From the beginning of human history, wild animals provided food, clothing and sometimes medicine. We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways. Automobile manufacturers(制造商) and gasoline panies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats. When Americans say wildcat, they usually mean a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely. So wildcats represent something fast and fierce.
An early American use of the word wildcat was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress(国会) who declared war on Britain in 1812. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congressmen went home. It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary war.
Wildcat also has been used as a name for money in the 1800s. At that time, some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it. Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a wildcat bill or a wildcat bank note. The banks who offered this money were called wildcat banks. A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.
Wildcat then was also used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property. Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today, wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.
【小题1】 What is the main idea of the passage?A．Wildcats and their stories.B．Wildcats and their charactersC．Varieties of animal species.D．Relationship between animal and humans.【小题2】From the passage we can know that .A．wildcats represent the state of MichiganB．the use of wildcat was not always the sameC．wildcats are the best friend of human beings D．honest developers never buy wildcat oil wells【小题3】 The underlines words “a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat” in Paragraph 1 may refer to “ ”.
A. gasoline panies B. automobile manufacturers
C. names of wildcats D. brands of automobile
64. Which of the following would people like to have or trust according to the passage?
A. Wildcat congressmen. B. Wildcat oil wells.
C. Wildcat banks. D. Wildcat cars.
【小题4】 It can be inferred that during the days of wildcat money .A．people couldn’t buy anything with the moneyB．people didn’t know how to save money.C．the rich invested too much on oil wells. D．people plained and suffered a lotA
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(答案→)A
解析：本文叙述了动物在很早的时候是人们赖以生存不可缺少的东西，现在动物的名字又被制造商所利用，本文介绍了不同的国家不同的时期对于wildcat的不同的意义和作用。
【小题1】主旨大意题。根据短文额度内容来看主要讲述了各国利用野猫的意义及故事，故选A。
【小题2】细节理解题。根据整篇的内容来看各国对野猫的用途是不一样的，故选B。
【小题3】词义猜测题。根据When Americans say wildcat， they usually mean可知这是野猫的名字。故选C。
【小题4】推理判断题。根据A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.可知这是人们的抱怨，故选D。