Question

For thousands of years, the most important two buildings in any British village have been the church and the pub. Traditionally, the church and the pub are at the heart of any village or town, where the people gather together to socialize and exchange news.

As a result, British pubs are often old and well preserved. Many of them have become historic sites. The most famous example is the pub in the city of Nottingham called “The Old Trip to Jerusalem”, which dates back to the year 1189 AD and is probably the oldest pub in England.

However, British pubs are not just for kings and queens; they welcome people from all classes and parts of society. On a cold night, the pub’s landlord or landlady can always find a warm place for you by the fire. There is always honest and hearty food and plenty of drink available at an affordable price.

That’s how things used to be. Things are beginning to change. It is said that the credit crunch(信贷紧缩) is causing 39 British pubs a week to go out of business. People do not have enough spare money to spend on beer. Recently, the UK government banned smoking in all pubs, and that may also have affected the number of customers going to pubs.

This decline is happening despite the fact that in 2005 the UK government started to allow pubs to stay open after 1l pm. Previously, with 1l pm as closing time, customers would have to drink quite quickly, meaning they sometimes got more drunk than they would if allowed to drink slowly. The British habit of drinking a lot very quickly is known as “binge drinking”, and it causes long-term health problems for people and problems with violent crime for communities.

In order to save their businesses, pubs are trying to change with the market. British pubs now offer something for everyone. A lot of pubs used to be “Working Men's Clubs”, meaning that women could not usually enter. Today, however, women can freely enter 99% of pubs without experiencing any problems. Perhaps things are changing for the better after all.

1.The passage mainly tells us something about ______.

A. the past and present of British pubs

B. the decline of British pubs

C. the long history of British pubs

D. the importance of British pubs

2.Which may not be the cause of the decline of British pubs?

A. The credit crunch.

B. The present closing time.

C. The ban of smoking.

D. Having no spare money.

3.We can infer from the passage that ______.      

A. British people used to like drinking slowly

B. closing the pubs early will reduce social problems

C. binge drinking means drinking less beer

D. British government aims to discourage people from binge drinking

4.We can see from the last paragraph that the author _______.

  A. is against the admission of too many women to the pubs

  B. holds an optimistic attitude towards the British pubs

  C. thinks that women in the pubs will cause less social problems

  D. thinks that British pubs should offer everything you need

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.A

2.B

3.D

4.B  

【解析】文章主要讲述的是关于现在英国酒吧的一些相关信息。——它们的历史与现状。

1.主旨大意题。通读全文可知，本文主要讲述了英国酒吧的历史与现状，所以A项符合题意。

2.逻辑推理题。从第四段可知，A项“信贷紧缩”、C项“禁烟”和D项“没有余钱”都在该段中提到，而B项内容与英国酒吧的衰落无关，故选B项。

3.逻辑推理题。从第五段内容可知，因为以前酒吧晚上11点关门，使英国人形成了豪饮(binge drinking)的习惯，所以英国政府允许酒吧11点之后继续营业，主要目的在于减少人们酗酒豪饮，防止由此造成的健康问题和暴力犯罪，所以选D项。

4.写作态度题。从最后一段最后一句可知，作者对英国酒吧的发展持乐观的态度，据此B项正确。