The royal family is a part of British history and cultural identity.
Up until the 17th century, people believed that the British king or queen had a “divine(天赐的)right” to rule. This was the idea that God chose the king or queen and that he or she was therefore above the law. However, this idea was challenged during the English Civil War, when King Charles the First was put in prison and then killed in 1649.
So what role does the British royal family have today?
The Queen is head of the UK and the Commonwealth. She has important formal duties that go with her different titles. As Head of State, for example, she represents the UK on visits abroad and invites other world leaders to visit the UK；as Head of the Armed Forces in name, only she can declare when the UK is at war or when a war is over. She has to sign many government and Commonwealth documents every day.
Although the royal family does the work for the UK, there are British people called“anti-monarchists(反君主制者)”who do not believe there should be a royal family. One criticism(批评意见)is that the British people should not have to pay for the royal family with their taxes(税).
Today, the royal family works hard to be relevant(相关的)in the modern world. The Queen still gives a speech to the nation on television at Christmas, but it gets less and less formal every year；now it is even available as a podcast(播客).
In 2005, after graduating from university, Prince William spent time teaching English in Uruguay, the sort of work many ordinary young British people do in their gap years.
【小题1】What can be concluded from the first two paragraphs?

Father Maurice Chase used a special way to celebrate his 90th birthday. The Catholic priest（神父） took $ 15,000 in cash to Los Angeles’ Skid Row (贫民区) and gave it away. Twenty wheelchair – bound people received $100 bills, while the rest received $1to $ 3 each．

“I come out here to tell them that God loves them and I love them and that some one is concerned about them,” Chase said．

Chase has given away cash and blessings every Sunday at the same corner for 24 years．Several hundred people wait for him every week．

He makes a point of coming on Thanksgiving and Christmas, too, but this is the first year he spent his birthday in the downtown neighborhood where people live mainly in shelters and on dirty sidewalks．

    “ It’s the place that makes me the happiest．I just love it,” said Chase. “I look forward to coming here.”

The money comes from donations he receives from rich and famous people he met during his work as assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University．

The crowd broke into choruses of “Happy Birthday” several times. Some people presented him birthday cards, to his delight．

Travis Kemp, a 51 – year – old disabled man with long black hair, was one of the lucky 20 to receive $ 100. He said he had no special plans for spending the money. “He has a lot of respect from me,” Kemp said. “I know I couldn’t do it.”

1.On his 90 th birthday, Chase       ．

    A．handed out cash to the needy

    B．collected money for poor people

    C．visited poor people’s homes with gifts

    D．held a party at Los Angeles’ Skid Row

2.Which of the following makes Chase feel the happiest?

    A．Celebrating his birthday with his neighbours．

    B．Working in Loyola Marymount University．

    C．Celebrating Christmas with the people he has helped．

    D．Going to Los Angeles’ Skid Row to help people there．

3.What’s the source of the money Chase used to help people?

    A．All his savings．

    B．His earnings as a Catholic priest．

    C．Donations from the wealthy and celebrities(名人)．

    D．Donations from Loyola Marymount University．

4.Travis Kemp is mentioned in the text to show ．

    A．he was the luckiest person on that day

    B．the disabled need to be taken care of

    C．Chase is greatly appreciated by the needy

    D．even old people came to celebrate Chase’s birthday

5.Which statement is CORRECT according to the passage?

    A．Every recipient could get $100 in cash from Father Maurice Chase．

    B．Father Maurice Chase gave the cash away not only on his birthday but also on other occasions．

    C．Although Father Maurice Chase gave the cash away on his birthday, he didn’t receive anything in return．

    D．Father Maurice Chase earned a lot of money as assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University．

Over three million people will do their Christmas shopping entirely online this year without once visiting an actual shop, a poll (民意调查) has found. Overcrowding and long queues in shops are forcing people away from the high street as the hassle (烦扰) of Christmas shopping becomes too much.

The number of people turning their backs on the high street is almost one million higher than it was last year, according to the poll by YouGov. Last Christmas 2.4 million shoppers did not do any of their shopping in actual shops. The figure this year is predicted to be around 3.4 million, equal to around 7 percent of the adult population.

Over a third of people said that the main turn-off about shopping on the high street is 0ver-crow-ding. Meanwhile almost a quarter said that long queues at the cheek-out are the worst thing about it.

Of the 2.065 people pored, even those who are stir taking to the shops plan to spend less time in them this Christmas. Around 31 percent of shoppers who plan to spend at least some time on the high street will spend less than half of their shopping time in actual shops, using the rest of the time to shop remotely via the internet. This compares to 28 percent of people last year. Meanwhile the proportion of people spending over half of their shopping time in high street shops has dropped from 41 percent last year to 39 percent this year. Just 2 percent of people said that they are looking forward to dealing wi.th store staff this festival season.

Guy Boxall, senior product marketing manager at Casio Business Solutions Division, which commissioned the research from YouGov, said that despite the fall in people visiting the high street,humans are "social creatures" who actually like spending time together.

"Although the high street is facing a big challenge Christmas, retailers (零售商) should see this research as a challenge to improve the in-store shopping experience, rather than the nail in the coffin. We are social creatures, and the desire to spend time with each other, particularly at Christmas, is never going to go away," said Mr. Boxall.

1.According to the poll, in this year's Christmas       

A．about 7 % of the population will do both online and actual shopping

B．about 31% of shoppers will do half of their shopping in actual shops

C．about 39% of shoppers will do more than half of their shopping in actual shops

D．over three million shoppers will quit actual shopping just because of the long queues

2.What's the meaning of "turn-off" in Para.5?

A．Something that makes people lose heart

B．Something that makes people lose face

C．Something that makes people lose interest

D．Something that makes people lose courage

3.It can be inferred from Mr. Boxall's words that                                                                                                   

A．retailers should reduce their in-store goods.

B．retailers wiR be pessimistic about the result of this research.

C．retailers should focus on the advantage of in-store shopping.

D．retailers will make more profits this Christmas than last Christmas

4.Wheat's the writer's attitude towards Christmas online shopping?

A．Concerned.        B．Doubtful.          C．Approving.        D．Objective.

The royal family is a part of British history and cultural identity.

Up until the 17th century, people believed that the British king or queen had a “divine(天赐的)right” to rule. This was the idea that God chose the king or queen and that he or she was therefore above the law. However, this idea was challenged during the English Civil War, when King Charles the First was put in prison and then killed in 1649.

So what role does the British royal family have today?

The Queen is head of the UK and the Commonwealth. She has important formal duties that go with her different titles. As Head of State, for example, she represents the UK on visits abroad and invites other world leaders to visit the UK；as Head of the Armed Forces in name, only she can declare when the UK is at war or when a war is over. She has to sign many government and Commonwealth documents every day.

Although the royal family does the work for the UK, there are British people called“anti-monarchists(反君主制者)”who do not believe there should be a royal family. One criticism(批评意见)is that the British people should not have to pay for the royal family with their taxes(税).

Today, the royal family works hard to be relevant(相关的)in the modern world. The Queen still gives a speech to the nation on television at Christmas, but it gets less and less formal every year；now it is even available as a podcast(播客).

In 2005, after graduating from university, Prince William spent time teaching English in Uruguay, the sort of work many ordinary young British people do in their gap years.

1.What can be concluded from the first two paragraphs?

A．The British king or queen is considered above the law.

B．The English Revolution put an end to the British royal family in 1649.

C．The British king or queen is no longer believed to rule by divine right.

D．The royal family didn’t play an important role in Britain in the 17 th century.

2.Which of the following is among the formal duties of the Queen?

A．Traveling around the UK.

B．Declaring when the world is at war.

C．Inviting other leaders to have dinner with her.

D．Signing Commonwealth documents every day.

3.With the example of Prince William in the last paragraph, the author intends to show that         .

A．Prince William is very popular in the UK

B．the royal family is trying to connect better with ordinary people

C．Prince William has made an effort to win young people’s admiration

D．many young British people do voluntary work

4.It can be inferred from the passage that ___________.

A．the royal family doesn’t have to pay taxes

B．the British people are all in favor of the royal family

C．the British people can talk to the Queen through a podcast

D．the royal family attacks republicans through media and press