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.

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。

注意：请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。每个空格只填1个单词。

The changing food of early humans

Some people believe that greed and selfishness has become the basis of modern society, and we should return to the old traditions of family and community then we will have a better life. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above opinion?

In this fast-paced world, many values are undergoing major changes. While people traditionally prioritize caring, sharing and generosity in life and work, modern people seem to be more self-absorbed and self-concerned.

Modern people act selfishly to survive the harsh competition of life. They say that it is a jungle out there. To survive, you have to fight with whatever means that come handy. Obviously greedy and selfishness go perfectly well with such ideas. In a company, employees do everything they can to get better pay and higher position, even at the cost of colleagues. We are in any way advocating any selfish conduct. It is just that people are pressured to act in a certain way due to outside influences.

In spite of common practice, it is hard to conclude that modern society is built on greed and selfishness, both of which are not newly invented vocabulary. In ancient times people also did greedy and selfish things though such behaviors were more condemned then. But we can not ignore the fact that people in the past lived a relatively more isolated life and faced less pressure compared with their modern counterparts.

Are we happier to share with others and be generous to them? There is no fixed answer either. Some people take great pleasure helping and giving to others while others feel happy doing the opposite. But I personally think that people should not be too selfish. Caring for others can actually encourage the development of a mutually beneficial relationship.

In conclusion, modern people appear to be more self-centered than those in the past due to strong outside pressure. However, we should encourage people to know the importance of being caring and generous and to build a mutually beneficial relationship with others.

Are Modern People Becoming More Selfish? Ks5u

某英文报举办“家乡的变化”主题征文活动。请你根据下表提示，以“The Changes in My Hometown”为题，用英语写一篇90字左右的短文。

注意：1.文中不得出现具体的地名，否则扣分。

2.标题和开头已给出，不计入总词数。

3.生词：环境 environment; 污染 pollution;方便 convenient

The Changes in My Hometown

In the past, my hometown was very small.                                                    

It’s very easy to see why people have bad attitudes. A quick look at the news revealing _21___ with crime, war and corruption (腐败) can easily bring us down. Is it possible to _22__ a healthy, happy attitude when surrounded by these negative things?

   Sure it is! It is possible to wake up each morning with a good mood and _23__ the day. Having a positive _24__not only allows us to enjoy life more but also _25__ our health and relationships with others.

   To lead a happy life, we need to have a positive attitude. We are responsible for our own _26__; other people can’t make us happy. We need to decide to make ourselves happy. This is wonderful because we don’t have to wait around for someone else to do it for us.

   We should surround ourselves with __27_ people. We are influenced by those people with whom we spend the most time. When we have positive friends, we become positive. Otherwise, we become _28__.

   We should also use positive_29__. A. L. Kitselman once said, “‘I am…’ are powerful words; be careful when you use them.” We need to replace our negative self-talk with positive words. Don’t say “I hate getting up in the morning.” Instead, try to say “I am _30__to see a new day.” Changing our self-talk will lead us to the changes in our behavior.

21. A. affairs          B. questions       C. troubles         D. problems               

22. A. change          B. refuse          C. keep           D. invent

23. A. look forward to         B. look down on    C. look up to       D. look back on

24. A. opinion         B. attitude       C. influence         D. answer

25. A. damages         B. improves        C. affects        D. weakens

26. A. satisfaction       B. decision        C. happiness       D. development

27. A. positive         B. friendly        C. easy-going        D. good-mannered

28. A. anxious         B. nervous        C. satisfied        D. negative

29. A. writings         B. pictures        C. expressions      D. signs

30. A. painful          B. bored         C. thankful              D. surprised

Some people believe that greed and selfishness has become the basis of modern society, and we should return to the old traditions of family and community, then we will have a better life. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above opinion?
In this fast-paced world, many values are undergoing major changes. While people traditionally prioritize caring, sharing and generosity in life and work, modern people seem to be more self-absorbed and self-concerned.
Modern people act selfishly to survive the harsh competition of life. They say that it is a jungle out there. To survive, you have to fight with whatever means that come handy. Obviously greed and selfishness go perfectly well with such ideas. In a company, employees do everything they can to get better pay and higher position, even at the cost of colleagues. We are in any way advocating（拥护）any selfish conduct. It is just that people are pressured to behave in a different way due to outside influences.
Are we happier to share with others and be generous to them? There is no fixed answer, either. Some people take great pleasure helping and giving to others while others feel happy doing the opposite. But I personally think that people should not be too selfish. Caring for others can actually encourage the development of a friendly relationship.
In conclusion, modern people appear to be more self-centered than those in the past due to strong outside pressure. However, we should encourage people to know the importance of being caring and generous and to build a friendly relationship with others.
Are modern people becoming more selfish?