1 . When you think of a typical American, who do you picture? A pretty blond white American like Taylor Swift? Or a handsome black American like basketball star Kobe Bryant? In fact, there was a time when the average American looked like neither of these people.

Back in the year 1500, the average American was a brown-skinned hunter-gatherer who probably rode a horse and wore clothing made from animal skins. Today, these people－who usually identify themselves based on their individual tribes such as Iriquois, Apache and Navajo－are broadly referred to as “Native Americans”, “American Indians” or simply “Indians”.

There’s a chance that you’ve never even heard of American Indians. That‟s because there aren’t very many left. When the European settlement of North America began, there were fierce conflicts between the settlers from overseas and these native peoples. After the British government and military were expelled (驱逐) in the Revolutionary War, conflicts with natives continued as the states were created that would later make up the US. In these conflicts, millions of natives were killed.

In 1830, president Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. This act required all Indians to migrate to the west of the Mississippi River to allow for the expansion of the US. American Indians were treated as a military “enemy” until 1924, when the few Indians still alive at that point were granted （准予）US citizenship. That was the first time that the US government formally recognized the rights of Indians.

While the story of the American Indians has been a sad one, these peoples’ legacies (遗产) are still felt every day in the US. Many US geographical names come from Indian languages, such as Ohio, Topeka, Kansas, and the Potomac River. At the same time, there are numerous successful academics and other important US leaders who are descended（是……的后裔）from Indians. And nowadays, more and more history classes in US public schools are educating students about how Indians suffered during the settlement of the US.

Although what happened cannot be undone, we can learn at least one thing from the sad history of the Indians: If we want a better future, we must look carefully and honestly at the past.

1. What is the article mainly about?

A．The history of the settement of the US.

B．What a typical American is like.

C．The sad story of American Indians.

D．American Indians‟ economic impact on the US.

2. It can be inferred from the article that in the middle of the 19th century, American Indians______.

A．were driven from the US by the British government

B．were regarded as a military “enemy” of the US

C．were finally granted US citizenship

D．were required to live along the Mississippi River.

3. What can learn about American Indians from the article?

A．There are few influential American Indians in US history.

B．Some of their languages are still used today.

C．The majority of them lived in the states of Ohio and Kansas.

D．American youths are becoming more informed of the suffering of the Indians.

4. What is the author’s attitude toward the history of American Indians?

A．It’s miserable to be reminded of it.

B．It’s important to learn from it.

C．He doesn’t have much interest in it.

D．Every school should teach classes about it.