自考专业(英语)英语阅读（一）专家预测过关卷2
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  1、Queen Elizabeth IIs pronunciation of English has been infected by her subjects. Aussie scientists say. 
Phoneticists from Sydneys Macquarie University studied archive recordings of the Queens annual Christmas message to the Commonwealth from the 1950s to 1980s, analyzing her Majestys towels.  They then compared those vowels with the standard accent of southern England, as used by female British broadcasters on the BBC in the 1980s, to see how the royal accent had changed.  Their conclusion: the cut-glass speech of the early years of the Queens reign has become—how shall we say—somewhat commoner over the years.
That in itself subtly mirrors the changes is Britain, from a country with a rigid social hierarchy four decades ago to one where class differences have blurred and in some areas disappeared.
The Queens pronunciation of some vowels has been influenced by the standard southern -British accent of the 1980s which is more typically associated with speakers who are younger and lower in the social hierarchy, the researchers say.
Standard speech in southern England has been influenced by Cockneys, whose accent was initiated by Dick Van Dyke in the Walt Disney movie Mary Poppins.  Purists will be reassured that the Queens Hice (house) of  Windsor will not become the Ouse of Windsor (by dropping theh) in the foreseeable future.  However, there have been changes in .10 out of the 11 vowel sounds in the standard English.
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These changes bring her speech closer to that of her Cockney subjects,the researchers found.  An example of this is the way in which she pronounces had. In the 1950s, the royal pronunciation of this word almost rhymed with bed. But 30 years later, it had migrated halfway to the standard southern English pronunciation, which rhymes had with bad.  The Australian team say the pronunciation of all languages alters subtly over time, mainly because of influence from the young, and it is foolish for anyone to try to prevent change. 
The chances of societies and academies successfully preserving a particular form. of pronunciation against the influence of community and social changes are unlikely, they say.  The research was published December 21 in Nature, the British science weekly.Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage? ( )
  A.The pronunciation of all languages changes Subtly over time.
  B.It is not always easy to preserve a particular form of pronunciation.
  C.The Queen's English has become commoner.
  D.Class differences have blurred and even disappeared.
  2、Who did the research into the Queen's pronunciation? (  )
  A．An Australian research group.
  B．Phoneticians from a British University.
  C．A British science weekly.
  D．The BBC broadcasters.
  3、The Queen's pronunciation of Some vowels has been influenced by (  )
  A．female British broadcasters on the BBC in the 1980s
  B．the social changes in Britain in the 1980s
  C．the standard speech in southern England
  D．her subjects in the Commonwealth countries
  4、By saying that the change in the Queen's English mirrors the social changes in Britain, the writer means . (  )
  A．the rigid social hierarchy 40 years ago has collapsed
  B．the Queen's accent has been influenced by the lower class
  C．the Queen's accent is associated with the younger speakers
  D．the social differences in Britain are no longer as distinct as before
  5、According to the passage, which of the following is not stated? (  )
  A．The researchers analyzed the Queen's vowels to see how the royal accent had changed.
  B．The researchers found that the Queen's accent is closer to that of her Cockney subjects.
  C．It is unlikely to preserve a particular accent against social changes and influence of community.
  D．The change in the pronunciation of a particular language is closely associated with the Royal speech.
  6、Who takes care of the elderly in the United States today? The fact is that family members provide over 80% of the care that elderly people need. In most cases the elderly live in their own homes, a very small percentage of Americas elderly live in nursing homes. 
Samuel Preston, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, studied how the American family is changing. He reported that by the time the average American couple reaches about 40 years of age,their parents are usually still alive. The statistics show the change in lifestyles and responsibilities of aging Americans. The average middle-aged couple can look forward to caring for elderly parents sometime after their own children have grown up. Moreover, because people today live longer after an illness than people did years ago, family members must provide long term care. These facts also mean that after caregivers provide for their elderly parents,who will eventually die, they will be old and may require care too. When they do, their spouses (配偶) will probably take care of them because they have had fewer children than their parents did.