all supposedly containing Edisons last breath.
Regardless of the excitement over the last breath, the test tube is quite touching in its meaning. Although both men were known for all sorts of poor behavior towards their loved ones and mistreatment of employees, between them at least, there was clearly a deep respect and admiration.
1. The purpose of the author writing this passage is________.
A. to stress the importance of friendship
B. to show that love can lead to some poor behaviors
C. to tell the readers some stories about the two inventors
D. to remind the readers of the importance of the two inventors
2. From the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2, we can learn that________.
A. Edison envied what Ford had achieved
B. Edison was angry because Ford stole his idea
C. Edison was annoyed that Ford did better than him
D. Edison was extremely amazed at Ford's new idea
3. It can be learned from the last paragraph that________.
A. nobody is perfect
B. great minds think alike
C. two heads are better than one
D. a friend in need is a friend indeed
4. “The last breath test tube” can probably be regarded as________.
A. a failure to bring Edison back to life
B. a witness to a scientific breakthrough
C. a symbol of a friendship and memory
D. a sign of the two inventors' poor behavior
【答案】1. C 2. D 3. A 4. C
【解析】
【分析】这是一篇记叙文。文章主要讲述了两位伟大的发明家福特和爱迪生之间的故事。
【1题详解】
推理判断题。根据第一段“Edison was Ford' s role model and as a young man Ford took a job at the Edison Illuminating Company working his way up to chief engineer.(爱迪生是福特的榜样，福特年轻时在爱迪生照明公司工作，一路晋升到总工程师)”以及文章内容可知，本文讲述了两位发明家福特和爱迪生之间发生的故事。故选C项。
【2题详解】
推理判断题。根据第二段“Edison was impressed. Edison is said to have slammed his fist down and shouted, "Young man, that’s the thing! You have it! Your car is self-contained and carries its own power plant.” (爱迪生印象深刻。据说爱迪生挥拳大喊：“年轻人，就是这样！你拥有它！你的车是独立的，有自己的动力装置。”)”可知，爱迪生对于福特的新发明印象深刻，划线句子表示爱迪生感到十分惊奇，他挥舞拳头大喊，以表示自己的惊讶。故选D项。
【3题详解】
推理判断题。根据最后一段“Although both men were known for all sorts of poor behavior towards their loved ones and mistreatment of employees, between them at least, there was clearly a deep respect and admiration. (尽管两人都因对亲人的种种不良行为和虐待员工而闻名，但至少他们之间有着深深的尊重和钦佩)”可知，福特和爱迪生虽然是著名的发明家，但是也有不足之处，由此可以看出没有人是完美的。故选A项。
【4题详解】
细节理解题。根据最后一段“Regardless of the excitement over the last breath, the test tube is quite touching in its meaning. Although both men were known for all sorts of poor behavior towards their loved ones and mistreatment of employees, between them at least, there was clearly a deep respect and admiration. (不管最后一次呼吸有多么激动，试管的意义是非常感人的。尽管两人都因对亲人的种种不良行为和虐待员工而闻名，但至少他们之间有着深深的尊重和钦佩)”可知，“最后一次呼吸试管”的意义非常感人，代表了福特和爱迪生之间深深的尊重和钦佩，所以它可能被认为是友谊和记忆的象征。故选C项。
