TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2011)
In this ction there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-choice questions. R
TEXT A
Whenever we could, Joan and I took 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, ther
e 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 café. He sleeps for an hour, dress, goes out again and stays out until late at night. His wife does not miss him, for she 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, 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 gregarious 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 complicated inter-marriages, its identity of interests, its surviving n of siege, one can e and feel an integrated society.
mosa 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. Soci
al 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 anonymity 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. 四级成绩查询官网入口>游戏开发培训D. Eating habit.
参考答案： A
TIP：选A。文章对英国人和直布罗陀的居民的不同生活方式进行描写，对比了两种迥异的社会习俗和社会结构。
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
参考答案： C
TIP：选C。斜体字部分的含义是“英国工人阶级的会客厅对直布罗陀的居民来说是一种不能容忍的对空间的浪费”。
炽热的拼音13. We learn from the description of the Gibraltarian home that it is _________.
A. modern B. luxurious C. stark D. simple
参考答案： D
TIP：选D。文章提到直布罗陀的居民家里没有安乐椅、沙发、书柜等类似的家具，因此很
简朴。
14. There is a much stronger n of _______ among the Gibraltarians.公务员考试怎么缴费
A. togetherness antaraB. survival C. identity D. leisure
嫁接睫毛培训参考答案： A
TIP：选A。文章好几处的用词如congregate、gregarious、communal spirit等都体现了直布罗陀人彼此之间较亲密。
15. According to the passage people in Gibraltar tend to be well-behaved becau of the following EXCEPT _______.
A. the entirety of the state structure
B. constant pressure from the state
C. the small size of the town
D. transparency of occurrences
华通留学参考答案： B
TIP：选B。A、C、D在文章中均有提及，只有B错误，直布罗陀只是一个小城镇，不是一个state。
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.
