The Cherokee Nation
Long before the white man came to America, the land belonged to the American Indian nations.The nation of the Cherokees lived in what is now the southeastern part of the United States.
After the white man came, the Cherokees copied many of their ways. One Cherokee named Sequoyah saw how important reading and writing was to the white man. He decided to invent a way to write down the spoken Cherokee language. He began by making word pictures. For each word he drew a picture. But that proved impossible -there were just too many words. Then he took the 85 sounds that made up the language. Using his own imagination and an English spelling book, Sequoyah invented a sign for each sound. His alphabet proved amazingly easy to learn. Before long, many Cherokees knew how to read and write in their own language. By 1828, they were even printing their own news paper.
In 1830, the U. S. Congress passed a law. It allowed the government to remove Indians from their lands. The Cherokees refused to go. They had lived on their lands for centuries. It belonged to them.
Why should they go to a strange land far beyond the Mississippi River?
The army was sent to drive the Cherokees out. Soldiers surrounded their villages and marched them at gunpoint into the western territory. The sick, the old and the small children went in carts, along with their belongings. The rest of the people marched on foot or rode on horseback. It was November, yet many of them still wore their summer clothes. Cold and hungry, the Cherokees were quickly exhausted by the hardships of the journey. Many dropped dead and were buried by the roadside. When the last group arrived in their new home in March 1839, more than 4, 000 had died. It was indeed a march of death.
36. The Cherokee Nation used to live
A. on the American continent.
B. in the southeastern part of the US.
C. beyond the Mississippi River.
D. in the western territory.
37. One of the ways that Sequoyah copied from the white man is the way of
A. writing down the spoken language.
B. making word pictures.
C. teaching his people reading,
D. printing their own newspaper.
38. A law was passed in 1830 to
A. allow the Cherokees to stay where they were.
B. send the army to help the Cherokees.
C. force the Cherokees to move westward.
D. forbid the Cherokees to read their newspaper.
39. When the Cherokees began to leave their lands,
A. they went in carts.
B. they went on horseback.
C. they marched on foot,
D. all of the above.
40. Many Cherokees died on their way to their new home mainly because
A. they were not willing to go there.
B. the government did not provide transportation.
C, they did not have enough food and clothes.
D. the journey was long and boring.
参考答案：
36.B【解析】题目问的是：彻罗基人过去居住在哪里?根据第一段最后一句可知他们住在现在的 the soHtheastern part of the Unitecl States，所以选项B为正确答案。选项A范围太广，C项和D项都是指他们后来迁移的地方，所以错误。
37.A【解析】题目问的是：塞阔雅从白人那学到的一种方法是什么?根据第二段第三句可知赛阔雅决定发明一种将口头语言写下来的方法;后面具体讲了他是怎么发明的。所以A项是正确的。B项用图形表示单词，C项教会人们如何阅读，D项如何印刷报纸，这些都不准确。
38.C【解析】题目问的是：l830年通过了一个法律，内容是什么?根据第5-.段可知这个法律允许政府使彻罗基人向西迁移，所以选项C为正确选项。 A项让彻罗基人留在他们原来的地方，这明显不对; B项派军队帮助彻罗基人，这与第四段中marched them at gunpoint相矛盾;D项禁止彻罗基人阅读报纸，文中没有提到。
39.D【解析】题目问的是：彻罗基人是怎样离开他们的土地的?根据第四段可知the sick，the old and the small children went in carts.along with their belongings.The rest of the people。因此，D项 all of the above最全面。
40.C【解析】题目问的是：很多彻罗基人死在迁往新住处的路上，主要是因为什么?根据第四段倒数第四句Cold and hungry，the Cherokees were quickly exhausted by the hardships of the journey.可知他们是没有足够的食物和衣服，所以C项为正确答案。A项他们不愿意去那里，这是事实，但不是他们死亡的主要原因;B项政府没有提供交通工具，文中没有提及;D项路途遥远而且令人乏味，这也不是主要原因。