2016年6月大学英语六级考试阅读模拟题及答案23

　　The Thanksgiving Turkey

　　Of all the Thanksgiving symbols the turkey hasbecome the most well known. The wild turkey isnative1 to northern Mexico and the eastern UnitedStates.

　　The turkey has brown features with buff-coloredfeathers on the tips of the wing and on the tail. Themale turkey is called a Tom2 and, as with mostbirds, is bigger and has brighter and more colorful plumage. The female is called a Hen and isgenerally smaller and drab in color. The Tom turkey has a long wattle (a fleshy, wrinkled,brightly colored fold of skin hanging from the neck or throat) at the base of its bill andadditional wattles on the neck, as well as a prominent tuft of bristles3 resembling a beardprojecting downward from its chest.

　　The turkey was originally domesticated in Mexico, and was brought into Europe early in the16th century. Since that time, turkeys have been extensively raised because of the excellentquality of their meat and eggs. Some of the common breeds of turkey in the United States arethe Bronze, Narragansett, White Holland, and Bourbon Red.

　　Though there is no real evidence that turkey was served at the Pilgrim's4 first thanksgiving, ina book written by the Pilgrim's Governor Bradford, he does make mention of wild turkeys. In aletter sent to England, another Pilgrim describes how the governor sent "four men out fowling"returning with turkeys, ducks and geese.

　　Benjamin Franklin5 once said, "I wish the Bald Eagle6 had not been chosen as therepresentative of our country; he is a Bird of bad moral character; like those among Men wholive by Sharping7 and Robbing, he is generally poor and very often lousy. The Turkey is a muchmore respectable Bird and withal a true original Native of North America. "

　　阅读自测

　　Ⅰ. Fill in each blank according to what you've read:

　　Of all the symbols the turkey has become the most well known . The male turkey is called a ,and the female turkey is called

　　a . The turkey was originally domesticated in . Turkeys have been extensively raised becauseof the excellent quality of their since the century. Benjamin Franklin once said that he wishedturkeys but not had been chosen as the representative of the United States.

　　Ⅱ. Question :

　　Why did Benjamin Franklin think that the Turkey but not the Bald Eagle should be chosen asthe representative of the United States?

　　参考答案

　　Ⅰ. Thanksgiving / Tom / Hen / Mexico / meat andeggs / 16 th / the Bald Eagle Ⅱ. Because he thoughtthe Bald Eagle was a bird of bad moral character，while the Turkey was much more respectable and itwas the true original Native of North America.

　　参考译文

　　火鸡漫谈

　　在感恩节所有的象征中，火鸡已经成为人们最熟悉的东西。野火鸡主要生长在墨西哥 北部和美国东部。

　　火鸡通体呈褐色，只是在翅尖和尾部点缀些许浅黄色的羽毛。人们称雄性火鸡为T om.和大多数鸟儿一样，公火鸡个头更大，羽毛的颜色也更加鲜艳明亮。人们把雌性火鸡称作H en.母火鸡的个头较小，羽毛是单调的土褐色。公火鸡嘴的底部有一条长长的肉垂(这是一种从脖子或喉咙垂下的肉质的皮肤褶皱，色彩艳丽)，脖子上也会长些肉垂。而且，公火鸡还长有一丛从胸部垂下来的像是一撮胡子一样的竖毛。

　　火鸡最早在墨西哥被驯化，并在16 世纪早期被输送到欧洲。从那时起，人们就因其高 品质的肉和蛋而开始大量饲养火鸡。美国最常见的火鸡品种主要有青铜色、纳拉甘塞特、荷兰白和波旁红等。

　　尽管并没有确凿的证据证明美国清教徒在过第一个感恩节时曾把火鸡摆上宴席，但是他们的总督布雷德福在他写的一本书中确实提到了野火鸡。另一个清教徒在他寄往英格兰的信中描述了总督是怎样派“四人出去捕鸟”，结果却带了些火鸡、鸭子和鹅回来。

　　本杰明· 富兰克林曾经这样说：“要是当年我们没有选择秃头雕作为我国的象征就好了。秃头雕的品行不好，就像那些靠欺骗和掠夺为生的人中败类一样，它一般都很卑下，而且行为通常也很卑劣。火鸡则是一种更加值得尊敬的鸟，不仅如此，它是北美真正土生土长的鸟儿。”

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