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阅读理解。 |
| [1] Queuing, warm beer and afternoon tea-what do they have in common? They are all part of British life. Or so I thought. However, the ability to queue for long periods of time, once believed to be a typical traditional characteristic of the British, is no longer tolerated by people in the UK, according to a survey done by the Payments Council. It would seem they are no longer prepared to wait in line. [2] Once upon a time, queuing was seen as normal. During the second World War, everyone had to queue up to receive their daily ration (配给) of foods. In fact, if you didn't stand up and wait in line with all the others, it was uncivilized (不文明).The famous English double-decker buses, with only one entrance, might also help explain why queuing was seen as a part of life. Almost always, there is a queue to get on. [3] But perhaps the British are tired of being pushed by the Spanish, the Italians or the French as they queue up to get a table at a restaurant. The people of these other European countries have more than one entrance to their buses, which could explain their more relaxed attitude to the queue. [4] Two minutes is now the longest time most British are prepared to stand and wait. But could it be that the Internet, which allows us to carry out tasks quickly, is the main reason why British people are no longer prepared to queue? As the Internet has become more popular among shoppers, impatience with queuing has increased. [5] "Used to buying without delay, customers are even abandoning purchases rather than wait their turn," says Stuart Neal of Barclaycard. "Shoppers are also less likely to queue for longer if the item they are buying is of low value." Perhaps I will have to replace "queuing" with"impatience" in my list of things I associate with the British. |
| 1. What is the main idea of the text? (no more than 8 words) _______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Which of the fol1owing can be replaced by the following one? In the past queuing was thought to be a traditional feature of the British, but now they can't stand it any more. _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 2 with proper phrases.(no more than 4 words) _______________________________________________________________________________ 4. Why do British people tend not to queue any longer? (no more than l5 words) _______________________________________________________________________________ 5. Translate the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5 into Chinese. _______________________________________________________________________________ |