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le use had ever been made of it. In the 1850’s Samuel M. Kier a manufacturer in western Pennsylvania, began collecting the oil from local seepages (油苗) and refining it into kerosene. Refining, like smelting is a process of removing impurities from a raw material.Kerosene was used to light lamps. It was a cheap substitute for whale oil, which was becoming harder to get. Soon there was a large demand for kerosene. People began to search for new supplies of petroleum.The first oil well was drilled by E.L.Drake, a retaired railroad conductor. In 1859 he began drilling in Titusvill, Pennsylvania. The whole venture seemed so impractical and foolish that onlookers called it “ Drake’s Folly”. But when he had drilled down about 70 feet (21 meters ), Drake struck oil and his well began to yield 20 barrels of crude oil a day.News of Drake’s success brought oil prospectors to the scene. By the early 1860’s these wildcatters were drilling for “black gold “ all over western Pennsylvania. The boom rivaled the California gold rush of 1848 in its excitement and Wild West atmosphere. And it brought far more wealth to the prospectors than any gold rush.Crude oil could be refined into many products. For some years kerosene continued to be the principal one. It was sold in grocery stores and door-to-door. In the 1880’s and 1890’s refiners learned how to make other petroleum products such as waxes and lubricating oils. Petroleum was not then used to make gasoline or heating oil.
1Why does the author mention the California gold rush?
A.To explain the need for an increased supply of gold B.To indicate the extent of United States mineral wealth C.To describe the mood when oil was first discovered D.To argue that gold was more valuable than oil
2The author mentions all of the followings as possible products of crude oil EXCEPT _____.
A.wax B.gasoline C.kerosene D.plastic
3It can be inferred from the passage that kerosene was preferable to whale oil because whale oil was too_______.
A.expensive B.thick C.hot D.polluted
4What is the best title for the passage?
A.Oil Refining : a historical perspective B.The California Gold Rush: Get Rich Quickly C.Private Property: Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted D.Kerosene Lamps: A Light In the Tunnel
5According to the passage, many people initially thought that E. L. Drake had made a mistake by ________.
A.going on a whaling expedition B.moving to Pennsylvania C.retiring from his oil D.retiring from his job
补全短文
(第46～50题，每题2分，下面的短文有5处空白，短文后有6个句子，其中5个取自短文，请根据短文内容将其分别放回原有位置，以恢复文章原貌。共10分)1、Looking into the Future Bertrand Russell, a famous philosopher, said in 1944, “The one thing the study of the past teaches us is that the future is never how people imagine it will be.”转自环 球 网校edu24ol.com转自环球 网校edu24ol.com转自环 球 网校edu24ol.comIn 1946, physicists predicted that within twenty years, most of the world’s energy would be supplied by nuclear power. __________ (46) In 1951, a famous surgeon said that he and his colleagues were confident that “by the end of the 1950s, a cure for most if not all cancers will have been found.” In 1954, an American economist predicted Americans would go on getting richer and richer. ___________ (47).In the year 1969, an automation engineer working for Max Factor Cosmetics in Britain
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