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Many foreigners who have not visited Britain call all the inhabitants English, for they are used to thinking of the British Isles as England. (1)_____, the British Isles contain a variety of peoples, and only the people of England call themselves English. The others (2)_____ to themselves as Welsh, Scottish, or Irish, (3)_____ the ease may be; they are often slightly annoyed (4)_____ being classified as "English". Even in England there are many (5)_____ in regional character and speech. The chief (6)_____ is between southern England and northern England. South of a (7)_____ going from Bristol to London, people speak the type of English usually learnt by foreign students, (8)_____ there are local variations. Further north regional speech is usually "(9)_____" than that of southern Britain. Northerners are (10)_____ to claim that they work harder than Southerners, and are more (11)_____. They are open-hearted and hospitable; foreigners often find that they make friends with them (12)_____. Northerners generally have hearty (13)_____: the visitor to Lancashire or Yorkshire, for instance, may look forward to receiving generous (14)_____ at meal times. In accent and character the people of the Midlands (15)_____ a gradual change from the southern to the northern type of Englishman. In Scotland the sound (16)_____ by the letter "R" is generally a strong sound, and "R" is often pronounced in words in which it would be (17)_____ in southern English. The Scots are said to be a serious, cautious, thrifty people, (18)_____ inventive and somewhat mystical. All the Celtic peoples of Britain (the Welsh, the Irish, the Scots) are frequently (19)_____ as being more "fiery(暴躁的,易怒的)" than the English. They are (20)_____ a race that is quite distinct from the English.

A. as
B. which
C. for
D. so

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An industrial society, especially one as centralized and concentrated as that of Britain, is heavily dependent on certain essential services: for instance, electricity supply, water, rail and road transport, the harbors. The area of dependency has widened to include removing rubbish, hospital and ambulance services, and, as the economy develops, central computer and information services as well. If any of these services ceases to operate, the whole economic system is in danger. It is this economic interdependency of the economic system which makes the power of trade unions such an important issue. Single trade unions have the ability to cut off many countries" economic blood supply. This can happen more easily in Britain than in some other countries, in part because the labor force is highly organized. About 55 per cent of British workers belong to unions, compared to under a quarter in the United States. For historical reasons, Britain"s unions have tended to develop along trade and occupational lines, rather than on an industry-by-industry basis, which makes a wages policy, democracy in industry and the improvement of procedure for fixing wage levels difficult to achieve. There are considerable strains and tensions in the trade union movement, some of them arising from their outdated and inefficient structure. Some unions have lost many members because of their industrial changes. Others are involved in arguments about who should represent workers in new trades. Unions for skilled trades are separate from general unions, which means that different levels of wages for certain jobs are often a source of bad feeling between unions. In traditional trades which are being pushed out of existence by advancing technologies, unions can fight for their members" disappointing jobs to the point where the jobs of other union members are threatened or destroyed. The printing of newspapers both in the United States and in Britain has frequently been halted by the efforts of printers to hold on to their traditional highly-paid jobs. Trade unions have problems of internal communication just as managers in companies do, problems which multiply in very large unions or in those which bring workers in very different industries together into a single general union. Some trade union officials have to be re-elected regularly; others are elected, or even appointed, for life. Trade union officials have to work with a system of "shop stewards" in many unions, "shop stewards" being workers elected by other workers as their representatives at factory or works level. Disagreements arise between unions because some of them

A. take over other unions" jobs.
B. try to win over members of other unions.
C. protect their own members at the expense of others.
D. intend to represent workers in new trade organizations.

When Dr. John W. Gofman, professor of medical physics at the University of California and a leading nuclear critic, speaks of "ecocide" in his adversary view of nuclear technology, he means the following: A large nuclear plant like that in Kalkar, the Netherlands, would produce about 200 pounds of plutonium each year. One pound, released into the atmosphere, could cause 9 billion cases of lung cancer. This waste product must be stored for 500,000 years before it is of no further danger to man. In the anticipated reactor economy, it is estimated that there will be 10,000 tons of this material in western Europe, of which one table—spoonful of plutonium—239 represents the official maximum permissible body burden for 200,000 people. Rather than being biodegradable, plutonium destroys biological properties. In 1972 the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration ruled that the asbestos level in the work place should be lowered to 2 fibers per cubic centimeter of air, but the effective date of the ruling has been delayed until now. The International Federation of Chemical and General Workers" Unions report that the 2-fiber standard was based primarily on one study of 290 men at a British asbestos factory. But when the workers at the British factory had been reexamined by another physician, 40-70 percent had X-ray evidence of lung abnormalities. According to present medical information at the factory in question, out of a total of 29 deaths thus far, seven were caused by lung cancer. An average European or American worker comes into contact with six million fibers a day. "We are now, in fact, finding cancer deaths within the family of the asbestos worker," states Dr. Irving Selikoff, of the Mount Sinai Medical School in New York. It is now also clear that vinyl chloride, a gas from which the most widely used plastics are made, causes a fatal cancer of the blood-vessel ceils of the liver. However, the history of the research on vinyl chloride is, in some ways, more disturbing than the "Watergate cover-up". "There has been evidence of potentially serious disease among polyvinyl chloride workers for 25 years that has been incompletely appreciated and inadequately approached by medical scientists and by regulatory authorities," summed up Dr. Selikoff in the New Scientist. At least 17 workers have been killed by vinyl chloride because research over the past 25 years was not followed up. And for over 10 years, workers have been exposed to concentrations of vinyl chloride 10 times the "safe limit" imposed by Dow Chemical Company.Notes:plutonium 钚asbestos 石棉polyvinyl chloride 聚氯乙烯 According to the text, the author mentions plutonium in paragraph 1 to

A. estimate the amount of nuclear material in Europe.
B. exemplify one of the possible causes of lung cancer.
C. highlight the measures needed to prevent lung cancer.
D. show the destructive properties of industrial waste materials.

Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities—as well as new and significant risks. Civil right activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack of access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies. Now Congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500, 000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms filed with the government, Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises. Corporate response appears to have been substantial. According to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority businesses rose from $77 million in 1972 to 1.1 billion in 1977. The projected total of corporate contracts with minority businesses for the early 1980"s is estimated to be over $3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too. First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses, they often need to make substantial investment in new plants, staff, equipment and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them. If, thereafter, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses. The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneurs who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids. Both consume valuable time and resources, and a small company"s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer. A second risk is that White owned companies may seek to cash in on the increasing apportionment through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns. Of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, White and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could acquire alone. But civil right groups and minority business owners have complained to Congress about minorities being set up as "fronts" with White backing, rather than being accepted as full partners in legitimate joint ventures. Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming and remaining dependent. Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.Notes:civil rights activists 公民权利激进分子Hispanics 西班牙后裔美国人sizable orders 大额订单subcontract 转包合同on forms filed with the government 在政府存档备案percentage goals 指标apportionment 分配,分派public works 市政工程letup 减弱,缓和promising as it is... 这是as引导的上步状语从句,表语倒装了patronage 优惠concern n. 公司and the like 以及诸如此类的crippling fixed expenses 引起损失的固定开支the world of 大量的bid 投标to cash in on ...靠......赚钱team up 一起工作, 合作"fronts" 此处意为"摆门面"Complacency 自满 The text suggests that the failure of a large business to have its bids for subcontracts result quickly in orders might cause it to

A. experience frustration but not serious financial harm.
B. have to record its efforts on forms filed with the government.
C. increase its spending with minority subcontractors.
D. revise its procedure for making bids for federal contracts and subcontracts.

Many foreigners who have not visited Britain call all the inhabitants English, for they are used to thinking of the British Isles as England. (1)_____, the British Isles contain a variety of peoples, and only the people of England call themselves English. The others (2)_____ to themselves as Welsh, Scottish, or Irish, (3)_____ the ease may be; they are often slightly annoyed (4)_____ being classified as "English". Even in England there are many (5)_____ in regional character and speech. The chief (6)_____ is between southern England and northern England. South of a (7)_____ going from Bristol to London, people speak the type of English usually learnt by foreign students, (8)_____ there are local variations. Further north regional speech is usually "(9)_____" than that of southern Britain. Northerners are (10)_____ to claim that they work harder than Southerners, and are more (11)_____. They are open-hearted and hospitable; foreigners often find that they make friends with them (12)_____. Northerners generally have hearty (13)_____: the visitor to Lancashire or Yorkshire, for instance, may look forward to receiving generous (14)_____ at meal times. In accent and character the people of the Midlands (15)_____ a gradual change from the southern to the northern type of Englishman. In Scotland the sound (16)_____ by the letter "R" is generally a strong sound, and "R" is often pronounced in words in which it would be (17)_____ in southern English. The Scots are said to be a serious, cautious, thrifty people, (18)_____ inventive and somewhat mystical. All the Celtic peoples of Britain (the Welsh, the Irish, the Scots) are frequently (19)_____ as being more "fiery(暴躁的,易怒的)" than the English. They are (20)_____ a race that is quite distinct from the English.

A. who
B. when
C. though
D. for

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