The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts has found. Researchers have studied each of her messages to the Commonwealth countries since 1952 to find out the change in her pronunciation from the noble Upper Received to the Standard Received.

Jonathan Harrington, a professor at Germany’s University of Munich, wanted to discover whether accent changes recorded over the past half century would take place within one person. “As far as I know, there just is nobody else for whom there is this sort of broadcast records,” he said.

  He said the noble way of pronouncing vowels (元音) had gradually lost ground as the noble upper-class accent over the past years. “Her accent sounds slightly less noble than it did 50 years ago. But these are very, very small and slow changes that we don’t notice from year to year.”

 “We may be able to relate it to changes in the social classes,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. “In 1952 she would have been heard saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. Similarly, she would have spoken of ‘the citay’ and ‘dutay’, rather than ‘citee’ and ‘dutee’, and ‘hame’ rather than ‘home’. In the 1950s she would have been ‘lorst’, but by the 1970s ‘lost’.”

The Queen’s broadcast is a personal message to the Commonwealth countries. Each  Christmas, the 10-minute broadcast is put on TV at 3 pm in Britain as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch (传统火鸡午餐).

    The results were published (发表) in the Journal of Phonetics.

What is the text mainly about?

A. The relationship between accents and social classes.

B. The Queen’s Christmas speeches on TV.

C. The changes in a person’s accent.

D. The recent development of the English language.

The Queen’s broadcasts were chosen for the study mainly because ______.

A. she has been Queen for many years

B. she has a less upper-class accent now

C. her speeches are familiar to many people

D. her speeches have been recorded for 50 years

Which of the following is an example of a less noble accent in English?

A. “dutay”　　　　　B. “citee”　　　　　      C. “hame”　　　　　D. “lorst”

We may infer from the text that the Journal of Phonetics is a magazine on ______.

A. speech sounds         　　　　　　  B. Christmas customs

C. TV broadcasting       　　　　　      D. personal messages

Back in my country, when I was a child, I used to go to “market day” with my mother. One day each week, farmers used to ___1___ their fruit and vegetables into the city. They ___2___ one street to all cars, and the farmers set up tables for their ___3___. This outdoor market was a great place to ___4___. Everything was fresher than produce in grocery stores because the farmers brought it in ___5___ after the harvest. My mother and I always got there early in the morning to get the ___6___ produce.

The outdoor market was a wonderful adventure for a small child, ___7___ was like a festival — full of colors and ___8___. There are red tomatoes, yellow lemons, green lettuce, peppers, grapes, onions. The farmers did their own ___9___. They all shouted loudly for ___10___ to buy their produce. “Come and buy my beautiful oranges! They’re juicy and delicious and full of vitamins to ___11___ your children healthy and strong!”

Everyone used to ___12___ with the farmers over the ___13___ of their produce. It was like a wonderful drama in a theatre; the buyers and sellers were the “___14___” in this drama. My mother was an ___15___ at this. First, she picked the freshest, most attractive tomatoes, for example. Then she asked the price. The seller told her.

“What?” she said. She looked very surprised. “ So ___16___?”

The seller looked terribly ___17___. “My dear lady!” he replied. “I’m a poor, ___18___ farmer. These are the cheapest tomatoes on the market!”

They always argued for several minutes before agreeing ___19___ a price. My mother took her tomatoes and left. Both buyer and seller were ___20___. The drama was over.

1. A. carry      B. take　      C. bring D. fetch

2. A. opened　       B. closed　　      C. started　　 D. stopped

3. A. produce　     B. goods　　  C. food　　   D. product

4. A. buy B. sell　　   C. bargain　　     D. shop

5. A. hurriedly       B. immediately      C. directly      D. straightly

6. A. best　　 B. finest　　  C. freshest      D. cheapest

7. A. who　    B. that　　　      C. which　　 D. what

8. A. voices    B. noises　　       C. sounds　　       D. accent

9. A. shopping       B. business　  C. shouting　 D. advertising

10. A. customers    B. producers　     C. themselves  D. sellers

11. A. keep            B. let　　     C. expect D. make

12. A. argue    B. talk　　　      C. discuss　　       D. speak

13. A. order    B. price　　　      C. quality　　       D. form

14. A. viewers B. listeners　  C. actors  D. directors

15. A. actress　      B. inventor　  C. advancer　 D. expert

16. A. wonderful    B. exciting      C. cheap　　　     D. expensive

17. A. injured　     B. hurt　　  C. damaged　 D. wounded

18. A. excellent      B. fair　　　 C. honest　　 D. easy

19. A. with     B. to　　　    C. in　　　　       D. on

20. A. disappointed　    B. encouraged C. satisfied　　　 D. tired 

The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts has found. Researchers have studied each of her messages to the Commonwealth countries since 1952 to find out the change in her pronunciation from the noble Upper Received to the Standard Received.
Jonathan Harrington, a professor at Germany’s University of Munich, wanted to discover whether accent changes recorded over the past half century would take place within one person. “As far as I know, there just is nobody else for whom there is this sort of broadcast records,” he said.
He said the noble way of pronouncing vowels (元音) had gradually lost ground as the noble upper-class accent over the past years. “Her accent sounds slightly less noble than it did 50 years ago. But these are very, very small and slow changes that we don’t notice from year to year.”
“We may be able to relate it to changes in the social classes,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. “In 1952 she would have been heard saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. Similarly, she would have spoken of ‘the citay’ and ‘dutay’, rather than ‘citee’ and ‘dutee’, and ‘hame’ rather than ‘home’. In the 1950s she would have been ‘lorst’, but by the 1970s ‘lost’.”
The Queen’s broadcast is a personal message to the Commonwealth countries. Each  Christmas, the 10-minute broadcast is put on TV at 3 pm in Britain as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch (传统火鸡午餐).
The results were published (发表) in the Journal of Phonetics.
【小题1】What is the text mainly about?