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.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 have been recorded for 50 years |
| D．her speeches are familiar to many people |
Which of the following is an example of a less noble accent in English?
| A．“Dutay”. | B． “Hame”. | C．“Citee”. | D．“Lorst”. |
We may infer from the text that the Journal of Phonetics is a magazine on .
| A．Christmas customs | B．speech sounds |
| C．TV broadcasting | D．personal messages |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．The changes in a person’s accent. |
| B．The Queen’s Christmas speeches on TV. |
| C．The relationship between accents and social classes. |
| D．The recent development of the English language. |
（届江苏省淮州中学高三3月份模拟英语试卷）
Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs. Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants. But in the executive (主管的) circle, beauty can become a liability.
While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman.
Handsome male executives were considered having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success.
Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck.
All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of the attractive overnight successes.
Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is considered to be more feminine (女性的，娇柔的) and has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the “manly” qualifies required.
This is true even in politics, “When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently,” says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates (候选人). She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, in order of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.
The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes.The underlined word in the first paragraph “liability” most probably means________.
| A．trust | B．trouble | C．disadvantage | D．benefit |
Bowman's experiment shows that when it comes to politics, attractiveness________.
| A．is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women |
| B．turns out to be a disadvantage to men |
| C．has more effects on men than on women |
| D．has nothing to do with one’s work |
It can be inferred from the passage that people's views on beauty are often__________.
| A．objective | B．supportive | C．old-fashioned | D．subjective |
The author writes this passage to_________.
| A．give advice to job-seekers who are attractive |
| B．discuss the disadvantages of being attractive |
| C．emphasize the impact of appearance on both sexes |
| D．make women pay more attention to their appearance |
（2014届江苏省淮州中学高三3月份模拟英语试卷）
The United Nations climate talks in Doha, Qatar, continued into their second week, Wednesday, as delegates from nearly 200 countries struggle to craft a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, the global agreement on climate change that expires at the end of this month.
The negotiations are deadlocked （陷入僵局）over demands by poorer nations for financial help in coping with climate change.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on delegates at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change to speed up their work on an agreement to address a warming planet.
“Let us be under no illusion（幻想）, this is a crisis, a threat to us all, our economies, our security and the well-being of our children and those who will come after," he said. "No one is immune to climate change, rich or poor.”
Delegates from nearly 200 countries --- rich and poor --- are in Doha to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 global climate change agreement that expires （到期）at the end of this month, and to begin to forge a new agreement to replace it.
Two issues block the way forward. Developing countries are demanding that industrialized nations fulfill their pledges(保证)under Kyoto to reduce their climate-changing industrial emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and to put new, larger emission curbs on the table.
The developing nations, led by China, are also insisting that rich nations provide more aid to poorer countries to help them cope with the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels and more violent storms.
In Doha Wednesday, Tim Gore, a climate change policy advisor for Oxfam International, a confederation of groups working on social justice issues, applauded efforts by England, Germany and Sweden to increase their climate aid and expects other nations to follow.
“Those announcements are truly welcome. And they shine a spotlight on those that have remained silent: the U.S., Canada, Japan, even Australia," Gore said. "But we need to be very clear as well that those types of announcements made in press conferences can be no substitute for clear commitments in the text that poor countries have come here to negotiate.”What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．China plays an important role in The United Nations climate talks in Doha, Qatar. |
| B．The United Nations climate talks in Doha, Qatar, continued into their second week, Wednesday. |
| C．Developing countries want rich nations to pay for climate change. |
| D．Ban Ki-moon called on delegates at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change to speed up their work on an agreement to address a warming planet. |
What did United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in Paragraph 4 mean?
| A．Climate change will do harm to all the countries in the world. |
| B．There is no hope to deal with the problem. |
| C．Illusion（幻想）is a crisis, a threat to us all. |
| D．Ban Ki-moon called on delegates to cope with a warming planet. |
What does the underlined word in Paragraph Five forge mean?
| A．put aside | B．deal with | C．call off | D．work out |
Which of the following is Not true?
| A．Climate change includes rising sea levels and more violent storms. |
| B．All the industrialized nations will carry out their promises under Kyoto to reduce their climate-changing industrial emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and to put new, larger emission curbs on the table. |
| C．Tim Gore thought highly of the efforts by England, Germany and Sweden to increase their climate aid and expects other nations to follow. |
| D．The U.S., Canada, Japan, even Australia didn’t make announcements to be responsible for the climate changes. |
（届重庆市南开中学高三二诊模拟英语试卷）
Coffee is a powerful beverage．On a personal level，it helps keep US awake and active．On a much broader level，it has helped shape our history and continues to shape our culture．
Coffee didn’t take off until the l400s when people figured out they could roast its seeds．By the l500s，the drink had spread to coffeehouses across the Arab world．Within another l50 years，it took Europe by storm．
“It actually had a major impact on the rise of business，” historian Mark Pendergrast says．Coffeehouses became a spot not just to enjoy a cup but to exchange ideas．The insurer Lloyd’s of London was founded hundreds of years ago in one of London’s 2,000 coffeehouses．Literature，newspapers and even the works of great composers like Bach and Beethoven were also spawned(涌现)in coffeehouses．
It is often said that after the Boston Tea Party of l773，when American colonists attacked British tea ships and threw boxes of tea into the harbor，Americans universally switched over to drinking coffee．In a letter John Adams wrote to his wife，Abigail，the Founding Father claims his love of tea but says he will have to learn to embrace coffee instead，because drinking tea had become a symbol of not loving the country．
For all the upsides coffee has brought the modern world，it also led to its fair share of downsides，too．Europeans carried coffee with them as they colonized various parts of the world，and this frequently meant they enslaved people in order to grow it．In Brazil — where slavery was legal until l888 — coffee plantations would use slash-and-burn agriculture，tearing down rain forests and planting coffee trees．Once the soil had been exhausted，growers would move on to another place．
And yet，coffee，as Pendergrast says，”had a very good impact in many ways on our civilization，even though it was，for a long time，grown by slaves．”Why did people enjoy going to coffeehouses?
| A．Because it was a fashion to drink coffee． |
| B．Because coffeehouses provided a better flavor． |
| C．Because they could stay awake and active there． |
| D．Because they could exchange ideas there． |
What can we learn from the fourth paragraph?
| A．American colonists made great profits by trading in coffee． |
| B．Tea was regarded as a symbol of loving one’s country． |
| C．Coffee became very popular after the incident in Boston． |
| D．John Adams was the Founding Father of the Tea Party． |
In the fifth paragraph．the writer points out that __________ .
| A．Coffee plantation was closely connected with slavery |
| B．coffee plantation led to outdated agriculture in Brazil |
| C．slavery in Brazil had been against the law until l888 |
| D．slavery was responsible for the damage to rainforests |
What is mainly talked about in this passage?
| A．Some interesting stories about coffee culture． |
| B．Important Roles that coffee played in history． |
| C．How coffee became the most popular beverage． |
| D．How coffee affected America’s independence． |
（2014届山西太原市高三年级模拟考试（一）英语试卷）
Some people have travelled to Canada while others may have just heard of it . As is known to all, the Canadian red and white maple leaf flag is officially called The National Flag of Canada. The Canadian flag shows a stylized red maple leaf with 11 points on a white background, with red borders down each side. The Canadian flag is twice as long as its width. The white square containing the red maple leaf is the same width as the flag. Canada is a very large country, too. It is the second largest country in the world.By contrast, it has a very small population. There are only about 29 millinon people there. Most Canadians are of British or French origin, and French is an official language as well English. About 45 % of the people are of British origin, that is, they or their parents or grandparents, etc, come from Britain. Nearly 30 % are of French origin. Most of the French-Canadians live in the province of quebec. Over the years people have come to live in Canada from many countries in the world. They are mostly from European countries and also from China, as well as other Asian countries.
However , Canada was not an empty country when the Europeans began to arrive. Canadian-Indian lived along the coast, bythe rivers and lakes and in forests. Today there are only 350,000 Canadian-Indians in the whole country, with their own language. In the far north live the Inuits. There are only 27, 000 Canadian-Inuits. Their life is hard in such a harsh climate.What is the populatin of Quebec?
| A．More than 29, 000.000 |
| B．About 30% of the total population. |
| C．Over 45% of th etotal population |
| D．Less than 30% of the French-Canadians. |
Which of the following stands for Canada?
Which of the following is TRUE according to this passage?
| A．The Canadian flag I stwice as wide as its length. |
| B．Most Indians are now forced to live along the coast. |
| C．Nowadays Inuit still have difficult living conditions. |
| D．Nobody existed when the Europeans began to arrive in Canada. |
（届山西太原市高三年级模拟考试（一）英语试卷）
Many children first learn the value of money by receiving an allowance (pocket money). The purpose is to let children learn from experiences at an age when financial mistakes are not very costly.
The amount of money that parents give to their children to spend as they wish differs from family to family. Timing is another consideration. Some children get a weekly allowance. Others get a monthly allowance.
In any case, parents should make clear what, if anything, the child is expected to pay for with the money. At first, young children may spend all of their allowance soon after they receive it. If they do this,they will learn the hard way that spending must be done within a budget (预算). Parents are usually advised not to offer more money until the next allowance. The object is to show young people that a budget demands a choice between spending and saving. Older children may be responsible enough to save money for larger costs, like clothing or electronics.
Many people who have written on the subject of allowances say it is not a good idea to pay your child for work around the home. These jobs are a normal part of family life. Paying children to do extra work around the house, however, can be useful. It can even provide an understanding of how a business works.
Allowances give children a chance to experience the three things they can do with money. They can share it in the form of gifts or giving to a good cause. They can spend it by buying things they want. Or they can save it.
Saving helps children understand that costly goals require sacrifice. You have to cut costs and plan for the future. Requiring children to save part of their allowances can also open the door to future saving and investing. Many banks offer services to help children and teenagers learn about personal finance. A saving account is an excellent way to learn about the power of compound interest.
Compounding works by paying interest. So, for example, one dollar invested at two percent interest for two years will earn two cents in the first year. The second year, the money will earn two percent of one dollar and two cents, and so on. That may not seem like a lot, but over time it adds up. Parents give their children allowances in order to _____.
| A．show off their wealth of family |
| B．let them make more money |
| C．learn the value of money |
| D．help children manage family finance |
What is the second paragraph mainly about?
| A．The time to give allowances. |
| B．The way to spend alloweances. |
| C．the amount of allowances given to children. |
| D．Considerations taken to give allowances. |
Why are parents adivsed to offer young children allowances strictly as planned?
| A．To help children learn to make a budget. |
| B．To have children save money for larger costs. |
| C．To let children make fewer mistakes. |
| D．To give them more allowances next time. |
What does the author intend to tel lthe readers?
| A．The methods of limiting allowances. |
| B．The advice on a better family budget. |
| C．Teaching children to use allowances wisely. |
| D．Offering allowances to children properly. |