Foreign visitors to the UK might be disappointed when they learn that not everyone there speaks like Harry Potter and his friends. Usually, there’s an assumption by many non-Brits that everyone in Britain speaks with what’s known as a Received Pronunciation (RP, 标准发音) accent, also called “the Queen’s English”. However, while many people do talk this way, most Britons speak in their own regional accents.
Scouse, Glaswegian and Black Country – from Liverpool, Glasgow and the West Midlands – are just three of the countless non-RP accents that British people speak with. There are even differences in accents between towns or cities just 30 kilometers apart. What is even more disappointing is that not speaking in a RP accent may mean a British person is judged and even treated differently in their everyday life.
In a 2015 study by The University of South Wales, videos of people reading a passage in three different UK accents were shown to a second group of people. The group then rated how intelligent they thought the readers sounded. The lowest-rated accent was Brummie, native to people from Birmingham, a city whose accent is considered working class.
However, there is no need to be disappointed though you are not speaking in an RP accent. In fact, doing the opposite may even give you strength.
Kong Seong-jae, 25, is an internet celebrity from Seoul. After studying in the UK, he picked up several regional accents. He’s now famous for his online videos, where he shows off the various accents he’s learned. “British people usually get really excited when I use some of their local dialect words, and they become much friendlier. I think it makes a bit of bond between local people and foreigners to speak in their local accent,” he said.
So if you’re working on perfecting your British accent, try to speak like someone from Liverpool, Glasgow or Birmingham. You may not sound like Harry Potter, but you are likely to make more friends.
1.What can we infer from paragraph 1?
A. Only “the queen’s English” is accepted in the UK.
B. Non-Brits usually hold that all Britons speak in a RP accent.
C. Foreign visitors are disappointed at their own spoken English.
D. Any Received Pronunciation around the world is also called “the Queen’s English”.
2.What do people think of the Brummie accent?
A. Closest to the RP accent. B. Spoken by people of lower class.
C. Smart and easy to understand. D. Favored by foreign visitors to the UK.
3.What does the underlined phrase “doing the opposite” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A. Speaking in regional accents. B. Speaking in a RP accent.
C. Speaking the Brummie accent. D. Speaking like Harry Potter.
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A. How much British people value the RP accent.
B. A comparison between different British accents.
C. The impact of regional accents on people’s lives.
D. A study about the most intelligent accent in Britain.
When school started on that warm August day, I threw myself into everything I did, including playing volleyball. I decided to become beautiful, or at the very least, skinny. I stopped eating completely. Soon I began losing weight, which thrilled me, and I even grew to love the tiredness and lightheadedness that came with my poor diet, for those feelings meant that I was winning.
As the season progressed, things had become tense between my head volleyball coach, Coach Smith, and me. She felt that something was wrong with my health. She talked with me about my eating and was angry that I wouldn’t listen to her when she tried to make me eat. She tried to persuade me in a determined way and so we fought constantly. Then my hunger started to affect my performance. I was so tired that practice and games were becoming a struggle. One afternoon, with hurt in her eyes, Coach Smith asked me what I had eaten and I told her nothing yet, but I was going to. She looked at me, disappointment in her eyes, knowing she couldn’t make me stop, and walked away.
A couple of weeks later I attended a formal dinner for our volleyball team. I stood there as my coach managed to say something nice about me. I realized then that I had ruined my senior year by being disrespectful, and I had probably ruined hers as well. So that evening I wrote her a letter apologizing and thanking her.
Then one Saturday, as I was reading in the library, I felt someone gently take my arm and say softly, “Lynn Jones, how are you doing?” I looked up and saw the familiar face. “Thanks for the letter,” she said. “It meant a lot.”
When I think of a coach, I think of someone above me, someone who gives instruction—not a friend. But Coach Smith is different, and, like any other good friend, she dealt with my problem in a determined way even when I hated her for it at that time. I didn’t deserve her kindness, but she gave it anyway. I will forever be grateful for her help, and now for her friendship.
1.How did the author feel when the author ate a poor diet and had a sense of tiredness?
A. Ashamed B. Proud
C. Funny D. Nervous
2.The author fought with Coach Smith because ______.
A. she refused to go on a diet B. she caused failure of her team
C. she changed the training course D. she kept her idea of losing weight
3.Why did the author write a letter to Coach Smith?
A. She felt sorry for eating too little food.
B. She decided to improve her performance.
C. She was grateful for Smith’s care for her health.
D. She wanted to build a close relationship with Smith.
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A. Unexpected Friendship B. A Fight with My Coach
C. A Strict Volleyball Coach D. My Way of Losing Weight
Last week, Donna Strickland was awarded the 2018 Nobel prize for physics jointly with Arthur Ashkin and Gérard Mourou. It’s the first time in 55 years that a woman has won this famous prize, but why has it taken so long? We look at five other pioneering female physicists — past and present — who actually deserve the prize.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Perhaps the most famous snub(冷落): then-student Bell discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967, when she was a PhD student at Cambridge. The Nobel prize that recognised this landmark discovery in 1974, however, went to her male supervisor, Antony Hewish. Recently awarded a £2.3m Breakthrough Prize, which she gave away to help under-represented students, she joked to the Guardian: “I feel I’ve done very well out of not getting a Nobel prize.”
Lene Hau
Hau is best known for leading the research team at Harvard University in 1999 that managed to slow a beam of light, before managing to stop it completely in 2001. Often topping Nobel prize prediction lists, could 2019 be Hau’s year?
Vera Rubin
Rubin discovered dark matter in the 1980s, opening up a new field of astronomy. She died in 2016, without recognition from the committee.
Chien-Shiung Wu
Wu’s “Wu experiment” helped disprove the “law of conservation of parity”. Her experimental work was helpful but never honoured, and instead, her male colleagues won the 1957 Nobel prize for their theoretical work behind the study.
Lise Meitner
Meitner led groundbreaking work on the discovery of nuclear fission. However, the discovery was acknowledged by the 1944 Nobel prize for chemistry, which was won by her male co-lead, Otto Hahn.
1.When was the discovery of radio pulsars recognized by the Nobel?
A. In 1944. B. In 1967. C. In 1974. D. In 1980.
2.Which woman is most likely to win a Nobel prize later according to the text?
A. Donna Strickland. B. Jocelyn Bell Burnell. C. Lene Hau. D. Vera Rubin.
3.What do we know about the five females?
A. The five female scientists did greatly in chemistry.
B. Vera Rubin had opened up a new field in geometry.
C. Lise Meitner’s teacher won a Noble prize for her work.
D. All their findings haven’t been recognized by the Nobel.
听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.What can students do in the Student Service building?
A. Get help with their personal problems.
B. Have a variety of classes.
C. Take a rest.
2.Where is the sports centre?
A. On the left of the library.
B. Next to the Department of Science.
C. To the right of the Student Service building.
3.What does the speaker say about the Cafeteria?
A. It has a wide range of food.
B. It offers stages for musicals and plays.
C. It is the most relaxing part of the schoolyard.
4.Which place is particularly for the overseas students?
A. The Engineering building.
B. The Main Education Centre.
C. The Information Technology building.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.What are the speakers mainly talking about?
A. What to do at night. B. When to get together. C. Whether to go to a party.
2.What will the woman do on Tuesday night?
A. See a film. B. Go back to Japan. C. Study for the final exam.
3.At what time will the last class party begin?
A. 6:30 p.m. B. 7:00 p.m. C. 8:00 p.m.
4.Why doesn’t the woman want to go to a disco with the man?
A. She thinks it too noisy. B. She won’t have time. C. She can’t dance well.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.Why is the woman calling the man?
A. To inform him of a talk. B. To invite him to give a talk. C. To confirm details of his talk.
2.Where will the talk be given?
A. In the hall. B. In the lecture theatre. C. In the conference room.
3.What equipment does the woman fail to offer?
A. Microphones. B. A whiteboard. C. A CD player.
