For thousands of years, the most important two buildings in any British village have been the church and the pub. Traditionally, the church and the pub are at the heart of any village or town, where the people gather together to socialize and exchange news.

As a result, British pubs are often old and well preserved. Many of them have become historic sites. The most famous example is the pub in the city of Nottingham called “The Old Trip to Jerusalem”, which dates back to the year 1189 AD and is probably the oldest pub in England.

However, British pubs are not just for kings and queens; they welcome people from all classes and parts of society. On a cold night, the pub’s landlord or landlady can always find a warm place for you by the fire. There is always honest and hearty food and plenty of drink available at an affordable price.

That’s how things used to be. Things are beginning to change. It is said that the credit crunch(信贷紧缩) is causing 39 British pubs a week to go out of business. People do not have enough spare money to spend on beer. Recently, the UK government banned smoking in all pubs, and that may also have affected the number of customers going to pubs.

This decline is happening despite the fact that in 2005 the UK government started to allow pubs to stay open after 1l pm. Previously, with 1l pm as closing time, customers would have to drink quite quickly, meaning they sometimes got more drunk than they would if allowed to drink slowly. The British habit of drinking a lot very quickly is known as “binge drinking”, and it causes long-term health problems for people and problems with violent crime for communities.

In order to save their businesses, pubs are trying to change with the market. British pubs now offer something for everyone. A lot of pubs used to be “Working Men's Clubs”, meaning that women could not usually enter. Today, however, women can freely enter 99% of pubs without experiencing any problems. Perhaps things are changing for the better after all.

1.The passage mainly tells us something about ______.

A．the past and present of British pubs

B．the decline of British pubs

C．the long history of British pubs

D．the importance of British pubs

2.Which may not be the cause of the decline of British pubs?

A．The credit crunch.

B．The present closing time.

C．The ban of smoking.

D．Having no spare money.

3.We can infer from the passage that ______.

A．British people used to like drinking slowly

B．closing the pubs early will reduce social problems

C．binge drinking means drinking less beer

D．British government aims to discourage people from binge drinking

4.We can see from the last paragraph that the author _______.

A．is against the admission of too many women to the pubs

B．holds an optimistic attitude towards the British pubs

C．thinks that women in the pubs will cause less social problems

D．thinks that British pubs should offer everything you need

 

It was so cold that they kept the fire ________all night.

          A. to burn       B. burn      C. burning     D. burned

The Same Story, Different Reports

Belton and Canfield are two seashore towns, not far apart. Both towns have many hotels, and in summer the hotels are full of holiday- makers and other tourists(观光者).

Last August there was a fire at the Sea breeze Hotel in Belton. The next day, this news appeared on page two of the town’s newspaper, The Belton Post:

FIRE AT SEABREEZE

Late last night firemen hurried to the Sea breeze Hotel and quickly put out a small fire in a bedroom. The hotel manager said that a cigarette started the fire. We say again to all our visitors: “Please don’t smoke cigarettes in bed.” This was Belton’s first hotel fire for five years.

The Canfield Times gave the news in these words on page one.

ANOTHER BELDON HOTEL CATCHES FIRE

Last night Belton firemen arrived just too late to save clothing, bedclothes and some furniture at the Sea breeze Hotel. An angry holiday-maker said, “An electric lamp probably started the fire. The bedroom lamps are very old at some of these hotels. When I put my bedside light on, I heard a funny noise from the lamp.” We are glad to tell our readers that this sort of adventure does not happen in Canfield.

What are the facts, then? It is never easy to find out the exact truth about an accident. There was a fire at the Sea breeze Hotel last August: that is one fact. Do we know anything else? Yes—we know that firemen went to the hotel.

Now what do you think of the rest of the “news”?

Which of the following best gives the main idea of this text?

A. Belton and Canfield are both good places for tourists in summer.

B. A fire broke out one night in Sea breeze Hotel last summer.

C. It was not easy to find out exact truth from newspapers.

D. Two newspapers gave reports on the same matter.

Which of the following are probably facts?

a. The fire broke out in a bedroom at the hotel.

b. A cigarette started the fire.

c. An old lamp started the fire.

d. The fire broke out at night.

e. There has never been a fire in Canfield.

A. b and c      B. a and d

C. c and e       D. a and c

The Canfield Times used the headline (标题) like this in order to make its readers think _______.

A. hotels in Belton often catch fire

B. hotels in Belton don’t often catch fire

C. this was the second fire at the Sea breeze Hotel

D. Belton was a good place except that hotels there are not quite safe

The Canfield newspaper gave a report just the opposite to the Belton Post by saying that _______.

A. the bedroom lamps were very old at the Sea breeze Hotel

B. the bedroom lights made funny noise when the fire took place

C. the firemen failed to save clothing, bedclothes and other things

D. such accidents never happened in Canfield for the past 5 years

根据所给汉语，写出单词的正确形式

1.It is said that the first ___________(定居者) of this country are prisoners.

2.This is the ________(标准) textbook on the subject.

3.He gave a ________(生动的) account of his life as a fighter pilot.

4.The _______(焦点) of the news is earthquake happening in Sichuan.

5.If the fire-alarm goes, ________ (全体员工) should assemble outside the building.

 

单词拼写（共10小题；每小题1分,满分10分）

       根据下列句子及所给汉语注释，写出空缺处各单词的正确形式。（每空只写一词）

Sometimes ,some college students and even foreign friends are _____（出席）at the English corner．

Ladies and gentlemen, I have an _______（通知） to make．

A large number of  _______（音乐家）passed up the opportunity to perform．

The arrangement seems to have _________（使满意）everyone．

Travelling in the mountion, they ran into a pack of _______（狼）

The table _________（测量） 1．5 meters weighs 10 kilos．

The knife you lent me is ________（锋利） than expected．．

The experiment they devoted themselves to __________（成功） eventually．

They will do what they can to make __________（准备） to ensure a smooth sports meeting．

Immediate action must be taken to stop the fire __________（蔓延）．