The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts has 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 changes 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 heard saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. Similarly, she would have spoken of ‘the citay’ and ‘dutay’, rather than ‘citee’ and ‘dutee’, 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.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. |
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 |
Which of the following is an example of a less noble accent in English?
| A．“dutay” | B．“citee” | C．“hame” | D．“lorst” |
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 |
A couple had two little boys aged 8 and 10 who were very naughty. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that if any trouble occurred in their town their sons were probably involved.
The boys' mother heard that a clergyman(牧师) in the town had been successful in educating children so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed but asked to see them individually. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first in the morning with the elder boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.
The clergyman, a huge man with a booming(嗡嗡) voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him strictly, "Where is God?"
The boy's mouth dropped open but he made no answer, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in an even stricter tone "Where is God?" Again the boy made no attempt to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and shouted" Where is God?"
The boy screamed and escaped from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his elder brother found him in the closet, he asked "What happened?"
The younger brother replied out of breath, "We are in big trouble this time. God is missing--and they think we did it."What were the two boys like?
| A．They always made trouble. | B．They were brave. |
| C．They were easygoing. | D．They were honest. |
What did their parents plan to do?
| A．They gave up their children. |
| B．They liked their children very much. |
| C．They wanted the clergyman to persuade their children. |
| D．They helped their children to make trouble. |
What do you suppose the boy felt when he was asked by the clergyman?
| A．Happy. | B．Sad. |
| C．Afraid. | D．Surprised. |
What do you think the underlined word "slamming" in Paragraph 5 means?
| A．Open. | B．Shut. | C．Knock. | D．Pull. |
America is growing older. Fifty years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 or older. Today, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65. The aging of the population will affect American society in many ways--education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the graying(老龄化) of America has made us a very different society--one in which people have a quite different idea of what kind of behavior is suitable at various ages.
A person’s age no longer tells you anything about his/her social position, marriage or health. There’s no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that kept us on time and told us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn’t as strong as it used to be. It doesn’t surprise us to hear of a 29-year-old university president or a 35-year-old grandmother, or a 70-year-old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.
Many people say, "I am much younger than my mother-or my father-was at my age." No one says "Act your age" anymore. We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.It can be learned from the text that the aging of the population in America ______.
| A．has made people feel younger |
| B．has changed people’s social position |
| C．has changed people’s understanding of age |
| D．has slowed down the country’s social development |
The underlined word ‘one’ refers to _______.
| A．a society | B．America |
| C．a place | D．population |
"Act your age" means people should _______.
| A．be active when they are old |
| B．do the right thing at the right age |
| C．show respect to their parents young or old |
| D．take more physical exercises suitable to their age |
If a 25-year-old man become general manager of a big firm, the writer of the text would most probably consider it _______.
| A．normal | B．wonderful |
| C．unbelievable | D．unreasonable |
It was already dark when an old man came to a small town. He found an inn and wanted to stay there for the night. After he had gone to his room, the owner said to his wife, “Look at his bag, dear. I’m sure there are lots of valuable things in it. I want to steal it when he is asleep.”
“No, no,” said the woman. “He must look for his bag tomorrow morning. Then he’ll take you before the judge.” They thought and at last the woman had an idea. “We have forgetful grass,” said the woman, “Why not put some into his food? If he has the food, he will forget to take his bag away.” “How clever you are!” said the owner, “Don’t forget it when you prepare supper for him.”
The old man had the food with the forgetful grass and went to bed. The next morning, when the owner got up, he found the door was open and the old man had left with his bag. He woke his wife up and said angrily, “What a fool! Your forgetful grass isn’t useful at all.”
“No, no,” said the woman. “I don’t think so. He must forget something.”
“Oh, I’ve remembered!” The owner cried out suddenly, “He forgot…”The old man came to the inn _______.
| A．in the morning | B．in the afternoon | C．in the evening | D．at night |
The owner and his wife wanted to _______.
| A．get the man’s bag | B．steal the man’s money |
| C．make the man pay them more | D．hide the man’s bag |
The owner and his wife put the forgetful grass into the food because _______.
| A．the old man always forgot something |
| B．they wanted to make the food better |
| C．they hoped the old man would leave the bag in the inn |
| D．they wanted to know if the grass was useful |
According to the passage the old man forgot _______.
| A．to take his bag away |
| B．to tell the owner when he left |
| C．to close the door when he went to sleep |
| D．to pay them the inn money |
We are all busy talking about and using the Internet, but how many of us know the history of the Internet?
Many people are surprised when they find that the Internet was set up in the 1960s. At that time, computers were large and expensive. Computer networks didn’t work well. If one computer in the network broke down, then the whole network stopped. So a new network system had to be set up. It should be good enough to be used by many different computers. If part of the network was not working, information could be sent through another part. In this way, computer network system would keep on working all the time.
At first, the Internet was only used by government, but in the early 1970s, universities, hospitals, and banks were allowed to use it too. However, computers were still expensive and the Internet was difficult to become cheaper and easier to use. Scientists also developed software that made “surfing” the Internet more convenient.
Today it is easy to get-on-line and millions of people use the Internet every day. Sending e-mails is more and more popular among students.
The Internet has now become one of the most important parts of people’s life.The Internet has a history of ______ years.
| A．more than 40 | B．less than 30 |
| C．more than 60 | D．more than 50 |
Scientists set up a new network system to ______.
| A．make the computer cheaper | B．use the computer widely |
| C．make the computer go well | D．develop new software |
When did the Internet begin to be used in hospitals?
| A．In the 1960s. | B．In the 1970s. |
| C．In the 1980s. | D．In the 1990s. |
In the 1960s, if one computer in the network broke down, the whole network ______.
| A．still worked | B．stopped to work |
| C．stopped working. | D．began to work |
The best title of the passage is ______.
| A．How to Surf the Internet |
| B．How to Use the Internet |
| C．When was the Internet set up |
| D．The History of the Internet |
When the musical sound rings you, you immediately reach for your pocket ready to have a chat. But although you probably use it all the time, have you ever thought about the manners related to talking on the phone? If you haven’t, here are some tips to guide you.
●Always give the person you are calling plenty of time to get to the phone before you hang up. If the person who answers is not the one you want, give your name and ask if you may speak to the person you want.
●Think about the time you call people. Try not to call too early in the morning (before about 9:00) or too late at night (after about 9:30). Also try not to call at mealtimes.
●If you go by plane to visit your relatives at Christmas, remember to follow airline instructions. Cell phone must be turned off as soon as the plane doors are closed and remain so until the doors open again on arrival.
●When you’re face to face with someone, do not talk on the phone. It is rude to be on the phone when a waiter is trying to take your order in a restaurant, or when you are returning the shoes you have just been trying on in a shop. Finish any face-to-face business before taking a call. Continuing to use the phone while nodding to the person in front of you is quite impolite.
●When in a restaurant with your friends, keep phone conversations short. Make a call only if it is important. Practice speaking in a low voice. If no one turns to your way, you’ve got it.
●If you go to a theatre, a concert or a cinema, consider the other people around you. Check that your phone is “off” before you enter. If you are expecting a very important call, put your phone on “vibrate”(振动) and run for the exit as soon as you feel it. If you forget both “off” and “vibrate” and your phone rings, don’t answer it, turn it off straight away.Which is TRUE according to the passage above?
| A．You may call people anytime you like. |
| B．You may talk loudly on the phone at dinner in the restaurant. |
| C．You may keep on talking on the phone while greeting somebody. |
| D．You may call people as soon as you get on the plane, but not after the doors are closed. |
We may infer from the tips that ______.
| A．some people didn’t pay much attention to manners while making cell phone calls. |
| B．You must hang up quickly if the person you are calling is not the one you want. |
| C．calling people too early or too late is not polite. |
| D．almost everyone has got a cell phone. |
What does the underline sentence “… you’ve got it.” mean in the passage?
| A．You have succeeded in making a call without disturbing others. |
| B．You have made the phone call short and interesting. |
| C．You have got the message you are waiting for. |
| D．You have made a phone call secretly. |
From the tips given above, we can decide the writer must agree with the opinion that ______.
| A．like the saying “clothes make a man”, nowadays cell phones make a man |
| B．as the old saying goes, money talks, nowadays cell phones talk |
| C．the way we use the cell phones tells what we are like |
| D．we are what cell phones we use |
From the tips given above, how do you consider the other people around you at a theatre?
| A．Talk with them and make friends with them. |
| B．If you forget both “off” and “vibrate” and your phones rings, answer it immediately. |
| C．If it is an important call, you can answer it on your seat. |
| D．Check that your phone is not turned on before you enter. |