2011年英语专业八级考试阅读理解
TEXT A
Whenever we could, Joan and I look refuge in the streets of Gibraltar. The Englishman's home is his castle becau he has not much choice. There is nowhere to sit in the streets of England, not even, after twilight, in the public gardens. The climate, very often, does not even permit him to walk outside. Naturally, he stays indoors and creates a cocoon of comfort. That was the way we lived in Leeds.
The southern people, on the other hand, look outwards. The Gibraltarian home is, typically, a small and crowded apartment up veral flights of dark and dirty stairs. In it, one, two or even three old people share a few ill-lit rooms with the young family. Once he has eaten, changed his clothes, embraced his wife, kisd his children and his parents, there is nothing to keep the southern man at home. He hurries out, taking even his breakfast coffee at his local bar. He comes home late for his afternoon meal after an appetitive hour at his cafe. He sleeps for an hour, dress, goes out again and stays out unt
il late at night. His wife does not miss him, for she 产品营销推广is out, too – at the market in the morning and in the afternoon sitting with other mothers, baby-minding in the sun.
The usual Gibraltarian home has no sitting-room, living-room or lounge. The parlour of our working-class hous would be an intolerable waste of space. Easy-chairs, sofas and such-like furniture are unknown. There are no bookshelves, becau there are no books. Talking and drinking, as well as eating, are done on hard chairs round the dining-table, between a sideboard decorated with the best glass and an inevitable display cabinet full of family treasures,鱼丸面 photographs and souvenirs. The elaborate chandelier over this table proclaims it as the hub of the houhold and of the family. 'Hearth and home' makes very little n in Gibraltar. One's home is one's town or village, and one's hearth is the sunshine.
Our northern towns are dormitories with cubicles, by comparison. When we congregate – in the churches it ud to be, now in the cinema, say, impersonally, or at public meetings, formally – we are scarcely ever man to man. Only in our pubs can you find the truly grega
rious and communal spirit surviving, and in England even the pubs are divided along class lines.
Along this Mediterranean coast, home is only a refuge and a retreat. The people live together in the open air – in the street, market-place. Down here, there is a far stronger feeling of community than we had ever known. In crowded and circumscribed Gibraltar, with its 发动机清洁complicated inter-marriages, its identity of interests, its surviving n of siege, one can e and feel an integrated society.
小树烫发To live in a tiny town with all the organization of a state, with Viceroy (总督), Premier, Parliament. Press and Pentagon, all in miniature, all within arm's reach, is an intensive cour in civics. In such an environment, nothing can be hidden, for better or for wor. One's success are en and recognized; one's failures are immediately expod. Social consciousness is at its strongest, with the result that there is a constant and firm pressure towards good social behaviour, towards courtesy and kindness. Gibraltar, with all its faults, is the friendliest and most tolerant of places. Straight from the cynical anony
mity of a big city, we luxuriated in its happy personalism. We look back on it, like all its exiled sons and daughters, with true affection.
11. Which of the following best explains the differences in ways of living between the English and the Gibraltarians?
A. The family structure. B. Religious belief. C. The climate. D. Bating habit.
12. The italicized part in the third paragraph implies that _____.
A. English working-class homes are similar to Gibraltarian ones
B. English working-class homes have spacious sitting-rooms
C. English working-class homes waste a lot of space
D. the English working-class parlour is intolerable in Gibraltar
13. We learn from the description of the Gibraltarian home that it is _____.
A. modern B. luxurious C. stark D. simple
14. There is a much stronger n of _____ among the Gibraltarians.角质硬化
A. togetherness B. survival C. identity D. leisure
15. According to the passage, people in Gibraltar tend to be well-behaved becau of the following EXCEPT _____.
湖南教育网A. the entirety of the state structure B. constant pressure from the state
C. the small size of the town D. transparency of occurrences
TEXT B
For office innovators, the unrealized dream of the "paperless" office is a classic example of high-tech hubris (傲慢). Today's office drone is drowning in more paper than ever before.
But after decades of hype, American offices may finally be losing their paper obssion. The demand for paper ud to outstrip the growth of the US economy, but the past two or three years have en a marked slowdown in sales - despite a healthy economic scene.
Analysts attribute the decline to such factors as advances in digital databas and communication systems. Escaping our craving for paper, however, will be anything but an easy affair.
水晶之夜事件"Old habits are hard to break." says Merilyn Dunn, a communications supplies director. "There are some functions that paper rves where a screen display doesn't work. Tho functions are both its strength and its weakness."
