The American Westward Movement was a movement of people from the sealed regions to lands farther west. Between the early 17th and late 19th centuries, Anglo-American peoples and their societies expanded from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast by greatly expanding the nation’s borders, and the United States became a powerful nation in the 20th century. However, this expansion also resulted in great suffering and destruction, and a painful loss of culture for Native Americans.

    Some of the Native American tribes (部落) of the Gmat Plains were hunters and gatherers. Most tribes in the Southwest were hunters and farmers. In the Pacific Northwest, tribes were traders and fishermen, and relied on rivers rich with all sorts of fish. Westward expansion destroyed resources and damaged the environment, thus destroying the ability of Native Americans to support themselves. In addition, the pioneers carried diseases that killed thousands.

    Some Native Americans fought against the coming of white settlers. The most famous conflicts took place on the Great Plains, where many tribes fought against the U.S. Army in several wars between 1855 and 1877. Native Americans won some big victories, including the famous defeat of George Custer on Montana's Little Bighorn River in 1876, but were finally suppressed (镇压), and then forced to reservations (居留地). In 1877 the Nez Perce tribe fought an.unsuccessful attempt to escape to Canada. Southwestern Apache peoples, with their most famous leader, Geronimo, fought against the occupation of their lands until 1886. However, it wasn't a conflict that destroyed independent Native American culture; it was the great number of white sealers that took over Native American lands, and the ways in which these settlers transformed the West.

    New laws limited Native Americans to reservations and  forced them to take meager  (贫困的) government  handouts. Government policy tried to assimilate (同化) the  tribes into white society by reducing native culture and  trying to make Native Americans follow white customs. The Dawes Act of 1887 aimed to put an end to the reservations, and decrease the importance of the tribes by handing out reservation land to individual natives. Between 1887 and 1934, dozens of reservations were destroyed, and Native American lands were reduced from 150 million areas to 48 million. Luckily, however, despite the poor living conditions on many reservations even to this day, Native Americans have managed in many cases to keep much of their culture and identity.

 41. By writing this passage the author intends to _________.

      A. show the importance of the Westward Movement in the United States

      B. introduce the history of settlement during the Westward Movement

     C. show the painful loss of native ways of life during the Westward Movement

      D. criticize white Americans for suppressing the natives and destroying their cultures

42. In the author’s opinion, the Native Americans suffered most from __________.

    A. the diseases carried by the whites

    B. the loss of their lands

    C. the wars against the white settlers

    D. cultural assimilation by whites

43. Native culture was first cut down in the process of Westward Movement mainly by the ___________.

    A. conflicts

    B. reservations

    C. new laws

    D. policies of assimilation

44. The Dawes Act of 1887 was carried out to __________.

    A. make the occupation of lands by whites lawful

    B. destroy native means of living

    C. weaken native culture and identity

    D. establish the whites' rule

45. What can be inferred from the passage?

    A. The writer is relieved that some native culture has been saved.

    B. Native lands were reduced because the natives were defeated by the whims.

    C. Native cultures only exist on reservations now.

    D. The natives weren't as healthy as the whites.