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?

The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts had 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 (口音) changers 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 hears saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. 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.

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. “duaty”        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

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.

首先请阅读以下宠物的信息：
A. Not named yet: baby, female
It’s a small grey cat with long hair and deep blue eyes. It is very friendly and can get along well with dogs. I can’t keep it because I have too many pets, but I can’t just let it go outside. If you are looking for a cat, please let me know. And I will send it to you, but you’ll have to pay my travel fees.
B. Brooke: orange and white, young, female
She’s a shy cat and likes to be alone at first. Once she gets familiar with you, she is very sweet and loves to be in your lap and play with you. She also loves to talk. The owner shouldn’t be a smoker. For free.
C. Sammi Hammi: adult, male
Sammi Hammi, a blue and gold bird, is looking for his forever home. He loves dogs and likes to sing and dance. He will take your ear off while you cook! He loves delicious food and he is a great boy who loves attention. The new owner will have to pay an adoption fee and for his cage.
D. Buster: black and white, young, male
He will be the sweetest cat you will ever meet. He likes to play and gets along well with other pets. Anyone who gets this guy will love him! For free.
E. Zoey: American Bulldog, adult, female
My dog Zoey is three years old and is very outgoing. She loves the outdoors and she loves kids. She is good at looking after other dogs. She also likes being around people. I need to find her a good home. I would like someone with children and other dogs to take her. For free.
F. Rebel and Maverick: young, male
Both Rebel and Maverick will be 2 years old soon. They’re wonderful dogs, but I can no longer keep them for some reasons. They love children. A home with children would be the best. They also get along well with other animals. The most suitable place for them is a home with a yard because they love to be outside. 600 dollars.
阅读以下人员的信息，然后为他们选择合适的宠物：
【小题1】Alice and her 10-year-old twin sons live in a house with a big yard. She’s looking  for some pets to play with the boys. A pair of dogs is preferred. Money isn’t a problem.
【小题2】Tom, 63 years old, has no children. His wife died last year and he’s very lonely. He would like to have a pet that he can talk to. He used to be a cook and loves birds very much, but he doesn’t like cats.
【小题3】Bruce has a dog and he’s looking for another pet. It must be male and be able to get along well with his dog. Also, the pet has to be free.
【小题4】Neil plans to find a female pet for his daughter. She loves orange and white cats. There are no smokers in the family. Free pets are preferred.
【小题5】Max is looking for an adult dog to join his family. He has 3 children and two baby dogs. He hopes the new pet can help look after the baby dogs and play with his children.

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.

1.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 have been recorded for 50 years

D. her speeches are familiar to many people

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

A. “Dutay”.                  B.  “Hame”.                C. “Citee”. D. “Lorst”.

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

A. Christmas customs                                                        B. speech sounds

C.TV broadcasting                                                   D. personal messages

4.What is the text mainly about?

A. The changes in a person’s accent.

B. The Queen’s Christmas speeches on TV.

C. The relationship between accents and social classes.

D. The recent development of the English language.

Brenda Bongos was a happy, artistic girl. She had one big ambition—to play the drums in a band. But one big problem lay in her way. To be good enough to play in a band, Brenda had to practice a lot, but she lived next-door to a lot of old people. Many of them are sick. She knew that the sound of beating drums would really get on their nerves. So, she had tried playing in the strangest places: a basement, a kitchen, and even in a shower. But there was always someone it would annoy.

    One day, while watching a science documentary on TV, she heard that sound cannot travel in space, because there's no air. At that moment, Brenda Bongos decided to become a sort of musical astronaut.

    With the help of a lot of time, books and work, Brenda built a space bubble. This was a big glass ball connected to a machine which sucked out all the air inside. All that would be left inside was a drum kit（成套设备） and a chair. Brenda got into the space suit she had made, entered the bubble, turned on the machine, and played those drums like a wild child.

    It wasn't long before Brenda Bongos came very famous. Many people came to see her play in her space bubble. Shortly afterwards she came out of the bubble and started giving concerts. Her fame spread so much that the government suggested that she be part of a unique space journey. Finally, Brenda was a real musical astronaut, and had gone far beyond her first ambition of playing drums in a band.

    Years later, when asked how she had achieved all this, she thought for a moment, and said: ''If those old people next – door hadn't mattered so much to me, I wouldn't have found a solution, and none of this would have ever happened.''

1.Why did Brenda try to play in the strangest places?

A. Because she didn't want others to hear her play

B. Because she didn't mean to disturb others.

C. Because she didn't have her own room

D. Because she didn’t like her neighbors.

2.Brenda started to give concerts _______.

A. after she practiced in her space bubble

B. when she became part of the unique space journey

C. after she became a real musical astronaut

D. when people came to see her in the space bubble

3.Brenda became famous because _______.

A. she was good at music and science

B. she became a real musical astronaut

C. she invented a special way of practice

D. she played well and had a talent

4.Which of the following can be used to describe Brenda?

A. Kind, hardworking and clever

B. Brave, kind and hardworking.

C. Lovely, brave and kind

D. Nervous, kind and clever.

5.It can be inferred from the text that: " _______".

A. He laughs best who laughs last

B. It's never too old to learn

C. Two heads are better than one

D. One good turn deserves another