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       One of the first things you will notice about Britain is that they drive on the left,and the steering wheel ( 方向盘) is on the right. This causes a strange feeling,but driving on the left is not as unusual as you might think; about a quarter of the countries in the world drive on the left. Most of them are former British colonies(殖民地) like Australia,South Africa,and Ireland,but Thailand,Japan and Indonesia also do so. This driving habit is strange to US,but there is a perfectly good reason for it: up until the late eighteenth century,everybody ?avelled on the left-hand side of the road because it was the best way for mostly right-handed people to protect themselves in violent societies. So when strangers passed on the road,they walked on the left to make sure that their sword (剑) arm was between them.

        After the French Revolution in 1789,howfever,the French government changed sides as part of a great social reorganisation. Later,Napoleon,the ruler of France,spread the change to the rest of Continental Europe. He did this because he was left-handed himself,and he wanted his armies to march on the right so that he could keep his left arm between himself and any enemy. From then on,any part of the world which became part of the British Empire marched on the left,and any part controlled by the French marched on the right.

After the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) , the US became independent and decided to make traffic drive on the right in order to cut its ties with Britain. Once America be.came the centre of the car industry,if you wanted a good car,you bought an American-made right-hand drive vehicle. From then on many countries changed out of necessity.

    Today,the EU would like Britain to be the same as the rest of Europe,but this is no longer possible. It would cost billions of pounds to change everything round. The last European country to convert to driving on the right was Sweden in 1967,but there were far fewer cars there,and the population was much smaller.

6. Why did people travel on the left before the late 18th century?

   A. They could be safer from attacks.

   B. The governments required them to do so.

    C. There were more left-handed people back then.

   D. They could prevent strangers passing by their left side.

7. What was Napoleon's attitude to walking on the left? 

     A.He was againstit

   B. He paid no attention to it.

   C.He couldn't understand it.

   D. He was uncertain about it.

8. For Americans,driving on the right was a way to show.

   A. the connection with France was broken

   B. die American Revolutionary War had ended

   C. America was the centre of the car industry   

   D. the US was no longer controlled by the UK

9. The underlined phrase “convert to” in the last

paragraph means .

   A. insist on      B. give up

   C. change into    D. disagree with

10. What would be the best title for the text?

   A. How did France influence Europe?

   B. How did Europeans travel on the road?

    C. Why do British people drive on the left?

   D. Why does the US make right-hand drive cars?

      In Britain,many theatres put on shows for children at Christmas and many theatres have a theatre-in-education team working there. This team,made up of actors and teachers,writes plays for children,usually performing them in schools. They do different plays for different age groups and the children often take part in the play in some way.

     Pantomime is a special kind of Christmas show for children. It is loved by people and also allows the audience (观众) to join in. Panto-mime” was the name of the Roman actor \yho performed shows without speaking —this is where the English word “mime” comes from.

    A pantomime is always based on a well-known children's story. But there ays certain types of characters in the show and certain situations and events. For example,a pantomime must always include a hero,known as the “principal boy” and this principal boy is always played by a pretty girl wearing a short cosfume (服装) .Then there is the cpmic older woman,known as the “dame” who is played by a man. There is always a group of men and women who sing and dance and often there is a pantomime horse. The I horse is played by two men who form the u frontj and “back” ends inside a “horse” costume. It is fUnny and it usually kicks the dame when she isn,looking.

       Members of the audience have to shout a warning to one of the characters and argue with the character (usually the dame) when she does not believe them. When she shouts, "Oh no,it isn’t,” the audience always responds with “Oh ; yes,it is!?, The audience also learns and sings a i simple song and a few children are sometimes invited to help one of the characters during the show.

29. The theatre-in-education teams .

   A. are made up of famous local actors

   B. write plays for the same age group

   C. often give plays in their own theatres

   D. usually allow children to join in a play

30. According to the text,a pantomime .

   A. is designed to make people laugh I

   B. is made up of three characters

   C. is especially popular with grown-ups 

   D. can be watched all year round in Britain

31. When the dame says, “Yes,it is”,the audience I

should .

   A. follow her and sing 

   B. stand up and dance 

   C. repeat what she says 

   D. disagree with her loudly 

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