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A. Danes are clearly informed of their social benefits B. Danes take for granted what is given to them C. the open system helps to tide the country over D. orderliness has alleviated unemployment TEXT B
But if language habits do not represent classes, a social stratification in to something as bygone as “aristocracy” and “commons”, they do still of cour se s erve to identify social groups. This is something that seems fundamental in the use of language. As we see in relation to political and national movements, lang uage is used as a badge or a barrier depending on which way we look at it. The n ew boy at school feels out of it at first because he does not know the fight wor ds for things, and awe-inspiring pundits of six or seven look down on him for no t being aware that racksy means “dilapidated”, or hairy “out first ball”. Th e mi ner takes a certain pride in being “one up on the visitor or novice who calls t h e cage a “lift” or who thinks that men working in a warm seam are in their “u nde rpants” when anyone ought to know that the garments are called hoggers. The “i ns ider” is seldom displeased that his language distinguishes him from the “outsi der”.
Quite apart from specialized terms of this kind in groups, trades and profe ssions, there are all kinds of standards of correctness at which mast of us feel more or less obliged to aim, because we know that certain kinds of English invi te irritation or downright condemnation. On the other hand, we know that other k inds convey some kind of prestige and bear a welcome cachet.
In relation to the social aspects of language, it may well be suggested tha t English speakers fall into three categories: the assured, the anxious and the in different. At one end of this scale, we have the people who have “position” an d “status”, and who therefore do not feel they need worry much about their use o f English. Their education and occupation make them confident of speaking an uni mpeachable form of English: no fear of being criticized or corrected is likely t o cross their minds, and this gives their speech that characteristically unself c onscious and easy flow which is often envied.
At the other end of the scale, we have an equally imperturbable band, speak ing with a similar degree of careless ease, because even if they are aware that their English is condemned by others, they are supremely indifferent to the fact . The Mrs Mops of this world have active and efficient tongues in their heads, a nd if we happened not to like the/r ways of saying things, well, we “can lump i t ”. That is their attitude. Curiously enough, writers are inclined to represent t he speech of both these extreme parties with -in? for ing. On the one hand, “w e?re goin? huntin?, my dear sir”; on the other, “we?re goin? racin? , ma te.”
In between, according to this view, we have a far less fortunate group, th e anxious. These actively try to suppress what they believe to be bad English an d assiduously cultivate what they hope to be good English. They live their lives in some degree of nervousness over their grammar, their pronunciation, and thei r choice of words: sensitive, and fearful of betraying themselves. Keeping up wi th the Joneses is measured not only in houses, furniture, refrigerators, cars, a nd clothes, but also in speech.
And the misfortune of the “anxious” does not end with their inner anxiet y. Their lot is also the open or veiled contempt of the “assured” on one side of them and of the “indifferent” on the other.
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It is all too easy to raise an unworthy laugh at the anxious. The people t hus uncomfortably stilted on linguistic high heels so often form part of what is, in many ways, the most admirable section of any society: the ambitious, tense, inner-driven people, who are bent on“ going places and doing things”. The grea te r the pity, then, if a disproportionate amount of their energy goes into what Mr Sharpless called“ this shabby obsession” with variant forms of English— espe ci ally if the net result is(as so often)merely to sound affected and ridiculous. “ Here”, according to Bacon, “is the first distemper of learning, when men study w ords and not matter …. It seems to me that Pygmalion? s frenzy is a good emble m …of this vanity: for words axe but the images of matter; and except they have l ife of reason and invention, to fall in love with them is to fall in love with a picture.”
21. The attitude held by the assured towards language is ___.
A. critical B. anxious C. self-conscious D. nonchalant 22. The anxious are considered a less fortunate group because ___. A. they feel they are socially looked down upon B. they suffer from internal anxiety and external attack C. they are inherently nervous and anxious people
D. they are unable to meet standards of correctness
23. The author thinks that the efforts made by the anxious to cultivate w hat they believe is good English are ___.
A. worthwhile B. meaningless C. praiseworthy D. irrational
TEXT C
Fred Cooke of Salford turned 90 two days ago and the world has been beating a path to his door. If you haven?t noticed, the backstreet boy educated at Bla c kpool grammar styles himself more grandly as Alastair Cooke, broadcaster extraor dinaire. An honorable KBE, he would be Sir Alastair if he had not taken American citizenship more than half a century ago.
If it sounds snobbish to draw attention to his humble origins, it should be reflected that the real snob is Cooke himself, who has spent a lifetime disguis ing them. But the fact that he opted to renounce his British passport in 1941 — just when his country needed all the wartime help it could get-is hardly a ma tter for congratulation.
Cooke has made a fortune out of his love affair with America, entrancing l isteners with a weekly monologue that has won Radio 4 many devoted adherents. Pa rt of the pull is the developed drawl. This is the man who gave the world “mida tlantic”, the language of the disc jockey and public relations man.
He sounds American to us and English to them, while in reality he has for decades belonged to neither. Cooke?s world is an America that exists largely in the imagination. He took ages to acknowledge the disaster that was Vietnam and e ven longer to wake up to Watergate. His politics have drifted to the right with age, and most of his opinions have been acquired on the golf course with fellow celebrities.
He chased after stars on arrival in America, Fixing up an interview with Ch arlie Chaplin and briefly becoming his friend. He told Cooke he could turn him i nto a fine light comedian; instead he is an impressionist?s dream.
Cooke liked the sound of his first wife?s name almost as much as he admir e d her good looks. But he found bringing up baby difficult and left her for the w ife of his landlord. Women
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listeners were unimpressed when, in 1996, he declared on air that th e fact that 4% of women in the American armed forces were raped showed remarkabl e self-restraint on the part of Uncle Sam?s soldiers. His arrogance in not allo w ing BBC editors to see his script in advance worked, not for the first time, to his detriment. His defenders said he could not help living with the 1930s values he had acquired and somewhat dubiously went on to cite “gallantry” as chief a mo ng them. Cooke?s raconteur style encouraged a whole generation of BBC men to th i nk of themselves as more important than the story. His treacly tones were the mo del for the regular World Service reports From Our Own Correspondent, known as F OOCs in the business. They may yet be his epitaph.
24. At the beginning of the passage the writer sounds critical of ___. A. Cooke?s obscure origins B. Cooke?s broadcasting style C. Cooke?s American citizenship D. Cooke?s fondness of America
25. The following adjectives can be suitably applied to Cooke EXCEPT ___. A. old-fashioned B. sincere C. arrogant D. popular 26. The writer comments on Cooke?s life and career in a slightly ___ tone. A. ironic B. detached C. scathing D. indifferent
TEXT D
Mr Duffy raised his eyes from the paper and gazed out of his window on the cheerless evening landscape. The river lay quiet beside the empty distillery and from time to time a light appeared in some house on Lucan Road. What an end! Th e whole narrative of her death revolted him and it revolted him to think that he had ever spoken to her of what he held sacred. The cautious words of a reporter won over to conceal the details of a commonplace vulgar death attacked his stom ach. Not merely had she degraded herself, she had degraded him. His soul?s comp a nion! He thought of the hobbling wretches whom he had seen carrying cans and bot tles to be filled by the barman. Just God, what an end! Evidently she had been u nfit to live, without any strength of purpose, an easy prey to habits, one of th e wrecks on which civilization has been reared. But that she could have sunk so low! Was it possible he had deceived himself so utterly about her? He remembered her outburst of that night and interpreted it in a harsher sense than he had ev er done. He had no difficulty now in approving of the course he had taken.
As the light failed and his memory began to wander he thought her hand tou ched his. The shock which had first attacked his stomach was now attacking his n erves. He put on his overcoat and hat quickly and went out. The cold air met him on the threshold; it crept into the sleeves of his coat. When he came to the pu blic house at Chapel Bridge he went in and ordered a hot punch. The proprietor served him obsequiously but did not venture to talk. There were five or six working-men in the shop discussing the value of a gentleman?s e state in County Kildare. They drank at intervals from their huge pint tumblers, and smoked, spitting often on the floor and sometimes dragging the sawdust over their heavy boots. Mr Duffy sat on his stool and gazed at them, without seeing o r hearing them. After a while they went out and he called for another punch. He sat a long time over it. The shop was very quiet. The proprietor sprawled on the counter reading the newspaper and yawning. Now and again a tram was heard swish ing along the lonely road outside.
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As he sat there, living over his life with her and evoking alternately the two images on which he now conceived her, he realized that she was dead, that s he had ceased to exist, that she had become a memory. He began to feel ill at ea se. He asked himself what else could he have done. He could not have lived with her openly. He had done what seemed to him best. How was he to blame? Now that s he was gone he understood how lonely her life must have been, sitting night afte r night alone in that room. His life would be lonely too until he, too, died, ce ased to exist, became a memory-if anyone remembered him.
27. Mr Duffy?s immediate reaction to the report of the woman?s death wa s that of ___. A. disgust B. guilt C. grief D. compassion
28. It can be inferred from the passage that the reporter wrote about the woman?s death in a ___ manner.
A. detailed B. provocative C. discreet D. sens ational
29. We can infer from the last paragraph that Mr Duffy was in a(n) ___ mood. A. angry B. fretful C. irritable D. remorseful
30. According to the passage , which of the following statements is NOT t rue? A. Mr Duffy once confided in the woman. B. Mr Duffy felt an intense sense of shame. C. The woman wanted to end the relationship. D. They became estranged probably after a quarrel.
阅读理解 B
SECTION B SKIMMING AND SCANNING ( 10 min)
In this section there are seven passages followed by ten multiple -choice q uestions. Skim or scan them as required and then mark your answers on the Colour ed Answer Sheet.
TEXT E
First read the following question.
31. In the passage Bill Gates mainly discusses ___. A. a person?s opportunity of a lifetime B. the success of the computer industry C. the importance of education D. high school education in the US
Now go through TEXT E quickly and answer question 31.
Hundreds of students send me e-mail each year asking for advice about educa tion. They want to know what to study, or whether it?s OK to drop out of colleg e since that?s what I did. My basic advice is simple and heartfelt.“ Get the best education you can. Take advantage of high school and college. Learn how to learn.”
It?s true that I dropped out of college to start Microsoft, but I was at H a rvard for three years before dropping out-and I?d love to have the time to go b a ck. As I?ve said before, nobody should drop out of college unless they believe they face the opportunity of a lifetime. And even then they should reconsider.
The computer industry has lots of people who didn?t finish college, but I 'm not aware of any
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success stories that began with somebody dropping out of high school. I actually don?t know any high school dropouts, let alone any successfu l ones.
In my company?s early years we had a bright part-time programmer who threa tened to drop out of high school to work full-time. We told him no.
Quite a few of our people didn?t finish college, but we discourage droppin g out.
College isn?t the only place where information exist. You can learn in a l i brary. But somebody handing you a book doesn?t automatically foster learning. Y o u want to learn with other people, ask questions, try out ideas and have a way t o test your ability. It usually takes more than just a book.
Education should be broad, although it?s fine to have deep interests, too.
In high school there were periods when I was highly focused on writing soft ware, but for most of my high school years I had wide-ranging academic interests . My parents encouraged this, and I?m grateful that they did.
One parent wrote me that her 15-year old son “lost himself in the hole of t he computer. ”He got an A in Web site design, but other grades were sinking, sh e said.
This boy is making a mistake. High school and college offer you the best ch ance to learn broadly-math, history, various sciences-and to do projects with ot her kids that teach you firsthand about group dynamics. It?s fine to take a dee p interest in computers, dance, language or any other discipline, but not if it j eopardizes breadth.
In college it?s appropriate to think about specialization. Getting real e x pertise in an area of interest can lead to success. Graduate school is one way t o get specialized knowledge. Choosing a specialty isn?t something high school s t udents should worry about. They should worry about getting a strong academic sta rt.
There?s not a perfect correlation between attitudes in high school and su c cess in later life, of course. But it?s a real mistake not to take the opportun i ty to learn a huge range of subjects, to learn to work with people in high schoo l, and to get the grades that will help you get into a good college.
TEXT F
First read the following question. 32. The passage focuses on ___. A. the history and future of London B. London?s manufacturing skills
C. London?s status as a financial centrer
D. the past and present roles of London
Now go through Text F quickly and answer question 32.
What is London for? To put the question another way, why was London, by 190 0, incomparably the largest city in the world, which it remained until the bomba rdments of the Luftwaffe? There could be many answers to this question, but any history of London will rehearse three broad explanations. One is the importance of its life as a port. When the Thames turned to ice in February 1855,50,000 men were put out of work, and there were bread riots from those whose liveliboods h ad been frozen with the river. Today, the Thames could be frozen for a year with out endangering the livelihoods of any but a few pleasure-boatmen.
The second major cause of London?s wealth and success was that it was easi l y the biggest
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