Question

【題目】It was once common to regard Britain as a society with class distinction. Each class had unique characteristics.

In recent years, many writers have begun to speak of the ‘decline of class ’ and ‘classless society ’ in Britain. And in modern day consumer society everyone is considered to be middle class.

But pronouncing the death of class is too early. A recent wide-ranging study of pubic opinion found 90 percent of people still placing themselves in a particular class; 73 percent agreeed that class was still a vital part of British society.; and 52 percent thought there were still sharp class differences. Thus, class may not be culturally and politically obvious, yet it remains an imprtant part of British society. Britain seems to have a love ofstratification.

One unchanging aspect of a British person’s class position is accent. The words a person speaks tell her or his class. A study of British accents during the 1970s found that a voice sounding like a BBC newsreader was viewed as the most attractive voice. Most people said this accent sounds ‘educated ’ and ‘soft ’. The accents placed at the bottom in this study, on the other hand, were regional(地區(qū)的) city accents. These accents were seen as ‘common ’ and ‘ugly ’. However, a similar study of British accents in the US turned these results upside down and placed some regional accents as the most attractive and BBC English as the least. This suggests that British attitudes towards accent have deep roots and are based on class prejudice.

In recent years, however, young upper midder-class people in London, have begun to adopt some regional accents, in order to hide their class origins. This is an indication of class becoming unnoticed. However, the 1995 pop song ‘ Common People ’ puts forward the view that though a middle-class person may ‘ want to live like common people ’ they can never appreciate the reality of a working class life.

【1】A recent study of pubic opinion shows that in modern Britain_________.

A. it is time to end class distinction

B. most people belong to middle class

C. it is easy to recognize a person’s class

D. people regard themselves socially different

【2】The word stratification in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to_________.

A. variety B. division

C. authority D. qualification

【3】The study in the US showed that BBC English was regarded as _________.

A. regional B. educated

C. prejudiced D. unattractive

【4】British attitudes towards accent_________.

A. have a long tradition

B. are based on regional status

C. are shared by the Americans

D. have changed in recent years

【5】What is the main idea of the passage?

A. The middle class is expanding.

B. A person’s accent reflects his class.

C. Class is a key part of British society.

D. Each class has unique characteristics.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】B

【3】D

【4】D

【5】C

【解析】試題分析：這篇短文給我們講述了在英國社會中，階級劃分是重要的一部分。作者在短文中給我們介紹了兩項調查，通過調查的結果我們可以看到，英國社會里的階級劃分沒有消失，它是英國社會重要的一部分。

【1】D細節(jié)理解題。根據短文第三段的內容可知，關于“階級消亡”的說法，在英國對大眾進行了一個調查，結果發(fā)現(xiàn)90%的人們仍然把自己劃分在一定的階層中；73%的人認為階級是英國社會一個必不可少的部分。由此可知人們仍然認為他們在社會中是有區(qū)別的，故選D。

【2】B詞義猜測題。根據短文第三段的內容可知，根據一項關于英國社會階級是否開始消亡的調查可知，絕大多數人仍然認為英國社會中存在不同的階級，這是英國社會中重要的一部分。由此可知，英國人好像對階級劃分非常熱衷。stratification劃分，跟B選項是同義詞，故選B。

【3】D細節(jié)理解題。根據第四段中However, a similar study of British accents in the US turned these results upside down and placed some regional accents as the most attractive and BBC English as the least.可知，美國關于英語口音的調查結果正好和英國的調查結果相反，他們認為一些地方口音是最吸引人的，而BBC的英語是最不吸引人的，故選D。

【4】D推理判斷題。根據短文的最后一段的內容可知，In recent years, however, young upper middle-class people in London, have begun to adopt some regional accents，可見，現(xiàn)在英國人們對待口音的態(tài)度開始改變了。故選D。

【5】C主旨大意題。這篇短文給我們講述了在英國社會中，階級劃分是重要的一部分。作者在短文中給我們介紹了兩項調查，其中一項告訴我們大多數人們覺得階級是英國社會必不可少的一部分；另一項調查是關于人們說好的口音，英國和美國的調查結果正好相反，也說明了英國階級劃分的根源非常深。由此可知C選項：階級是英國社會中的一個重要部分符合短文的大意。故選C。