The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the
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The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts had found. Researchers have studied each of her messages to the Commonwealth countries since 1952 to find out the change in her pronunciation from the noble Upper Received to the Standard Received.
Jonathan Harrington, a professor at Germany’s University of Munich, wanted to discover whether accent (口音) changers recorded over the past half century would take place within one person. “As far as I know, there just is nobody else for whom there is this sort of broadcast records,” he said.
He said the noble way of pronouncing vowels (元音) had gradually lost ground as the noble upper-class accent over the past years. “Her accent sounds slightly less noble than it did 50 years ago. But these are very, very small and slow changes that we don’t notice from year to year.”
“We may be able to relate it to changes in the social classes,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. “In 1952 she would have been hears saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. And ‘hame’ rather than ‘home’. In the 1950s she would have been ‘lorst’, but by the 1970s ‘lost’.”
The Queen’s broadcast is a personal message to the Commonwealth countries. Each Christmas, the 10-minute broadcast is put on TV at 3 pm in Britain as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch. (传统火鸡午餐).
The results were published (发表) in the Journal of Phonetics.
小题1:The Queen’s broadcasts were chosen for the study mainly because ______.| A．she has been Queen for many years | B．she has a less upper-class accent now | | C．her speeches are familiar to many people | D．her speeches have been recorded for 50 years |
小题2:Which of the following is an example of a less noble accent in English?| A．“duaty” | B．“citee” | C．“hame” | D．“lorst” |
小题3:We may infer from the text that the Journal of Phonetics is a magazine on _______.| A．speech sounds | B．Christmas customs | C．TV broadcasting | D．personal messages |
小题4:What is the text mainly about?| A．The relationship between accents and social classes. | | B．The Queen’s Christmas speeches on TV. | | C．The changes in a person’s accent. | | D．The recent development of the English language. |
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答案
小题1:D
小题2:B
小题3:A
小题4:C |
解析
这是一篇杂志上的文章，Jonathan教授想知道同一个人的口音在半个世纪的前后会不会发生变化，研究人员发现Queen’s English的读音员发生了这样的变化，文章中也分析了发生变化的原因。
小题1:第二段Jonathan教授的话中可以得出。
小题2:此题文中不能找到全部的依据，可以排除C、D, 如果你看到过如下的文章，或是对英女王英语发音有所了解，做起来准确率就会更高。
小题3:文章是关于语音的文章，应当是发表在与之有关的杂志上。
小题4:文章是针对一个人的口音在半世纪前后的变化及分析写的，所以C最恰当。 |
举一反三
Every day 25 million U.S. children ride school buses. The safety record for these buses is much better than for passenger cars; but nevertheless, about 10 children are killed each year riding on large school buses, and nearly four times that number are killed outside buses in the loading zones. By and large, however, the nation’s school children are transported to and from school safety.
Even though the number of school bus accidents is not large, the safety of children is always of intense public concern. While everyone wants to see children transported safely, people are divided about what needs to be done-particularly whether seat belts should be compulsory.
People in favour of seat belts on school buses-many of them parents and medical organizations-argue that seat belts are necessary not only to reduce fatality and injury, but also to teach children lessons about the importance of using them routinely in any moving vehicle. A side benefit, they point out, is that seat belts help keep children in their seats, away from the bus driver.
People who object to seat belt installation suggest that children are already well protected by the school buses that follow the Nation Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) safety requirements set in 1977. They also believe that many children won’t wear seat belts anyway, and that may damage the belts or use them as weapons to hurt other children.
A new Research council report on school bus safety suggest that there are alternate safety devices and procedures that may be more effective and less expensive. For example, the study committee suggested that raising seat backs four inches may have the same safety effectiveness as seat belts.
The report sponsored by the Department of transportation at the request of Congress, re
views seat belts extensively while taking a broader look at safety in and around school buses.
1.According to the passage, the “school bus” is .
A.the bus offered by the school and different from the public bus
B.the bus that has no difference from the public bus
C.the bus that is driven by the students
D.the bus that is not safe
2.According to the passage, who has the greatest degree of control of the school buses “safety”?
A.A new Research Council. B.The Department of Transportation.
C.The Medical Organization. D.National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
3.It may be inferred from this passage that . .
A.many of the opponents(反对者) of seat belt installation are parents and officials of the Department of Transportation
B.proposals of seat belts on school buses would be seriously considered
C.an alternate safety device (raising seat backs four inches) may be taken into consideration
D.The Department of Transportation may either take the idea of seat belts or other measures when it reviews the whole situation
4.The title below which best expresses the idea of the passage is“”.
A.Making School Buses Even Safer for Children B.Seat Belts Needed on School Buses
C.Alternate Safety Devices and Procedures D.Safety in and around School Buses |
What does it mean to say that we live in a world of persuasion? It means that we live among competing interests. Your roommate’s need to study for an exam may take priority (优先) over pizza. Your instructor may have good reasons not to change your grade. And the object of your romantic/interest may have other choices.
In such a world, persuasion is the art of getting others to give fair and favorable consideration to our points of view. When we persuade, we want to influence how others believe and behave. We may not always prevail — other points of view may be more persuasive, depending on the listener, the situation, and the merit of the case. But when we practice the art of persuasion, we try to ensure that our position receives the attention it deserves.
Some people, however, object to the very idea of persuasion. They may regard it as an unwelcome interruption into their lives. Just the opposite, we believe that persuasion is unavoidable — to live is to persuade. Persuasion may be ethical (合乎道义的) or unethical, selfless or selfish, inspiring or degrading. Persuaders may enlighten our mind or prey on our vulnerability. Ethical persuasion, however, calls on sound reasoning and is sensitive to the feelings and needs of listeners. Such persuasion can help us apply the wisdom of the past to the decisions we now must make. Therefore, the most basic part of education is learning to resist the one kind of persuasion and to encourage and practice the other.
Beyond its personal importance to us, persuasion is necessary to society. The right to persuade and be persuaded is the bedrock of the American political system, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution (美国宪法).
10. According to the passage, persuasion means ________.
A. changing others’ points of view
B. exercising power over other people
C. getting other people to consider your point of view
D. getting people to agree with you and do what you want
11. The underlined word in the second paragraph “prevail” means________.
A. win B. fail C. speak D. listen
12. The passage states that some people object to persuasion because they think it is ________.
A. a danger to society B. difficult to do well
C. unwelcome behavior D. never successful
13. The passage mainly discusses ________.
A. how people persuade
B. why people persuade
C. that persuasion is both good and bad
D. that persuasion is important and it is all around us |
Despite the fact that it has never been seen almost everyone is familiar with the legendary
unicorn(独角兽). Descriptions of unicorns have been found dating from ancient times. The great philosopher Aristotle theorized that there were two types of unicorn--- the so-called Indian Ass and the Oryx, a kind of antelope. Unicorns are often used in the logo of a noble family, town council or university as their special sign. Even Scotland is represented by a unicorn.
According to the legend, anyone attempting to catch a unicorn had to be extremely cautious
as it has a reputation for being very fierce. A clever trick suggested by unicorn-trappers, in order to catch this magnificent beast without being hurt by its horn, was for the hunter to stand in front of a tree and then to move quickly behind it as the unicorn charged. Hopefully, the creature could then be captured when its horn was stuck in the tree.
When hollowed out and used as a drinking-cup, the unicorn’s horn was said to have the power to offer protection against person. It was believed that nobody could be harmed-by drinking the contents of a unicorn’s horn. Right up until the French Revolution in 1789, the French court was said to have used cups made of “unicorn” horn in order to protect the king. In addition, the horn was said to have medicinal value, so much so that it could be sold for more than ten times the price of the same weight of gold. What, then, was “unicorn” horn? We know at times the rhino(犀牛) was confused with this legendary creature. A drinking-cup supposedly made of “unicorn” horn was discovered to be made of the horn of a rhino.
小题1:Which of the following is TRUE of the unicorn?| A．It was not historically recorded | B．Its horn was first used in France | | C．It was similar to the Indian Ass and the Oryx | D．It could be the symbol of a university |
小题2:To catch a unicorn, the unicorn-trappers had to try all of the following EXCEPT ____.| A．tempting the unicorn to attack | B．making use of the tree as a protection | | C．hiding quickly behind the unicorn | D．having the unicorn horn stuck in the tree |
小题3:The last paragraph is mainly about ____.| A．the properties of the unicorn horn | B．the users of the unicorn horn | | C．the price of the unicorn horn | | D．the comparison between the unicorn horn and the rhino horn |
小题4:In the last paragraph, the word “unicorn ” is in quotation marks (引号)because _____.| A．the cup is designed only for a royal family | | B．the unicorn does not exist in reality | | C．the unicorn is the rarest animal in the world | | D．the medicinal value of the horn is appreciated |
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Net Libray is a library that lends out digitalbooks. It treats a digital like a paperback copy. It charges libraries per book per copy and gives publishers a cut of the total income.
From the consumer’s point of view，this means that if more than，Say, five people want the latest Danielle Steel romance novel，other people who request that book will get a message saying the title can’t be found.
It’s a model many publishers seem to have embraced. More than 350 gave the company rights to hand out their digital works，and McGraw-Hill Corporation and Houghton Mifflin Corporation have put money in the company. The California public libraries and about 1，800 others across the US are trying out the Net Library service.
Some librarians criticize the New Library model. Stanford University librarian Michael Keller argues that the company is creating an unnatural fear of digital woks, which is contrary to the ideas of the Internet.
Kelle and some other librarians argue for the e-book vision set forth by E-Brary. E-Brary is starting a service that lets us users read books for free.
But it will charge about 25 cents a page when a person tries to print out material or copy and paste it into a different file or tries to download copy onto a computer.
Christopher Warnock，chief executive of E-Brarw, believes most consumers won’t want to buy entire books，only the parts that interest them.
“There’s not really a lot of good in owning an electronic file and having to store it and manage it.It doesn"t make sense.”he said.
5.How do publishers get money from the Net Library?
A.They get money from selling their books to the Net Libary.
B.They share the money with the Net Library.
C.They get money by cutting the cost of the books.
D.They get the money from the readers.
6.The underlined word“embraced”in the 3rd paragraph means .
A.taken something willingly B.held something tightly
C.disliked something badly D.tried out something hard
7.From the 2nd paragraph we can see consumers .
A.don’t care if they are charged money
B.enjoy the service of the Net Library
C.don’t like other people borrowing books
D.complain about the limited number of the new books
8.What does the last paragraph mean?
A.Net Library is not a good way for the consumers.
B.There is no need for consumers to have a whole book.
C.EBrary is not a good library for the consumers.
D.It’s reasonable to charge the consumers money for copying some pages. |
Herds of zebra, impala and giraffe from South Africa’s Kruger Park found a new home as part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP) wildlife relocation project.
About 1,000 animals, from the large blue wildebeest to the stocky warthog, have been relocated to the park straddling South African, Mozambican and Zimbabwean territory.
The game from South Africa arrived in the Massingir area of Mozambique’s southern Maputo province after a one-and-a-half-hour trip by truck.
South African National Parks chief executive Mavuso Msimang and the Peace Parks Foundation officially handed over the animals to Mozambican representatives.
“This project is not only about the management of an ecosystem, but also about community empowerment and tourism,” Msimang said.
Border fences are coming down with the establishment of the park, which will be the world’s biggest game reserve, to allow elephants and other herds to follow ancient migration routes.
The park, due to be officially opened next year, will be bigger than the Netherlands, covering some 38,600 square kilometers(15,440 square miles).
Under a three-year plan, about 6,000 animals are to be moved into the area, where wildlife was decimated（大批***害）during Mozambique’s 25-year civil war.
African Wildlife Foundation community development officer Jeremiah Machavi said 62 communities living in the area would be affected by the establishment of Transfrontier Park. Tourists will be able to travel across international boundaries in the park without having to show their passports.
The relocation process started in October last year when about 30 elephants were released into the park.
8. ______ is being established to relocate some African animals.
A. Kruger Park B. GLTP
C. South African National Park D. African wildlife Foundation
9. How many more animals will be taken to Transfrontier Park?
A. about 1,000 B. about 6,000 C about 5,000 D.about 7,000
10. What will not be affected by the establishment of GLTP?
A. the ecosystem and tourism B. tourism and communities
C. international boundaries D. African wildlife
11. From the passage we can conclude that ______.
A. the herds of animals mentioned in the first paragraph were the first to be taken to the park
B. the Great Limpopo Transfrontier is located in Mozambique
C. no border fences will be seen inside the park so that animals can migrate
D. the Netherlands is the second largest reserve |
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