Britain and Ireland

  The British Isles is made up of two large islands: One is called Ireland and the other __16  . Britain, or Great Britain, is the larger of these two islands, and it is17  into three parts: Scotland, Wales and England.

  The United Kingdom is that 18   of the British Isles ruled over by the Queen. It is made up of Scotland, Wales and England, that is, the  19   of Britain, and also about one sixth of Ireland, the Northern part. The  20  of Ireland is self-governing. The  21  name of the United Kingdom is  22   “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.

 23  is larger and richer than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and has the largest  24   of the United Kingdom, so people often use the 25  “England” and “English” when they  26   “Britain” and “British”. This sometimes makes the Scots and the Welsh a little 27  . The Scots in particular are very  28  of their separate nationality. The Welsh too do not regard   29  as English, and have a culture and even a   30 of their own.

  Ireland became part of the United Kingdom in 1801, but for forty years the “Irish  31   ” was the greatest headache of the United Kingdom.  32  , Ireland is divided into two: Northern Ireland still  33 to the United Kingdom, and in 1922 the rest of Ireland   34   to found an Irish Free State, later called Eire and now the Republic of Ireland.

  The Republic of Ireland does not regard itself as part of Britain, and is not now even a supporter of the Commonwealth of Nations (英联邦). Unlike the major Commonwealth countries it did not lift a finger to   35 British in the Second World War and now wants the whole of Ireland to be a republic.

1.A. Wales       B. Britain         C. England        D. Scotland

2.A. divided      B. cut            C. broken          D. separated

3.A. piece        B. island          C. country         D. part

4.A. south        B. north          C. part            D. whole

5.A. smaller      B. larger          C. rest             D. island

6.A. correct      B. true            C. full             D. complete

7.A. also         B. therefore       C. likely           D. perhaps

8.A. The UK      B. The British isles  C. Great Britain    D. England

9.A. colleges      B. officials         C. cities           D. population

10.A. words       B. names           C. spellings        D. pronunciations

11.A. call         B. forget           C. speak           D. write

12.A. angry       B. difficult          C. tired           D. lonely

13.A. proud       B. fond            C. full             D. kind

14. A. it           B. Wales           C. them            D. themselves

15.A. capital      B. language         C. history          D. programs

16.A. Country     B. Question         C. Disease          D. Republic

17.A. At last      B. So              C. Meanwhile       D. Also

18.A. returns      B. belongs          C. gets             D. speaks

19.A. hoped       B. refused          C. broke away       D. used

20.A. feel         B. touch            C. fight             D. help

 

Apollo

For lovers of the arts, Apollo is a truly necessary magazine.Covering the ages and the great civiliza­tions of the world, Apollo brings you well-illustrated yet academic articles by internationally famous scholars, as well as information on exhibitions and sales.Experience five monthly issues for as little as £ 5 each.

The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly gives you a global view with articles from four of the world's most respected newspapers.Read the news from different views and draw your own conclusions on the stories shaping our world. Try it for 3 months for just £ 15.55.Plus get a free copy of The Guardian Year 2003.

New Internationalist

Full of excellent writing and photography, the N1 covers one key subject each month, from Terror­ism to Poverty to Climate Change.Reporters from around the globe provide you with a comprehen­sive world view.PLUS: masses of fresh reports and stories to keep you up-to-date on world affairs.3 months free and free World Map.

The Week

The Week is the only weekly summary giving you the best of the British and foreign newspapers in just 35 pages.Designed to be read in just 1 hour, it provides you with everything you need and want to know.Try The Week now with 13 issues for just £ 13.75.If you decide it's not for you, just tell us within the first 6 weeks and you can get your money back.

 

 

 

1.Which of the following magazines will probably provide you with articles about music and paintings?

       A.Apollo.                      B.The Week. 

       C.New Internationalist.    D.The Guardian Weekly.

2.It is possible that most of the readers of the four magazines are ______.

       A.men                      B.women                  C.children                 D.grown-ups

3.Which of the following would you most probably read if you want to get information from the world’s most popular newspapers?

       A.Apollo & The Week.       

       B.Apollo & New Internationalist.

       C.The Guardian Weekly & The Week.   

       D.The Guardian Weekly & New Internationalist.

4.The purpose of writing these four texts is to ______.

       A.tell the readers the latest news             

       B.get more readers to subscribe (订阅)

       C.show the importance of the four magazines  

       D.introduce the four magazines to new readers

 

I fell in love with England because it was quaint (古雅)—all those little houses, looking terri­bly old-fashioned but nice, like dolls’ houses.I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I loved London.I’ve slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it’s an ugly town now.

Things have changed. For everybody, England meant gentlemen, fair play, and good man­ners.The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good man­ners—people shut doors heavily in your face and politeness is disappearing.

I regret that there are so few comfortable meeting places.You’re forced to live indoors.In Paris I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs.To meet friends here it usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman.The cafes are not terribly nice.

As a woman, I feel unsafe here.I spend a bomb on taxis because I will not take public trans­port after 10 p.m.I used to use it, but now I’m afraid.

The idea of family seems to be more or less non-existent in England. My family is well united and that’s typically French.In Middlesex I had a neighbour who is 82 now.His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone.

1.The writer doesn’t like London because she ______.

       A.is not used to the life there now

       B.has lived there for seventeen years

       C.prefers to live in an old-fashioned house

       D.has to be polite to everyone she meets there

2.Where do people usually meet their friends in England?

       A.In a cafe.     B.In a restaurant.      C.In a nightclub.  D.In a pub.

3.The underlined part “it” (in Par      A.4) refers to______.

       A.a taxi                     B.the money        C.a bomb           D.public transport

4.The writer took her neighbour to France for Christmas because he ______.

       A.felt lonely in England                         B.had never been to France

       C.was from a typical French family         D.didn't like the British idea of family

 

The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to present all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on earth.

     An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if, in his word, “the worst came to the worst”. Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill(钻孔) deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above 0ºC. The seeds will be protected behind walls a meter thick and high-security door.

     The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will e from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present all the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below 0ºC. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.

Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s safest gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason. Norway first put forward the idea in the 1980s. But safety concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.

1.The project is meant to ______.

    A.increase the world’s food output in the future

    B.carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes

    C.build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds

    D.protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?

    A.The government of Norway will perform the project alone.

    B.Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousands years ago.

    C.Spitsbergen is chosen because it is free of the nuclear war forever.

    D.Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.

3.We can infer from the text that _______.

    A.Norway had meant to build the storage centre about 20 years before.   

B.The storage center will greatly promote world agriculture

    C.People will get newly-developed seeds from the center every year.

    D.There haven’t been any seed storage centres in the world before.

4.What is probably the best title of the passage?

    A.The Best Place to Store Seeds    

    B.Noah’s Ark(诺亚方舟)of Plant Seeds in Plan

    C.Concerns of World Food Supply  

    D.A New Way to Feed the World

 

It seems that the Englishman just cannot live without sports of some kind. A famous French humourist once said that this is because the English insist on behaving like children all their lives. Wherever you go in this country you will see both children and grown-ups knocking a ball about with a stick or something, as if in Britain men shall always remain boys and women girls! Still, it can never be bad to get exercise, can it?

Taking all amateur(业余)and professional sports in Britain into consideration, there can be no doubt that football is at the top of the list. It is called soccer in the United States. The game originated in Britain and was played in the Middle Ages or even earlier, though as an organized game, or “association football”, it dates only from the beginning of the 19th century.

The next is rugby, which is called “football” in the United States. It is a kind of football played by two teams of fifteen players rather than eleven. The rugby, in which an oval-shaped ball is used can be handled as well as kicked. It is a pretty rough game.

In summer, cricket is the most popular sport. In fact, it has sometimes been called the English national game. Most foreigners find the game rather slow or even boring, but it enjoys great popularity among the British.

Tennis rates high on the list, too. It was introduced into England from France in the 15th century, but it was from England that it spread to practically every country in the world.

Table-tennis or “ping-pong” surely is not played on a great scale as it is in China or in Japan. Basketball and volleyball were introduced into Britain during the late 19th century from America and are gaining popularity. Horse-back riding, swimming, rowing and golf all attract a lot of people.

1.The main purpose of paragraph one is to tell us that the English_______.

A.are all sports lovers

B.behave like children

C.like to kick a ball around

D.can remain young all their lives

2.According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true about football and rugby?

A.They differ in the shape of the ball

B.They are played by different numbers of players

C.They both can be handled

D.They both can be kicked

3.From the second and the third paragraph, we know that_____.

A.Americans love football most of all

B.British people love rugby most of all

C.Americans and British people may call the same thing differently

D.football originated in Britain in the 18th century

 

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