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

 

Jack was a heavy smoker. His mother didn't like him smoking，and 1. ________

he couldn't give it up. At about 9 o'clock in one evening, Jack was seen      2. ________

smoking in the living-room again. “Don't smoke in the living-room,         3. ________

Jack!”said his mother in an unhappy voice. Heared this，Jack went         4. ________

back his own room and shut the door. While he was sitting in bed,          5. ________

he couldn't help smoke again. About an hour later，Jack's mother           6. ________

smell heavy smoke. She got up and opened Jack's bedroom. Good heavens!   7. ________

Jack's quilt was burning while he was sleep！ She quickly got some        8. ________

water and put up the fire. Jack was given a good lesson.“I'll give up         9. ________

smoking from now on, Mum.”Jack said in low but determined voice.       10. ________

With everything she owned ______ in the fire, the woman had to turn to the local government for relief.

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

 

There was no ______of controlling it once the fire began to spread.

A．choice            B．possibility          C．opportunity        D．idea

 

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）．