In its early history, Chicago had floods frequently, especially in the spring, making the streets so muddy that people, horses, and carts got stuck. An old joke that was popular at the time went something like this: A man is stuck up to his waist in a muddy Chicago street. Asked if he needs help, he replies, “No, thanks. I've got a good horse under me.”

The city planners decided to build an underground drainage (排水) system, but there simply wasn't enough difference between the height of the ground level and the water level. The only two options were to lower the Chicago River or raise the city.

An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced the city that it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dirt. This raised the level of the city's streets by as much as 12 feet.

This of course created a new problem: dirt practically buried the first floors of every building in Chicago. Building owners were faced with a choice: either change the first floors of their buildings into basements, and the second stories into main floors, or hoist the entire buildings to meet the new street level. Small wood-­frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily. But what about large, heavy structures like the Tremont Hotel, which was a six-­story brick building?

That's where George Pullman came in. He had developed some house-­moving skills successfully. To lift a big structure like the Tremont Hotel, Pullman would place thousands of jackscrews (螺旋千斤顶) beneath the building's foundation. One man was assigned to operate each section of roughly 10 jackscrews. At Pullman's signal each man turned his jackscrew the same amount at the same time, thereby raising the building slowly and evenly. Astonishingly, the Tremont Hotel stayed open during the entire operation, and many of its guests didn't even notice anything was happening. 

Some people like to say that every problem has a solution. But in Chicago's early history, every engineering solution seemed to create a new problem. Now that Chicago's waste water was draining efficiently into the Chicago River, the city's next step was to clean the polluted river.

1.The author mentions the joke to show ________.

A horses were fairly useful in Chicago

B Chicago's streets were extremely muddy

C Chicago was very dangerous in the spring

D the Chicago people were particularly humorous

解析：选B。B　推理判断题。根据文章第一段第一句，In its early history, Chicago had floors frequently, especially in the spring, making the streets so muddy that people , horses, and carts got stuck. 芝加哥洪水泛滥，使得大街泥泞不堪，以至于行人、马和马车常常被困在街上。因此，作者开这个笑话的目的是表明芝加哥的街道遇到洪水的这一特点。

2.The city planners were convinced by Ellis Chesbrough to ________.

A get rid of the street dirt

B lower the Chicago River

C fight against heavy floods

D build the pipes above ground

解析：选D。D　细节理解题。根据第三段第一句，An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced the city that it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dirt. 可知Ellis Chesbrough说服人们，他们别无选择只有在地上修管道，然后用土把管道盖住。

3.The underlined word “hoist” in Paragraph 4 means “_______”.

A change

B lift

C repair

D decorate

解析：选B。B　词义猜测题。根据文章第四段第三句Small wood­-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily.可知hoist的意思是lift。词汇猜测题应该根据上下文进行理解猜测。

4.What can we conclude about the moving operation of the Tremont Hotel?

A It went on smoothly as intended.

B It interrupted the business of the hotel.

C It involved Pullman turning ten jackscrews.

D It separated the building from its foundation.

解析：选A。A　推理判断题。根据倒数第二段倒数第二句，AT Pullman’s signal each man turned his jackscrew the same amount at the same time, thereby raising the building slowly and evenly.在Pullman 的指导下，Tremont Hotel的搬迁是slowly and evenly，便可推测出smoothly。

5.The passage is mainly about early Chicago's _______.

A popular life styles and their influences

B environmental disasters and their causes

C engineering problems and their solutions

D successful businessmen and their achievements

解析：选C。C　主旨大意题。综合全文，文章一开始提出芝加哥存在的问题，然后讨论了解决问题的一些方法。故选C。这也是说明文一种常见的文体结构，提出和解决问题。