British people have the worst quality of life in Europe, according to a report which highlights （强调) the long hours, bad weather, low life expectancy and high price of many goods.
In a study of ten of the largest European countries, Britain, which was considered a popular country to live in, now comes last followed by Ireland, with France and Spain topping the table.
Though British families enjoy the highest income in Europe, they still have to fight with a high cost of living, with fuel, food and alcohol all costing more than the European average.
With the high price of petrol, the UK is the second most expensive country in Europe. However, diesel (柴油) is more expensive in the UK than anywhere else in Europe.
The report by the website uSwitch analyses 10 European countries against 17 different benchmarks(基准点), from the price of gas, electricity, fuel, food and drink to the money each country spends on education, health to working conditions and the weather.
The top three countries are France, Spain and Denmark, with Sweden, Ireland and Britain coming eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.
The study comes less than a week after the United Nations moved Britain out of the top 20 list of most desirable countries to live in for the first time.
Although France and Germany were at the beginning hit hard by the global financial crisis, both have officially got out of the trouble, while Britain has yet to prove this has happened. Later this week, despite (尽管) signs of recovery in the housing market and rising sales, unemployment is still expected to have climbed to above 2.5 million for the first time since 1994.
【小题1】Which country has the best quality of life in Europe according to the report?

Have you heard ____ news? The price of ____ petrol is going up again.

Have you heard ______ news？The piece of _______ petrol is going up again!

A. the, the        B. 不填，the       C. the, 不填        D. 不填，不填

The oil resources which are left will not last very long. This means that all vehicles such as cars, trains, buses, planes and ships that need oil to work will not be able to run. So it will be necessary to develop a new system of transport which uses a fuel more than oil. Electric vehicles are one possibility. In Britain, most families have at least one car and this car is used every day. It could be that only one person in the family drives the car to work or for shopping. The number of cars on the road which are almost empty perhaps helps to explain why the oil is used up so quickly. The family car is a very useful form of transport but it is also a great waste of energy, especially if it is compared with buses or trains. Much petrol is used by a car which is traveling at 120 kilometers an hour. Clearly, it would be better if there were fewer cars on the road and more speed limits so that the oil which is left will last as long as possible.
About 25% of Britain’s total consumption of energy is domestic—it is used only in the home. Just over 20% is used for transport. Most of the energy is used in industry. It is difficult to suggest any possible energy conservation in industry because many of the suggestions would mean that some people would lose their jobs. It is important that industry produces the same amount of products using the same amount of workers.
Obviously, conservation is not going to be the answer to the energy crisis（危机）. The most it can do is to give more time for a better solution to be found. The more time which is available for new sources of energy to be developed, the better it is because there is still a lot of work to be done in order to find suitable, safe methods of producing energy.
【小题1】In Britain, what reason could help to explain why oil is used up very quickly?

British people have the worst quality of life in Europe, according to a report which highlights （强调) the long hours, bad weather, low life expectancy and high price of many goods.

In a study of ten of the largest European countries, Britain, which was considered a popular country to live in, now comes last followed by Ireland, with France and Spain topping the table.

Though British families enjoy the highest income in Europe, they still have to fight with a high cost of living, with fuel, food and alcohol all costing more than the European average.

With the high price of petrol, the UK is the second most expensive country in Europe. However, diesel (柴油) is more expensive in the UK than anywhere else in Europe.

The report by the website uSwitch analyses 10 European countries against 17 different benchmarks(基准点), from the price of gas, electricity, fuel, food and drink to the money each country spends on education, health to working conditions and the weather.

The top three countries are France, Spain and Denmark, with Sweden, Ireland and Britain coming eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.

The study comes less than a week after the United Nations moved Britain out of the top 20 list of most desirable countries to live in for the first time.

Although France and Germany were at the beginning hit hard by the global financial crisis, both have officially got out of the trouble, while Britain has yet to prove this has happened. Later this week, despite (尽管) signs of recovery in the housing market and rising sales, unemployment is still expected to have climbed to above 2.5 million for the first time since 1994.

1.Which country has the best quality of life in Europe according to the report?

 A. Ireland.        B. France.         C. Sweden.         D. Denmark

2.Which is TRUE according to the passage?

A. British families are suffering from the high cost of living.  

B. The report comes after the website uSwitch analysed 10 Asian countries.

C. The price of petrol is higher in Britain than anywhere else in Europe.

D. The quality of British life is reported to be terrible because of the bad working conditions.

3.The underlined word “desirable” probably means           .

A. terrible      B. attractive         C. expensive       D. different

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. Britain is still struggling to get out of the global financial crisis.

B. Unemployment in Britain is expected to go down soon.

C. Recovery in the housing market leads to unemployment in Britain.

D. Britain has recovered from the crisis together with France and Germany.