题目内容
Once I invited a group of friends round to my house, telling them that I was going to record their speech. I said I was interested in their regional accents, and that it would take only a few minutes. Thus, on one evening, three people turned up at my house and were shown into my front room. When they saw the room they were a bit alarmed, for it was laid out as a studio. In front of each easy chair there was a microphone at head height, with wires leading to a tape-recorder in the middle of the floor. I explained that all I wanted was for them to count from one to twenty. Then we could relax and have a drink.
I turned on the tape-recorder and each in turn seriously counted from one to twenty in their best accent. When it was over, I turned the tape-recorder off and brought round the drinks, and for the rest of the evening there was general cheerful conversation—interrupted only by the fact that I had to take a telephone call in another room, which unfortunately lasted some time.
Or at least that was how it would appear. For, of course, the microphones were not connected to the tape-recorder in the middle of the room at all but to another one, which was turning happily away in the kitchen. The participants, having seen the visible tape-recorder turned off, paid no more attention to the microphones which stayed in front of their chairs, only a few inches from their mouths, thus giving excellent sound quality. And my lengthy absence meant that I was able to obtain as natural a piece of conversation as it would be possible to find.
I should add, perhaps, that I did tell my friends what had happened to them, after the event was over, and gave them the choice of destroying the tape. None of them wanted to—though for some years afterwards it always seemed to be my round when it came to the buying of drinks. Linguistic research can be a very expensive business.
41. The writer asked his friends to count from one to twenty because _______.
A. he wanted to record the numbers for his research
B. he wanted to find out whether the tape recorder was working
C. he wanted to make his friends relax before real recording started
D. he wanted his friends to think that was all he wanted to record
42. Which of the following words can best describe the recording which the linguist managed to make?
A. controlled B. prepared C. natural D. artificial
43. The writer went into another room to ________.
A. get a natural recording of his friends’ conversation
B. stay away from too much drinking with his friends
C. bring a telephone into the front room D. answer a long distance phone call
44. The writer turned off the tape-recorder because _______.
A. he had to answer a phone call
B. he wanted his friends to enjoy some drinks
C. he thought the tape-recorder might bother his friends
D. he wanted to make his friends believe he had finished the recording
45. The writer sounds _______ in telling the story.
A. serious B. humorous C. honest D. excited
DCADB
First Frenchman: I once heard someone shout, "Look out," I put my head out of a window and a basin of water fell on me. It seems that "Look out" may mean "don‘t look out."
Second Frenchman: Once I was on a ship and heard the captain shout, "All hands on deck," I put my hands on the deck and someone walked on them.
Third Frenchman: I once visited an English friend early in the morning and the maid who came to the door and said, "He’s not up yet. Come back in half an hour," When I went again for him, she said, "He‘s not down yet."
"If he’s not up and he’s not down, where is he?" I asked.
She said, "He’s still in bed. When I say ‘He’s not up ’ I mean ‘he has not yet got up’. When I say ‘He’s not down ’ I mean ‘he has not yet come downstairs,’"
1."All hands on deck" means “ _______ ”.
A.All the sailors gather on deck |
B.Give your hands to me |
C.Put your right hand and left hand on deck |
D.Shake your hands with me |
2.When the maid said, “He’s not up yet.” She meant that _______ .
A.he has not grown up yet |
B.he has not yet got up |
C.he has not woke up yet |
D.he has not yet come upstairs |
3.When the third Frenchman went back, the English friend _______ .
A.was washing his face |
B.was having his breakfast |
C.was still in an upstairs room |
D.was reading a newspaper |
4.Which do you think is the best title for this article?
A.Three Frenchmen and their English Friends |
B.The English Language |
C.Three French Stories |
D.What a Language! |