Passage Three
The first postal service in North America began in New England in the 17th century. All mail arriving in Massachusetts colony was sent to the home of appointed official in Boston. In turn, the mail would be delivered from Boston on horseback to its destination, receiving one penny for each good article of mail. Later in the century postal services were established between Philadelphia and Delaware. In 1691,(33) (34) the British crown appointed the first postmaster general to have charge of the mail for all the colonies in North America. Later, Benjamin Franklin served as the postmaster general for the British government and then (35) was made postmaster by the newly formed United States' postal systems on a permanent basis. He increased the number of post office, introduced the use of stagecoaches to carry mail, and started a package service system. They were used to carry mail into the towns. Some communities, especially those out west, were far from the services of transportation. To serve them, the post office developed a system called"star routes".Private contractors paid to deliver mail to the communities from railways by horse and wagon.(32) The postal service, which was started 3 centuries ago, has developed into an extensive government service with post offices in every city, town, and village in the United States.
32. What is the main topic of this passage?
B)。这是一道主旨题。文章通篇出现了postal service,mail等词汇，全文最后一句话是总结。从关键词started...developed into都可以看出，本文讲述了美国邮政业的发展史。
33. What is the task of the first North America postal general?
B)。根据选项可推断这是一道表示任务或目的的题目。关于the first North American postal general，短文只提到了一句：the British crown appointed the first postmaster general to have charge of the mail for all the colonies in North America，答案为B)。A)是first postal service的内容；C)是Benjamin Franklin采取的措施；而D)则是star routes的内容。
34. Who appointed the first postmaster general?
A)。四个选项均为名词短语，可推断这是一道细节题，答案在文章中间的部分In 1691,the British crown appointed...。其中British crown指"英国政府"，crown本是指"皇冠"，这里代表government，后面的 postmaster general表示"邮政部长"。
35. Why did Benjamin Franklin deserve credit?
D)。题干中的credit表示"信任，称赞"，Franklin当上新成立的美国政府邮政部长后，负责建立美国的邮政系统，因此做了许多事，例如增加邮局的数量、运用马车运送邮件等。他得到大家赞誉的原因就在于他建立了美国的邮政系统。
Section C
36. values
［听前猜测］根据上文reflect和下文culture可知此处可能为"特点/价值"。
37. opportunities
［听前猜测］根据下文"for education, employment, and entertainment"，可知此处为"机会"。
38. poverty
［听前猜测］根据上文"violent crime, racial conflict"可知此处为同一性质的"贫穷"。
39. space
［听前猜测］根据下文"They moved out of their apartments... buy their own homes"可知此处为"空间"。
40. suburbs
［听前猜测］根据下文"near a city"可知此处为"郊区"。
41. areas
［听前猜测］根据上文"where people live"可知该处为"地区"。
42. adults
［听前猜测］根据上文"children... are now..."可知该处为"成年人"。
43. executives
［听前猜测］根据上文"professionals, doctors, lawyers"可知此处也为某种职业。
44. Many are single; others are married, but often without children
［听写关键词］single, married, children
45. or they just enjoy the excitement and opportunities which the city offers
［听写关键词］enjoy, excitement, opportunities, city
46. Only a few years ago people thought that the older American cities were dying
［听写关键词］years, older, cities, dying
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