Reading comprehension -TOEFL- Lesson 156 (Đọc hiểu -TOEFL- Bài 156)
Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời các câu hỏi:
When Daniel Boone died peacefully in bed in his son Nathan's elegant stone Missouri farmhouse on September 26, 1820, the surge of emigrants along the Oregon Trail was still a generation away. But Boone already exemplified the pioneer at his best. He was neither the physical 5 giant (five feet nine) nor the innocent child of nature that legend has made of him. He was an intelligent, soft spoken family man who cherished the same wife for 57 years. He befriended Indians, preferred company to solitude, and when he told his wife it was time to move because a newcomer had settled some 70 miles away, he was joking. 10 Pennsylvania-born, Boone was one of 11 children in a family of Quakers who migrated to North Carolina. There Boone was recruited at age 40 to undertake a scheme designed to open up Kentucky to settlers and establish it as a 14th colony. He arranged a deal by which the 15 Cherokees sold 20 million acres for $20,000 worth of goods to Boone's employers, the Transylvania Company. It was all fair and square-the Indians had an attorney, an interpreter, and the sound advice of their squaws. The deal completed, Boone led a party from Tennessee through the Cumberland Gap, hacked out the Wilderness Road, and set 20 up a town- Boonesboro-and a government. Elected a legislator, he introduced on the first session's first day a bill to protect game against wanton slaughter and a second bill to "improve the breed of horses." He got 2,000 acres for his work, but after the Revolution-in which Boone won considerable fame as a militia commander-the scheme 25 of the Transylvania Company was declared illegal and Boone lost his land. Undaunted, he staked out more claims-and lost them because he impatiently neglected to register his deeds. Ever hopeful, he accepted an invitation from Spanish-held Missouri to come and settle there and bring others with him. The Spanish gave him 8,500 acres 30 and made him a judge. But the Louisiana Purchase, which embraced Missouri, again left him-but not his children-landless. Old and broke, Boone cheerfully continued hunting and trapping long after his hands shook. Shortly before he died, he was talking knowledgeably with young men about the joys to be experienced in settling California.
1. What is the author's purpose in writing this passage?
2. The word "surge" in line 2 is closest in meaning to
3. It can be inferred that one area in which Boone was NOT successful was
4. The phrase "fair and square" in lines 16 is closest in meaning to
5. It can be inferred from the passage that Boone died
6. According to the passage, where is Boone's namesake city located?
7. The Transylvania Company wanted Boone to
8. The word "undaunted" in line 26 is closest in meaning to
9. According to the passage, the Louisiana Purchase
10. What can be inferred from the passage about Boone's children?
11. The author's attitude toward Daniel Boone in the passage can be best described as
