Imagine landing in a foreign country where you cannot speak the language, understand the culture and don’t know anybody. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a friend who could help you out?
John Smith, an English explorer who landed in America in 1607, found the best friend ever. She was a Native American named Pocahontas (1595-1617). And she did more than teach Smith the language: she saved his life, twice.
Smith was captured by members of Pocahontas’s tribe (部落) and was going to be killed. But for some reason, the Chief’s daughter, Pocahontas, felt sorry for Smith (who was probably the first white man she had ever seen) and threw her body over his to protect him. Smith returned safely to the small village he was living in.
During the winter the English settlers did not know how to get food from nature. Pocahontas often brought food for Smith and his friends.
A year later Pocahontas’s father tried to kill Smith again because the Native Americans were very scared the English would try to take over their land. Pocahontas warned him and he was able to escape.
Later she became a Christian and eventually married an Englishman named John Rolfe.
She spent the last year of her life in London.
Pocahontas has become an American legend(传奇). Her life story has been re-created in many books and films, including Disney’s 1995 film, Pocahontas.
One of the reasons she is so popular is that many Europeans look at Pocahontas as an excellent example of how a minority can adjust into the majority. Pocahontas is also respected because of her selfless love. She proved that people can be kind and loving even to people of a different race or culture. John Smith was very different from Pocahontas but she could see he was a good man and that was all that mattered. No race or country owns goodness, love and loyalty.
41. What difficulties might early European settlers meet in America EXCEPT ________?
A. the fierce conflict with Native Americans
B. bad-tempered natives who enjoyed killing
C. unfamiliarity with a foreign land
D. lack of food in winter
42. Pocahontas saved John Smith twice because ______.
A. he was the first white man she had ever seen in her life
B. she wanted to become a Christian and marry an Englishman
C. she believed in general kindness even to people of a different race
D. she was on the settlers’ side and against her cruel father
43. Which is NOT an element to make Pocahontas a legend?
A. Her tribal background and her marriage to a white settler.
B. Her selfless help to people regarded as enemy of her tribe.
C. Her complicated life story different from common people’s.
D. The recreation of her life story in the 1995 Disney film.
44. According to the text, Europeans think Pocahontas _____.
A. was brave to break away from her own tribe
B. set a good example for other natives to accept the white settlers
C. was a selfless Christian who can love her enemy
D. was open to a more advanced culture
45. What can we infer from the passage?
A. The battles between early settlers and Native Americans resulted from their fighting for land.
B. The Europeans think the early settlers should have learned to adjust to the local cultures.
C. The creation of America is based on the settlers’ victory over the Native Americans.
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