📖 原文
(1) Hotels were among the earliest facilities that bound the United States together. They (2) were both creatures and creators of communities, as well as symptoms of the frenetic (3) quest for community. Even in the first part of the nineteenth century, Americans were (4) already forming the habit of gathering from all corners of the nation for both public and (5) private, business and pleasure, purposes. Conventions were the new occasions, and (6) hotels were distinctively American facilities making conventions possible. The first (7) national convention of a major party to choose a candidate for President (that of the (8) National Republican party, which met on December 12, 1831, and nominated Henry (9) Clay for President) was held in Baltimore, at a hotel that was then reputed to be the best (10) in the country. The presence in Baltimore of Barnum's City Hotel, a six-story building (11) with two hundred apartments, helps explain why many other early national political (12) conventions were held there. (13) In the longer run, American hotels made other national conventions not only possible (14) but pleasant and convivial. The growing custom of regularly assembling from afar the (15) representatives of all kinds of groups - not only for political conventions, but also for (16) commercial, professional, learned, and avocational ones - in turn supported the (17) multiplying hotels. By the mid-twentieth century, conventions accounted for over a (18) third of the yearly room occupancy of all hotels in the nation; about eighteen thousand (19) different conventions were held annually with a total attendance of about ten million (20) persons. (21) Nineteenth-century American hotelkeepers, who were no longer the genial, (22) deferential "hosts" of the eighteenth-century European inn, became leading citizens. (23) Holding a large stake in the community, they exercised power to make it prosper. As (24) owners or managers of the local "palace of the public," they were makers and shapers of (25) a principal community attraction. Travelers from abroad were mildly shocked by this (26) high social position.
❓ 试题解析
问题 1： The word "bound" in line 1 is closest in meaning to
A. led
B. protected
C. tied
D. strengthened
✅ 正确答案： C）tied
📝 解析： "bound the United States together" — bound = 连接/使结合。
💡 解题技巧： 词汇题：bind/bound = tie = connect。
问题 2： The National Republican party is mentioned in lines 7-8 as an example of a group
A. from Baltimore
B. of learned people
C. owning a hotel
D. holding a convention
✅ 正确答案： D）holding a convention
📝 解析： 文中提到该党在巴尔的摩的一家酒店举行了第一次全国性大会。
💡 解题技巧： 例证题看例子要说明的观点（conventions were the new occasions）。
问题 3： The word "assembling" in line 14 is closest in meaning to
A. announcing
B. motivating
C. gathering
D. contracting
✅ 正确答案： C）gathering
📝 解析： "regularly assembling from afar the representatives" — assembling = 聚集。
💡 解题技巧： 词汇题：assemble = gather = come together。
问题 4： The word "ones" in line 16 refers to
A. hotels
B. conventions
C. kinds
D. representatives
✅ 正确答案： B）conventions
📝 解析： "not only for political conventions, but also for commercial, professional, learned, and avocational ones" — ones 指 conventions。
💡 解题技巧： 代词题找并列结构中被修饰的名词。
问题 5： The word "it" in line 22 refers to
A. European inn
B. host
C. community
D. public
✅ 正确答案： C）community
📝 解析： "they exercised power to make it prosper" — it 指前文的 community。
💡 解题技巧： 代词题找及物动词 make 的宾语所指。
问题 6： It can be inferred from the passage that early hotelkeepers in the United States were
A. active politicians
B. European immigrants
C. professional builders
D. influential citizens
✅ 正确答案： D）influential citizens
📝 解析： "became leading citizens"、"held a large stake in the community"、"exercised power" — 有影响力的公民。
💡 解题技巧： 推理题定位描述社会地位的关键词。
问题 7： Which of the following statements about early American hotels is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A. Travelers from abroad did not enjoy staying in them.
B. Conventions were held in them.
C. People used them for both business and pleasure.
D. They were important to the community.
✅ 正确答案： A）Travelers from abroad did not enjoy staying in them.
📝 解析： 文中只说外国旅行者对酒店经营者的高社会地位感到 mildly shocked，并未说他们不喜欢住在酒店里。
💡 解题技巧： "NOT"题逐一排除文中明确提到的内容。
🌐 中文翻译
酒店是最早将美国联结在一起的设施之一。它们既是社区的产物，也是社区的创造者，同时也是狂热追求社区的象征。早在19世纪上半叶，美国人就已经形成了从全国各地聚集在一起的习惯，无论是为了公共或私人目的，还是为了商务或娱乐。大会是新时代的场合，而酒店则是使大会成为可能的、独具美国特色的设施。第一个主要政党为选择总统候选人而召开的全国性大会（国家共和党的大会，于1831年12月12日举行，提名亨利·克莱为总统候选人）在巴尔的摩的一家酒店举行，这家酒店当时被认为是全国最好的酒店。巴尔的摩拥有巴纳姆城市酒店——一座六层楼、拥有二百套公寓的建筑——这有助于解释为什么许多其他早期全国性政治大会也在那里举行。 从长远来看，美国的酒店不仅使其他全国性大会成为可能，还使它们变得愉快而欢乐。定期从远方聚集各种团体的代表——不仅为政治大会，也为商业、专业、学术和业余爱好大会——这一日益增长的习惯反过来又支持了不断增加的酒店。到20世纪中期，大会占全国所有酒店年客房入住率的三分之一以上；每年举行约一万八千个不同的大会，总出席人数约一千万人。 19世纪的美国酒店经营者——不再是18世纪欧洲旅馆那种和蔼可亲、毕恭毕敬的"主人"——成为了杰出的公民。他们在社区中拥有重大利益，运用权力使其繁荣。作为当地"公众殿堂"的所有者或管理者，他们是主要社区吸引力的制造者和塑造者。外国旅行者对这种崇高的社会地位感到轻微震惊。
🏷️ 标签：#托福阅读 #真题解析 #备考资料
