专题04 阅读理解20篇 2023-2024学年人教版九年级上学期期末复习高分突破（广东专用）

专题04 阅读理解20篇 （2023上·广东广州·九年级统考期末） Christopher Columbus(哥伦布), who is one of several historical persons regarded as the first European to discover the Americas, was born in 1451 in Italy. His father was a wool businessman. When he was young, Columbus loved sailing adventure very much. When he was 26 years old, he began to make business voyages(航海). The farthest countries he reached were Iceland and Guinea. At that time, many European countries became stronger and stronger. Their ships reached Africa and Asia. They got gold, silver, silk, tea and other things from the countries of Asia. The book The Travels of Marco Polo greatly influenced him, in which China and India were written perfectly. Columbus wanted to make another way to these two countries. Since he didn’t have enough money, he asked some countries for help, such as, Portugal, Spain, the UK and France. He told the leaders the Earth was round and if they helped him, he could easily get to China. Nobody believed his words and he was regarded as a cheat. Of course, he didn’t succeed. It was not until 1492 that his dream came true. The queen of Spain persuaded the King to support Columbus. On August 2, 1492, Columbus left Spain and began his voyage. He had three ships. After two months’ hard sailing, on October 12, they got to an island in the Bahamas. On October 29, they reached Cuba. But a few days later, one of his ships left them. And on December 25, his flagship sunk. Luckily, the ship that left them joined him again. They went back to Lisbon on March 4, 1493. Although they didn’t get to rich Asian countries and took back wealth, they found a new place that nobody had gone to. Columbus thought it was India and called the islands the West Indias. From 1493 to 1504, he sailed to America three times. He reached most of the coast of southern America and set up many colonies. On May 20, 1506, Columbus died because of a disease. 1．What was Columbus' dream according to the passage? A．To be a rich man. B．To reach