¡¡¡¡Hotels were among the earliest facilities that bound the United States together. They were both creatures and creators of communities£¬ as well as symptoms of the frenetic quest for community. Even in the first part of the nineteenth century£¬Americans were already forming the habit of gathering from all corners of the nation for both public and private£¬ business and pleasure purposes. Conventions were the new occasions£¬ and hotels were distinctively American facilities making conven- tions possible. The first national convention of a major party to choose a candidate for President £¨that of the National Republican party£¬ which met on December 12£¬ 1831£¬ and nominated Henry Clay for President£© was held in Baltimore£¬ at a hotel that was then reputed to be the best in the country. The presence in Baltimore of Barnum s City Hotel£¬ a six-story building with two hundred apartments helps explain why many other early national political conventions were held there.
¡¡¡¡In the longer run£¬ too. American hotels made other national conventions not only possible but pleasant and convivial. The growing custom of regularly assembling from afar the representatives of all kinds of groups - not only for political conventions£¬but also for commercial£¬ professional£¬ learned£¬ and avocational ones - in turn supported the multiplying hotels. By mid-twentieth century£¬ conventions accounted for over a third of the yearly room occupancy of all hotels in the nation£¬ about eighteen thousand different conventions were held annually with a total attendance of about ten million persons.
¡¡¡¡Nineteenth-century American hotelkeepers£¬ who were no longer the genial£¬ deferential "hosts" of the eighteenth-century European inn£¬ became leading citizens. Holding a large stake in the community£¬ they exercised power to make it prosper. As owners or managers of the local "palace of the public"£¬ they were makers and shapers of a principal community attraction. Travelers from abroad were mildly shocked by this high social position.
¡¡¡¡1. The word "bound" in line 1 is closest in meaning to
¡¡¡¡£¨A£© led
¡¡¡¡£¨B£© protected
¡¡¡¡£¨C£© tied
¡¡¡¡£¨D£© strengthened
¡¡¡¡2. The National Republican party is mentioned in line 10 as an example of a group
¡¡¡¡£¨A£© from Baltimore
¡¡¡¡£¨B£© of learned people
¡¡¡¡£¨C£© owning a hotel
¡¡¡¡£¨D£© holding a convention
¡¡¡¡3. The word "assembling" in line 19 is closest in meaning to
¡¡¡¡£¨A£© announcing
¡¡¡¡£¨B£© motivating
¡¡¡¡£¨C£© gathering
¡¡¡¡£¨D£© contracting
¡¡¡¡4. The word "ones" in line 22 refers to
¡¡¡¡£¨A£© hotels
¡¡¡¡£¨B£© conventions
¡¡¡¡£¨C£© kinds
¡¡¡¡£¨D£© representatives
¡¡¡¡5. The word "it" in line 30 refers to
¡¡¡¡£¨A£© European inn
¡¡¡¡£¨B£© host
¡¡¡¡£¨C£© community
¡¡¡¡£¨D£© public
¡¡¡¡6. It can be inferred from the passage that early hotelkeepers in the United States were
¡¡¡¡£¨A£© active politicians
¡¡¡¡£¨B£© European immigrants
¡¡¡¡£¨C£© Professional builders
¡¡¡¡£¨D£© Influential citizens
¡¡¡¡7. Which of the following statements about early American hotels is NOT mentioned in the
¡¡¡¡passage£¿
¡¡¡¡£¨A£© Travelers from abroad did not enjoy staying in them.
¡¡¡¡£¨B£© Conventions were held in them
¡¡¡¡£¨C£© People used them for both business and pleasure.
¡¡¡¡£¨D£© They were important to the community.
