Stratford-on-Avon, as we all know, has only one industry-William Shakespeare-but there are two distinctly parate and increasingly hostile branches. There is the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), which prents superb productions of the plays at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre on the Avon. And there are the townsfolk who largely live off the tourists who come, not to e the plays, but to look at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Shakespeare’s birthplace and the other sights. 本文来源:考试大网
The worthy residents of Stratford doubt that the theatre adds a penny to their revenue. They frankly dislike the RSC’s actors, them with their long hair and beards and sandals and noisiness. It’s all deliciously ironic when you consider that Shakespeare, who earns their living, was himlf an actor (with a beard) and did his share of noi - making. 考试大论坛
The tourist streams are not entirely parate. The sighters who come by bus- and often take in Warwick Castle and Blenheim Palace on the side – don’t usually e the plays, and some of them are even surprid to find a theatre in Stratford. However, the playgoers do manage a little sight - eing along with their play going. It is the playgoers, the RSC contends, who bring in much of the town’s revenue becau they spend the night (some of
them four or five nights) pouring cash into the hotels and restaurants. The sighters can take in everything and get out of town by nightfall.
The townsfolk don’t e it this way and local council does not contribute directly to the subsidy of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Stratford cries poor traditionally. Nevertheless every hotel in town ems to be adding a new wing or cocktail lounge. Hilton is building its own hotel there, which you may be sure will be decorated with Hamlet Hamburger Bars, the Lear Lounge, the Banquo Banqueting Room, and so forth, and will be very expensive.
Anyway, the townsfolk can’t understand why the Royal Shakespeare Company needs a subsidy. (The theatre has broken attendance records for three years in a row. Last year its 1,431 ats were 94 per cent occupied all year long and this year they’ll do better.) The reason, of cour, is that costs have rocketed and ticket prices have stayed low.
It would be a shame to rai prices too much becau it would drive away the young people who are Stratford’s most attractive clientele. They come entirely for the plays, not the sights. They all em to look alike (though they come from all over) –lean, pointed, de
dicated faces, wearing jeans and sandals, eating their buns and bedding down for the night on the flagstones outside the theatre to buy the 20 ats and 80 standing-room tickets held for the sleepers and sold to them when the box office opens at 10:
1. From the first two paragraphs , we learn that
A. the townsfolk deny the RSC ’ s contribution to the town’s revenue
朱庆馀 B. the actors of the RSC imitate Shakespeare on and off stage
C. the two branches of the RSC are not on good terms
D. the townsfolk earn little from tourism
2. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that 来源： A. the sighters cannot visit the Castle and the Palace parately
B. the playgoers spend more money than the sighters
C. the sighters do more shopping than the playgoers
D. the playgoers go to no other places in town than the theater
3. By saying “Stratford cries poor traditionally” (Line 2-3, Paragraph 4), the author implies that
A. Stratford cannot afford the expansion projects
B. Stratford has long been in financial difficulties职称英语考试
C. the town is not really short of money
D. the townsfolk ud to be poorly paid
4. According to the townsfolk, the RSC derves no subsidy becau
A. ticket prices can be raid to cover the spending
B. the company is financially ill-managed
C. the behavior of the actors is not socially acceptable
D. the theatre attendance is on the ri
5. From the text we can conclude that the author
A. is supportive of both sides
B. favors the townsfolk’s view
C. takes a detached attitude
D. is sympathetic to the RSC.
参考答案：
A B C D D
TEXT A
Ricci’s “Operation Columbus”
Ricci, 45, is now striking out on perhaps his boldest venture yet. He plan s to market an English language edition of his elegant monthly art magazine, FMR , in the United States. Once again the skeptice are murmuring that the successfu l Ricci has headed for a big fall. And once again Ricci intends to prove them wr ong.
Ricci is so confident that he has christened his quest “Operation Columbu s ” and has t his sights on discovering an American readership of 300,000. That goal may not be too far-fetched. The Italian edition of FMR — the initials, of cour, stand for Franco Maria Ricci-is only 18 months old. But it is already the cond largest art magazine in the world, with a circulation of 65,000 and a profit margin of US $ 500,000. The American edition will be patterned after th e Italian version, with each 160-page issue carrying only 40 pages o
f ads and no more than five articles. But the contents will often differ. The English-langua ge edition will include more American works, Ricci says, to help Americans get o ver “an inferiority complex about their art.” He also hopes that the magazine will become a vehicle for a two -way cultural exchange — what he likes to think of as a marriage of brains, culture and taste from both sides of the Atlantic.
To realize this vision, Ricci is mounting one of the most lavish, enterpris ing — and expensive-promotional campaigns in magazine — publishing history. Between November and January, eight jumbo jets will fly 8 million copies of a sample 16-page edition of FMR across the Atlantic. From a warehou in Michigan, 6.5 million copies will be mailed to American subscribers of various cultural, art and business magazines. Some of the remaining copies will circulate as a spe cial Sunday supplement in the New York Times. The cost of launching Operation Co lumbus is a staggering US $ 5 million, but Ricci is hoping that 60% of the price tag will be financed by Italian corporations.“ To land in America Columbus had to u Spanish sponsors,” reads one ntence in his promotional
pamphlet. “We would like Italians.”
Like Columbus, Ricci cannot know what his reception will be on foreign shor es. In Italy he gambled — and won — on a simple concept: it is more important to show art than to write about it. Hence, one issue of FMR might feature 32 fu ll-colour pages of 17th-century tapestries, followed by 14 pages of outrageous e yeglass. He is gambling that the concept is exportable. “I don’t expect that more than 30% of will actually read FMR,” he says. “The magazine is such a visual delight that they don’t have to.” Still, he is lining up an impr es sive stable of writers and professors for the American edition , including Noam Chomsky, Anthony Burgess, Eric Jong and Norman Mailer. In addition, he ems to be pursuing his won eclectic vision without giving a moment’s thought to such e s tablished competitors as Connosisur and Horizon. “The Americans can do almost everything better than we can,” says Rieci, “But we(the Italians)have a 2,000 year edge on them in art.”
16. Ricci intends his American edition of FMR to carry more American art works in order to___.
A. boost Americans’ confidence in their art
B. follow the pattern t by his Italian edition
C. help Italians understand American art better
D. expand the readership of his magazine
17. Ricci is compared to Columbus in the passage mainly becau___.
A. they both benefit小儿热性惊厥ed from Italian sponsors
B. they were explorers in their own ways
C. they obtained overas sponsorship
D. they got a warm reception in America qq音乐官网网页版
18. We get the impression that the American edition of FMR will probably ___.
A. carry many academic articles of high standard
B. follow the style of some famous existing magazines
C. be mad by one third of American magazine readers
D. pursue a distinctive editorial style of its own
TEXT B
My mother’s relations were very different from the Mitfords. Her brother, Uncle Geoff, who often came to stay at Swimbrook, was a small spare man with th oughtful blue eyes and a rather silent manner. Compared to Uncle Tommy, he was a n intellectual of the highest order, and indeed his satirical pen belied his mil d demeanor. He spent most of his waking hours composing letters to The Times and other publications in which he outlined his own particular theory of the develo pment of English history. In Uncle Geoff’s view, the greatness of England had r in and waned over the centuries in direct proportion to the u of natural man ure in fertilizing the soil. The Black Death of 1348 wa
s caud by gradual loss of the humus fertility found under forest trees. The ri of the Elizabethans tw o centuries later was attributable to the widespread u of sheep manure. 狗狗指甲怎么剪
Many of Uncle Geoff’s letters-to-the-editor have fortunately been prerv ed in a privately printed volume called Writings of a Rebel. Of the collection, one letter best sums up his views on the relationship between manure and freedom
. He wrote:
Collating old records shows that our greatness ris and falls with the li ving fertility of our soil. And now, many years of exhausted and chemically murd ered soil, and of devitalized food from it, has softened our bodies and still wo r, softened our national character. It is an actual fact that character is lar gely a product of the soil. Many years of murdered food from deadened soil has m ade us too tame. Chemicals have had their poisonous day. It is
now the worm’s t urn to reform the manhood of England. The only way to regain our punch, our char acter, our lost virtues, and with them the freedom natural to islanders, is to c o mpost our land so as to allow moulds, bacteria and earthworms to remake living s oil to nourish Englishmen’s bodies and spirits.
希望反义词
The law requiring pasteurization of milk in England was a particular targe t of Uncle Geoff’s. Fond of alliteration, he dubbed it “Murdered Milk Measure ”, and established the Liberty Restoration League, with headquarters at his hou i n London, for the specific purpo of organizing a counteroffensive. “Freedom n o t Doctordom” was the League’s proud slogan. A subsidiary, but nevertheless imp or tant, activity of the League was advocacy of a return to the “unsplit, slowly s m oked fish” and bread made with “English stone-ground flour, yeast, milk, a s alt and raw cane-sugar.”
19. According to Uncle Geoff, national strength could only be regained by ___.
A. reforming the manhood of England 归期未定
B. using natural manure as fertilizer
C. eating more bacteria-free food
D. granting more freedom to Englishmen
并蹄莲20. The tone of the passage can most probably be described as___.
A. facetious B. rious C. nostalgic D. factual
