小故事Passage2

Passage 2

　　In the 1930s, a lot of people in the USA were out of work. Among these people was a man named Alfred Butts. He always had an interest in word games and so, to kill his time, he planned a game which he called ‘Lexico’. However, he was not completely satisfied with the game, so he made a number of changes to it and, in time, changed its name from ‘Lexico’ to ‘Alph’ and then to ‘Criss Cross’. He wanted to make some money from his new game but he didn’t have any real commercial (商业的) success.

　　In 1939, Butts happened to meet a man called Jim Brunot who showed an interest in the new game. The two men worked together on developing the game and in 1948 it was offered for sale in the United States under its new name—‘Scrabble’.

　　At first, it didn’t sell very well. In the first year it sold just 2, 250 sets and by 1951 it had only reached 8, 500 sets a year.

　　Then, in 1952 the manager of Macy’s department store in New York, Jack Strauss, happened to play ‘Scrabble’ while he was on holiday. He thought it was a wonderful game and, when he went back to work after his holiday, he insisted that Macy’s should stock (储备) the game and make an effort (努力) to call the public’s attention to it.

　　As a result, ‘Scrabble’ became a big success in the United States and it soon spread to Australia and then to other English-speaking countries.(1997年真题)

　　1. The text is mainly about ____.

　　A. “Lexico”B. three menC. a word gameD. Alfred Butts

　　2. Alfred Butts invented the game “Lexico” ____.

　　A. to make himself famous

　　B. to make spelling simpler

　　C. when he was out of work and looking for a job

　　D. when he was playing word games to pass the time

　　3.Who made ‘Scrabble’ popular?

　　A. Alfred Butts.B. Jack Strauss.

　　C. Alfred Butts and Jim Brunot.D. Jack Strauss and Jim Brunot.

　　4. When did Alfred Butts first put his game on the market?

　　A. In 1939.B. In 1948.

　　C. Before 1939.D. Between 1939 and 1948.

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