BBC - Comedy - Till Death Us Do Part
28 October 2014
Till Death Us Do PartTill Death Us Do PartTill Death gave us the world Alf Garnett and gave Britain a comedic way to understand the changes hitting it in the 1960s and 1970s. Seven series were produced from , and Alf Garnett became a legend.Garnett was a character whom both writer Johnny Speight and actor Warren Mitchell loathed. Racist, hating everything around him, his tirades are funny because they cannot be taken seriously.
By allowing a hideous bigot to express his bigotry, Speight made fun of those who feared change.
Garnett hates communists, as embodied by his layabout son-in-law. He can't stand women getting above themselves, and continually shouts his daughter (Una Stubbs) down.
Most episodes give Garnett something he'll hate – Labour, a Scouser for a son-in-law, scroungers – and let him run with it in a series of continual arguments.
Catchphrases like 'it stands to reason' became commonplace as Garnett exploded onto the screen in 1965 like Enoch Powell's Golem.
Most people got it – that he was everything wrong with the nation in one man. A few diehard racists never got it, and thought he was just telling it like it was, much to Speight's despair.
A master satirist perhaps writing too well at times, Speight had a genius for making punches count – such as when he appropriated Mary Whitehouse, who had spoken out against the show, and made Garnett a big fan.
At the time, although shocking, Garnett was taken to the heart of the nation and even Royal approval, featuring on Royal Command Performances.
The series ended after seven seasons in the 1975 – when the mindset that Speight had railed against was changing – did Till Death Do Us Part, and Alf Garnett, began to lose their power.
Till Death is a hard watch now, not because it's dated, but because Speight's venom, produced deliberately to channel his own issues over his bigoted father, is hard to take – and you have to ask why.
Perhaps we're just more sensitive to the language of hate now – but more likely, the rants are just as relevant in a world that's as bigoted as before, but just better at glossing over it.
If Speight were still around, he'd make somet a true satirist, he was more interested in making the right people feel uncomfortable than providing easy laughs.CastPaki-PaddyWarren MitchellAlf GarnettElsie 'Else' Garnett (pilot) Elsie 'Else' Garnett (pilot)Elsie 'Else' Garnett (pilot)Dandy NicholsElsie 'Else' GarnettUna StubbsRita GarnettAnthony BoothMikePatricia HayesMin ReedAlfie BassBert ReedJoan SimsGranJohn JunkinWallyHugh LloydWally CareyPat CoombsMrs CareyRoy Kinnearother roleCrewJohnny SpeightwriterDouglas ArgentdirectorDennis Main WilsonproducerRelated LinksAlso on BBC ComedyAlso on bbc.co.ukBeyond the BBCThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.Till death do us part: The forgotten US victims of forced marriage | Al Jazeera America
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Till death do us part: The forgotten US victims of forced marriage
How cultural misunderstanding and lack of legislation leave forced-marriage victims in shadows and at risk
Vidya Sri as she talks about her forced marriage. She asked Al Jazeera not to show her face. Sarah Fournier
This is part one of a four-part series. Click at right for the other parts.
Vidya Sri was a typical American teenager in the Queens borough of New York. She went to school, hung out with her friends and took dance classes. But all that changed when she was 18 and started dating her first real boyfriend, a sweet Irish Catholic boy.
That was in 1987. Alarmed that Sri was dating someone who wasn’t Indian, her father shipped her off to India to live with relatives. Nearly every day for four years, she was pressured to get married. It became a condition of her return to the United States. Finally, she gave in and married a man she did not know.
“I was introduced to him, and a week later we were married,” said Sri, now 44 and divorced.
The marriage was recognized by the U.S., and the couple moved to New York. But Sri didn’t love her husband, wasn’t attracted to him and said she felt as if they came from “two different planets.” Despite not wanting to consummate the marriage, Sri gave in to family pressure and had two children with her husband.
Sri was a victim of forced marriage, a practice in which women — and sometimes men — are forced to marry against their will. The , a national nonprofit organization that helps immigrant women and girls who have been abused, determined that there were as many as of forced marriage in the U.S. from 2009 to 2011.
That the numbers aren’t clear is part of the problem.
&“We hide. We hide very carefully,” said Sri, who now works at her own organization to help prevent forced marriages like hers. “This whole thing is so humiliating. It’s so shaming, all you really want to do is drop dead.”
It’s so shaming, all you really want to do is drop dead.
For those who might think that forced marriage isn’t much of an issue in the U.S., a host of organizations, scholars and victims beg to differ. A constellation of factors — from cultural misunderstandings to lack of legislation — keeps the issue in the shadows here, although activists are hoping that a growing awareness in Europe will bring changes in the U.S. as well.
, an advocacy organization founded by vocal women’s rights defender and often controversial critic of Islam , who escaped her own forced marriage in 1992, funded a recent survey of immigrant populations in New York conducted by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. The results show that the issue of forced marriage is very much alive and probably underdocumented.
“Forced marriage is only one variant of the honor violence that happens in these communities,” said Ric Curtis, a professor of anthropology at John Jay, who led the survey.
While forced marriage may sound like the concept of arranged marriage — with parents playing matchmaker for their children — the element of coercion when a marriage is forced often leaves women feeling “like slaves,” according to Tanya McLeod, senior campaign organizer at the
Organizing Project (VOW), an organization dedicating to providing help and resources to victims of domestic violence in New York.
Sri, who was forced to marry in India, now runs , a New Jersey–based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping victims of forced marriage find resources. She said the fact that the issue is often conflated with arranged marriage is a problem when protecting victims like her.
“They say forced marriage doesn’t happen (in the U.S.). You really mean arranged marriage,” she said. “But in my case, this was not an arranged marriage. There was violence. There was coercion. There was fraud.”
While Sri was not a victim of physical violence, she said that the “mental torture” from her father drove her to attempt suicide.
She is also a fellow at the
at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Her work aims to raise awareness about forced marriage all over the world. She recently
in which she outlines the dearth of resources for forced-marriage victims in the U.S.
Anthropologist Ric Curtis and his students at John Jay College of Criminal Justice did a survey on forced marriage among the populations most likely to experience it.Sarah Fournier
In June 2012 the United Kingdom announced it would criminalize forced marriage, following the lead of Norway, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Cyprus and Malta. In 2012 alone, the U.K. Forced Marriage Unit noted
related to possible forced marriage.
Curtis said that current research only scratches the surface of a problem he suspects is more widespread but largely hidden from public view.
His team interviewed 100 students at several City University of New York campuses, focusing on Middle Eastern, North African and Southeast Asian (MENASA) countries to try to determine how widespread forced marriage really is.
&According to the , of the people surveyed by John Jay, 88 claimed that they knew at least one person who did not want to get married but did. Of those, 31 said they knew three or more people forced into marriage.
&“All that we are seeing is the ugly tip of the iceberg, but how much more is there?” Curtis said.
&In 2013 the AHA Foundation helped 54 victims of forced marriage and honor violence, a 54 percent increase from the previous year. Through interim direct services, the foundation refers women seeking help to local social services, legal specialists and law-enforcement officers in their area who can offer protection.
All we’re seeing is the ugly tip of the iceberg, but how much more is there?
Ric Curtis, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Fraidy Reiss grew up in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and at 19 was married to a man after only a few brief interactions over three months.
“There is intense pressure not to reach the age 20 and still be single,” Reiss said. “Because that’s a death sentence. You don’t want to be the old maid at age 20.”
After she escaped her forced marriage, Reiss started Unchained at Last, an organization dedicated to helping victims of forced marriage escape. During her marriage, she faced death threats from her husband and eventually had to get a restraining order to protect herself and her two daughters.
Currently her organization, which she founded two years ago, is helping 70 women from communities ranging from traditional Jewish to MENASA in the New York–New Jersey area.
For Curtis, the fact that forced marriage falls outside the scope of New York and federal laws makes the issue hard to define and prosecute.
Among U.S. jurisdictions, only&nine — California, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, the Virgin Islands and Virginia — have legislation that could encompass forced marriage, according to the. New York has no forced-marriage law on the books. There is no federal law protecting victims.
“Here if you go to the police with a marital problem, the first thing they are going to do is arrest your husband,” Curtis said. “They are just not trained to deal with those kind of problems. They need to build some expertise around this issue.”
Chris Boughey is a detective from Peoria, Ariz., who has made it his mission to combat forced marriage and subsequent honor killings nationwide. According to Boughey, honor violence occurs when someone who is seen as defying her family’s culturally based expectations is harmed or threatened by relatives in order to protect the family’s social status and respectability.
In 2009, he and fellow Peoria detective Jeffrey Balson investigated the case of , a 20-year-old Arizona woman who was run over and killed by her father in order to, in her relatives’ eyes, protect her family’s honor.
Now, since dealing with Almaleki’s case, the two detectives have been brought on as law-enforcement liaisons by the AHA Foundation. Since joining forces with the group, Boughey and Balson get referrals to cases of forced marriage and honor violence nationwide. According to Boughey, law-enforcement officials often have no knowledge of the practice.
“I think law enforcement and social services don’t understand the notion of honor violence and/or forced marriage and they kind of check it off as a family problem that should be dealt with at the family level,” he said. “And that’s a huge mistake.”
Khalid Latif, imam and executive director at New York University’s , said that culture is often used as wrongful justification to force young Muslim girls to marry. For Latif, as a religious leader, this practice is morally incompatible with religious practices and mainly occurs because of precedents in communities.
&“When somebody is getting married against their will, that is where it becomes religiously impermissible,” he said. “By no means is forced marriage sanctioned and allowed within Islam as a tradition.”
Imam Khalid Latif is the executive director at New York University’s Islamic Center. Using culture to justify forced marriage is wrong, he said.Sarah Fournier
Latif counseled a young woman in New York City who every night, he said, “felt as if (she) was being raped” after she was forced to marry by her traditional Muslim family.
There can be severe psychological issues for victims, according to VOW’s McLeod, who is a survivor of domestic violence.
“A lot of times we see them being shunned because it is shameful not to be married,” she said. “It is shameful to leave your husband even if you are being abused. We have seen men who keep women constantly pregnant as a way to keep them controlled.”
McLeod said the U.S. needs better ways to educate women in communities at higher risk.
“Some of them learn their rights, go into shelters, and that’s when they begin the process of educating others,” she said. “It’s a really rampant thing that is really silent. These women are basically hostages until they can get themselves out.”
Sayoni Maitra is a legal fellow at , a nonprofit agency in New York state that provides crisis intervention for victims of domestic violence, sex trafficking and forced marriage. Like Curtis and Boughey, Maitra agreed that the lack of legislation targeting forced marriage causes victims to fall through the cracks.
The U.S. lags behind other countries when it comes to recognizing forced marriage as an issue of violence against women, Maitra said. And many agencies and individuals could help but don’t get involved because they think of it as a cultural practice and not domestic violence.
Forced marriage often goes “hand in hand with other forms of gender violence,” she said. If the victim is under 18, it could be considered a form of child abuse. For victims over 18 years old, crimes associated with forced marriage include physical violence, marital rape, stalking, female genital mutilation — carried out in preparation for marriage — kidnapping and abduction.
“A lot of times, particularly with school-aged children, they are told right before their summer vacations they are going to go abroad to visit relatives and to learn about their parents’ home countries,” Maitra said. “She boards the plane, and when she arrives there, that’s when she realizes that she is going to be forced into marriage.”
She boards the plane, and when she arrives there, that’s when she realizes that she is going to be forced into marriage
Sayoni Maitra, Sanctuary for Families
Maitra, who works on an immigration project at Sanctuary for Families, cited various immigration remedies —
and asylum — for victims without green cards who are experiencing gender violence.
“The main thing is that forced marriage does not happen in isolation,” she said.
For victims like Fraidy Reiss who have found resources, there is hope that the cycle can be broken. Her 18-year-old daughter is in college and has a boyfriend. She has no plans to get married anytime soon, if at all.
“There is completely no pressure on her,” Reiss said. “She can get married. She can not get married. She can have children. She can never have children. She could get her Ph.D., or she could drop out of college. Whatever she wants, she can do. I’ve always told her, ‘There is nothing in the world that you can do that would make me consider you dead.’”
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本试卷共14页。全卷满分150分。考试用时120分钟。
注意事项：
1. 答题前，考生务必将自己的姓名和准考证号填写在试卷和答题卡上，并将准考证号条形码粘贴在答题卡上的指定位置。用2B铅笔将试卷类型（A)填涂在答题卡相应位置上。
2. 选择题的作答：每小题选出答案后，用2B铅笔把答题卡上对应题目的答案标号涂黑。如需改动，用橡皮擦干净后,再选涂其它答案标号。答在试卷上无效。
3. 完成句子和短文写作题用0.5毫米黑色墨水签字笔将答案直接答在答题卡上对应的答题区域内。答在试卷、草稿纸上无效。
4. 考生必须保持答题卡的整洁。考试结束后,请将本试卷和答题卡一并上交。
第一部分：听力（共两节，满分30分）
做题时，先将答案划在试卷上。录音内容结束后，你将有两分钟的时间将试卷上的答案转涂到答题卡上。
第一节（共5小题;每小题1.5分,满分7.5分）
听下面5段对话。每段对话后有一个小题,从题中所给的A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳选项,并标在试卷的相应位置。听完每段对话后，你都有10秒钟的时间来回答有关小题和阅读下一小题。每段对话仅读一遍。
例：How much is the shirt?
A. f 19.15. B. f 9.15. C. ? 9.18.
1. Who did the man buy a jewel for?
A. Father. B. Mother. C. Sister.
2. What are the speakers talking about?
A. People.&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& B. Country.&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& C. Custom.
3. Who are the speakers?
A. Teacher and Students.
B. Mother and sons.
C. Assistant and customers.
4. What can we learn about the movie?
A. Adult only.&&&&&&& &&B. Enjoyable for all.&&&&& C. Complex and frightening.
5. What will the man’s starting salary be a month?
A. $1,400.&&&&&&&&&&&& B. $4,000.&&&&&&&&&& C. $5,600.
第二节（共15小题丨每小题1.5分，满分22.5分）
听下面5段对话或独白。每段对话或独白后有几个小题，从题中所给的A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳选项，并标在试卷的相应位置。听每段对话或独白前，你将有时间阅读各个小题,每小题5秒钟；听完后，各小题将给出5秒钟的作答时间。每段对话或独白读两遍。听下面一段对话，回答第6至7题。
6. What does Mother care about on the phone?
A. Her son’s health.&&&&&&&& B. Her son’s interview.&&&&& C. Her son’s job.
7. What do we know about the man?
A. He did a very good job with his study.
B. He is getting on well with his job.
C. He will start his work.
听下面一段对话，回答第8至9题。
8. What happened to the speakers?
A. They met traffic jams.
B. They were on a boring bus.
C. They got off the bus at a wrong place.
9. What did they plan to do?
A. To go outing.&&&&&& B. To go to the theater.&&&&&& C. To go to see a movie.
听下面一段对话，回答第10至12题。
10. What is the trouble with the man speaker?
A. His grass-cutting machine went wrong.
B. His car engine went wrong.
C. His machine never worked
11. How long can the machine be covered by a guarantee at most?
A. Bought for six months.&B. Used less than seven months. C. Bought within one year.
12. What is the man’s address?
A. 612 Charles Avenue.&&&& B. 692 Charles Avenue.&&&&&&&& C. 694 Charles Avenue.
听下面一段对话，回答第13至16题。
13. Who is Gabriella Rossi?
A. A trainer.&&&&&&&&&&& B. A learner.&&&&&&&&&&& C. A horse rider.
14. What do we know about the man speaker?
A. He is good enough to ride.
B. He knows more to ride as a beginner.
C. He wants to ride to visit other countries.
15. What should the school care most?
A. Lessons.&&&&&&&&&&&&& B. Money.&&&&&&&&&&&&&& C. Safety.
16. What will the school provide the learners during the whole course?
A. A trainer together.&&& B. A beginner to learn together.&C. A rider who is well-trained.
听下面一段独白，回答第17至20题。
17. Where is the speaker?
A. On the train.&&&&&&&&&&&& B. On the plane.&&&&&&&&& C. On the ship.
18. What time is it when they leave Britain?
A. 11:50.&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& B. 12:50.&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& C. 1:50.
19. What is the weather like during the journey?
A. Windy.&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& B. Fine.&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& C. Cool.
20. Where is the snack-bar?
A. On A deck.&&&&&&&&&&&&& B. On B deck.&&&&&&&&&&& C. On C deck.
第二部分：词汇知识运用（共两节，满分40分）
第一节：多项选择（共10小题,每小}1分；满分10分）
从A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
例：To make members of a team perform better, the trainer first of all has to know their
and weaknesses.
A. strengths B. benefits C. techniques D. values
21. In common with many of its neighbours, China is a country where family __________ are particularly strong.
A. backgrounds&&&&& B. reunions&&&&&&& C. bonds&&&& D. combinations
22. Hard work is no __________ of an excellent school record. You have to adopt a flexible approach to your learning.
A. guarantee&&&&&&&&&& B. connection&&&&&&&& C. permission&& D. consequence
23. Learning from __________ mistakes can help us stay cautious and make informed decisions in the days to come.
A. previous&&&&&&&&&&&& B. serious&&&&&&&&&&& C. common&&&&& D. stupid
24. John is such a(n) __________ salesman that he can manage to complete the whole year’s marketing program within only six months.
A. ridiculous&&&&&&&&& B. appropriate&&&&&&&& C. aggressive&&&&&&& D. optimistic
25. Compared with male graduates, a(n) __________ small number of female graduates can get employed when they go job-hunting.
A. casually&&&&&&&&&&& B. roughly&&&&&&&&& C. gradually&&&&&& D. relatively
26. However weak we are, we can still do something against the powerful nature so long as we are __________ prepared.
A. specially&&&&&&&&&&& B. adequately&&&&&&& C. physically&&&&& D. equally
27. Most fast food has too much calories, too much fat for kids to __________ more than just once in a while.
A. have&&&&&&&&&&&&&& B. eat&&&&&&&&&&&&&& C. take&&&&&&&&& &D. make
28. Things getting worse, a bank spokesman was still unable to __________ the situation.
A. classify&&&&&&&&&&&& B. simplify&&&&&&&&& C. terrify&&&&&&&&& D. clarify
29. They had __________ the office building, which then left an open space to build a street garden.
A. pulled down&&&&&&& B. taken down&&&&&& C. turned down&&&& D. poured down
30. Nowadays more and more people are advised to arrange for insurance __________ that they or their family members need medical care.
A. in order&&&&& &&&&B. in need&&&&&&&&& C. in case&&&&&&&&&& D. in hope
第二节：完形填空（共20小题,每小题1分；满分20分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D)中，选出可以填人空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A man hired a taxi outside the airfield．The cab had a woolen carpet with __31__ lace edges. On the glass partition that __32__ the driver’s seat was copy of a famous painting. Its windows were all clean. The customer was very much __33__ and said to the driver，“I've never seen a nicer __34__.”“Thank you for your praise，”the driver answered __35__．
“The car isn’t mine．”said the driver．“It belongs to the company．I used to be a __36__ of cabs. When they returned，all of them were as __37__ as garbage cans with cigarette ends and rubbish __38__ here and there. On the seats or door-handles could be found something __39__ like peanut sauce or, chewing gum．Why so? I thought if the car itself were very clean，the passengers would most __40__ be considerate and refrain from littering．”
“So when I got a __41__ to be a taxi driver，I began to __42__ my idea into practice----to tidy and __43__ the car．Now before a new passenger get on my car，I would make a check and be sure it is in good order. When my car __44__ after a day's work，it always remains __45__.”
When doing a thing．one makes efforts and wants to see the result. To change others, one has to make twice the __46__ but get half the result. To change oneself is tile other way round----more fruit with less effort．One had better ask oneself why one makes __47__ on others much more than oneself．__48__ you take enough care to do as best as you can for other people's sake, your efforts will naturally yield results. If you __49__ the inner world of your own, you will find a cheerful __50__ for yourself and create a pleasant environment for others.
31. A. wonderful&& B. exciting&& C. brilliant&&& D. favorite
32. A. separated &&&&&B. covered&&& C. protected&&&&& D. prevented
33. A. moved&&&&& B. annoyed&&& C. disappointed&&& D. surprised
34. A. seat&&&& B. carpet&&& C. garage&&&&& D. cab
35. A. naturally&&& B. smilingly&&& C. hopefully&&&&& D. firmly
36. A. driver&&& B. cleaner&&& C. repairer&&&&& D. customer
37. A. attractive&&& B. pleasant&&& C. dirty&&&&&& D. clean
38. A. spread&&&& B. extended&&& C. dotted&&&&&&& D. left
39. A. fancy&&& B. busy&&&&&& C. sticky&&&&&& D. clumsy
40. A. likely&&& B. willingly&&&&& C. extremely&&&&&D. regularly
41. A. permit&&& B. license&&&&& C. certificate&&&&&& D. pass
42. A. put&&&&& B. take&&&&&& C. make&&&&&& D. get
43. A. provide&&&& B. drive&&&&&& C. decorate&&&&&&& D. describe
44. A. speeds&&& B. leaves&&&&& C. arrives&&&&& D. returns
45 A. spotless&&& B. pretty&&&&& C. bright&&&&& D. orderly
46. A. progress&&& B. effort&&&&&& C. attempt&&&&& D. trial
47. A. suggestions&&& B. comments&&& C. demands&&&&& D. decisions
48. A. Though&&&& B. While&&&&& C. As&&&&&& D. If
49. A. look into&&& B. look for&&&&& C. look up&&&&& D. look through
50. A. spirit&&& B. mood&&&& C. mind&&&&&& D. sense
第三部分:阅读理解（共20小题;每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文,从每篇短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳答案，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Job sharing refers to the situation in which two people divide the responsibility of one full-time job. The two people willingly act as part-time workers， enough hours between them to fulfill the duties of a full-time worker. If they each work half the job， for example， they each receive 50 percent of the job‘s wages， its holidays and its other benefits.
Job sharing differs from conventional part-time work in that it occurs mainly in the more highly skilled and professional areas， which require higher levels of responsibility and employee commitment.
Job sharing should not be confused with the term work sharing， which refers to increasing the number of jobs by reducing the number of hours of each existing job， thus offering more positions to the growing number of unemployed people. Job sharing， by contrast， is not designed to address u its focus， rather， is to provide well-paid work for skilled workers and professionals who want more free time for other activities.
As would be expected， most of job sharers are women. A survey carried out in 2010 by Britain’s Equal Opportunities Commission revealed that 78 per cent of sharers were female， the majority of whom were between 20 and 40 years of age. Subsequent studies have come up with similar results. Many of these women were re-entering the job market after having had children， but they chose not to seek part-time work because it would have meant lower status. Job sharing also offered an acceptable shift back into full-time work after a long absence.
The necessity of close cooperation when sharing a job with another person makes the actual work quite different from conventional one-position jobs. However， to ensure a greater chance that the partnership will succeed， each person needs to know the strengths， weaknesses and preferences of his or her partner before applying for a position. Moreover， there must be a fair division of both routine tasks and interesting ones. In sum， for a position to be job-shared well， the two individuals must be well matched and must treat each other as equals.
51. In what way is work sharing is different from job sharing?
A. Work sharing requires more working hours.
B. Work sharing is aimed at creating more job.
C. Work sharing provides a more satisfactory salary.
D. Work sharing depends on the employer’s decision.
52. According to paragraph 4, young mothers prefer job sharing to conventional part-time work mainly because _________.
A. they sought higher social status
B. they are over ideal working ages
C. they had difficulty finding full-time jobs
D. they had to take care of both work and family
53. In job sharing the partners should __________.
A. enjoy equal social status&& &&&&&&B. have similar working experience
C. keep in touch with each other&&& D. know each other very well
54. The main purpose of the passage is to ___________.
A. recommend job sharing to women
B. discuss how to provide more jobs
C. describe job sharing in general
D. compare job sharing with work sharing
For a time, Americans were turning in their new cars at a breakneck pace. Cheap financing, good deals, and a powerful economy meant that we could account for the tendency to keep a car for less time, and only see a modest increase in our monthly payment, if any increase at all. Those days are apparently over, at least for the short term.
R. L. Polk, which collects and measures data in the automotive industry, says that we’re now keeping our cars longer than we ever have. According to Polk’s study of registration data, Americans are keeping new cars for an average 63.9 moths―five-and-a-quarter years―up 4.5 months from the same period in 2009. In truth, there’s not much need to turn a car in on any kind of schedule. By following proper maintenance, it’s relatively simple to squeeze a decade or 150,000 miles out of a new car with no major issues.
In 2006, the sticker price on a Silverado was $ 32,000, but thanks to a model changeover for 2007 and a timely purchase in October when dealers were trying to move any remaining inventory (库存). Whelan purchased the truck for $ 22,700. At five years of age, with 75,000 miles showing on the meter, he has no intention of turning it in at any point in the near future. “My goal is to run it to 160,000 miles and evaluate my options from there,” he says. So we turn cars in not because we need to, but because we want to. Call it the “Four year Itch.” We get bored of the same old car in the driveway every morning. Our eyes wander whenever we see a car ad. It may be “till death do us part” with our wife or husband and significant others, but when I comes to cars, we’re shamelessly unfaithful.
Whelan figures he’s put the average of about two payments a year into regular improvements meant to keep the truck fresh. “I’ve found that making a modification here and there keeps me happy. That, and the thought of having a payment again, with big tax bills and another sales tax payment has been enough to contain my urges,” he says. “The truck’s five years old now, and I have a couple of scratches, but I think I prefer that now, rather than having to worry about getting scratches in a new truck.”
55．There was a time when Americans landed to _________.
A．sell their cars at a frightening speed
B．make a high monthly payment on cars
C．shorten the period of use of their cars
D．receive a larger income than nowadays
56．According to Polk’s study, in general a car _________.
A．can last 10 years if used carefully
B．should be replaced as soon as possible
C．must be run for less time by Americans
D．can be used for only 63.9 months
57．Whelan won’t consider buying a new truck until________.
A．his wife divorces him or passes away
B．he gets bored of driving it every day
C．a fantastic model is placed on a car ad
D．the expected miles of driving is reached
58．The author employs the example of Whelan to show________.
A．weak economy results in decreasing expense
B．resisting new car purchases can pay off
C．saving money is better than saving face
D．some people prefer old things than new ones
Commuters (远途上下班的人) who drive to work will face a parking charge of up to ￡350 a year. Ministers are backing a workforce parking charge which will come into force in Nottingham in 2013 and is likely to be adopted across the country. The scheme will see firms with more than ten parking places for staff charged ￡350 a year for each space in two years.
Employers would be free to pass on the charge to their staff C meaning it would effectively be a tax on driving to work. The scheme aims to reduce traffic by preventing unnecessary car journeys and raise funds to improve public transport, but critics say it is just an excuse for councils to fill their coffers (保险柜).
Some ten million Britons drive to work each day, and the British Chambers of Commerce says the new charge could total ￡3.4 billion a year if rolled out nationwide.
Already some firms in Nottingham have threatened to leave the city, where 40,000 commuters use their cars to get to work. A spokesman said the scheme was nothing more than a tax on jobs. It is very unfair to discriminate against those employers who have parking spaces, which get vehicles off the streets, he said. “And these charges apply around the clock, which is especially unfair on shift workers who rely on their cars because public transport is not available. This is more about increasing the government’s income than reducing traffic.”
However, Transport Minister Khan gave the plan an official approval during a visit to Nottingham. The council says the tax will raise as much as ￡100 million over ten years C one fifth of the cost of a new transport system for the city.
Another transport spokesman Therese Villiers said the tax would have a devastating impact on businesses struggling to cope with the economic decline.
But Richard Hebditch of the Campaign for Better Transport said the tax would raise money to invest in better transport. “We put forward the idea of workplace parking taxes as a fairer way to raise money to invest in the future of local transport services. We are pleased that the people of Nottingham will be the first to benefit.”
59．Supporters argue that the scheme__________.
A．can help improve the parking conditions for the staff
B．should be applied to all commuters driving to work
C．is certain to be carried out despite the objections
D．will relieve traffic pressure and improve public transport
60．According to the objectors, the scheme is unfair for _________.
A．the firms with parking lots
B．the workforce without cars
C．the employees parking their cars on the streets
D．the staff driving to work in the daytime
61．Which word can best describe Theresa Villiers’ attitude towards the scheme?
A．Doubtful.&&& B．Negative.&&& C．Understanding.&&& D．Positive.
62．It can be inferred from the passage that ___________.
A．many firms are willing to pay the charges for their staff
B．the public transport in Nottingham is in great need of improvement
C．the author believes Britons will benefit from the scheme
D．those firms with more commuters will leave Nottingham
I met Bobby four years ago in Brazil. He wanted me to help him get into the central part of the rainforest, where the tourists don’t go, so I gave him a few of my contacts and we kept in touch. He made a fortune before the age of 40, and now he spends his time wandering on the planet looking for projects to supports where concrete baby steps matter and can make a very big difference.
He’s funding the reconstruction of a temple in Bhutan, setting up teacher training programs for Afghan refugees, assisting the people of Rwanda in rebuilding their justice system, and running micro enterprise programs in South Africa. Nepal, and Rwanda. Our practical chartering (慈善家) spends the rest of the day (in Nepal) photographing children in the village and teaching Jake, my son, some of his secrets. He has a breathtaking series of portraits of children in Afghanistan, in refugee (难民) camps in Pakistan and Rwanda, and of Palestinian refugees in camps in Lebanon.
I watch him at work, sitting just outside a group of youngsters: he begins a lively conversation with a bright yellow duck. He whispers to it to be qu the duck nods but then begins to attack Bobby, who only just manages to control his tiny creature. The children begin to stare at the strange sight of this big man and his naughty duck, bursting into laughter when the duck gets the better of him. They move closer, and the duck starts to tease the children. Some of them run away laughing while others get closer.
A young man attempts to give Bobby a can of some soft drink, saying something in Nepalese.
“Pema, what’s this kid saying? Why’s he trying to give me this can?”
Pema talks to the boy, who is about 12. “He says you saved his grandmother’s life last year, Mr. Bobby. She needed an operation in Katmandu, and you put her in the helicopter. He says the family wants to thank you, and this is all they have to give you.”
The big guy from Boston is suddenly quiet and clearly touched by the gesture. My two lasting memories of this extraordinary and complex man will be of him chasing the village kids like a fool, and the next reduced almost to tears by this simple gift.
63．Bobby went into the rainforest because________.&&&&&&&& .
A．he wished to become wealthy&&& B．he wanted to protect wildlife
C．he was fond of taking pictures D．he was crazy about tourism
64．The underlined part “gets the better of him” (in the third paragraph) means__________.&&&&&&& .
A．gains an advantage over Bobby&B．eats nice food from Bobby
C．gives in to Bobby&&&&&&&&&&&&& D．is brought under Bobby’s control
65．It can be inferred from the passage that Pema is __________.&&&&& .
A．the author B．Bobby’s son C．a doctor D．a loyal guide
66．What’s the purpose of this passage?
A．To describe Bobby’s complex character.
B．To reflect the importance of presents.
C．To praise Bobby’s acts of kindness.
D．To indicate charity work is based on wealth.
Till 2010, only two countries in the advanced world provided no guarantee for paid leave from work to care for a newborn child. Last spring one of the two, Australia, gave up that distinction by establishing paid family leave starting in 2011. I wasn’t surprised when this didn’t make the news here in the United States―we’re now the only wealthy country without such a policy.
The United States does have one explicit family policy, the Family and Medical Leave Act, passed in 1933. It entitles workers to as much as 12 weeks unpaid leave for care of a newborn or dealing with a family medical problem. Despite the modesty of the benefit, the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups fought it bitterly, describing it as “government-run personnel management” and a “dangerous precedent.” In fact, every step of the way, as Democratic leaders have tried to introduce work-family balance measures into the law, business groups have been strongly opposed.
As Yale law professor Anne argues, justifying parental support depends on defining the family as a social good that, in some sense, society must pay for. In her book No Exit: What Parents Owe Their Children and What Society Owes Parents, she argues that parents are burdened in many ways in their lives: there is “no exit” when it comes to children. “Society expects and needs parents to provide their children with continuity of care, meaning the intensive, intimate care that human beings need to develop their intellectual, emotional, and moral capabilities. And society expects and needs parents to persist in their role for 18 years, or longer if needed.”
While most parents do this out of love, there are public punishments for not providing care. What parents do, in other words, is of deep concern to the state, for the obvious reason that caring for children is not only morally urgent but essential for the future of society. The state recognizes this in the large body of family laws that govern children’s welfare, yet parents receive little help in meeting the life changing obligations society imposes. To classify parenting as a personal choice for which there is no collective responsibility is not merely to ignore the social benefi really, it is to steal those benefits because they accumulate for the whole of society as today’s children become tomorrow’s productive citizens. In fact, by some estimates, the value of parental investments in children, investments of time and money including lost wages, is equal to 20%-30% of gross domestic product. If these investments generate huge social benefits―as they clearly do―the benefits of providing more social support for the family should be that much clearer.
67．What do we learn about paid family leave from the first paragraph?
A．It came as a surprise when Australia adopted the policy.
B．It has now become a hot topic in the United States.
C．America is now the only developed country without the policy.
D．Its meaning was clarified when it was established in Australia.
68．What is Professor Anne’s argument for parental support?
A．The cost of raising children in the U.S. has been growing.
B．Good parenting benefits society.
C．The U.S. should keep up with other developed countries.
D．Children need continuous care.
69．What does the author think of America’s large body of family laws governing children’s welfare?
A．They fail to ensure children’s healthy growth.
B．They fail to provide enough support for parents.
C．They emphasize parents’ legal responsibilities.
D．They impose the care of children on parents.
70．Why does the author object to classifying parenting as a personal choice?
A．It is regarded as a legal obligation.
B．It relies largely on social support.
C．It generates huge social benefits.
D．It is basically a social undertaking
第四部分:书面表达(共两节，满分50分）
第一节：完成句子（共10小题;每小题2分,满分20分）
阅读下列各小题，根据所给汉语提示，用句末括号内的英语单词完成句子，并将答案写在答题卡上的相应题号后。
例：We ____________ before dawn. It was still dark outside. ( get)
我们天亮前就起床了。外面仍然很黑。
答案:got up
71. Seldom ____________ each other any more though we studied and lived in the same town.（see）
即使我们生活、学习在同一城市，我们也很少碰面。
72. Could you possible let us know ____________? (as)
你一决定了，请尽快告诉我们好吗？
73. ____________, and you can see Mt. baker hard against the Canadian border. (look)
朝另一方向看，你可以看到紧靠着加拿大边界的贝克山。
74．In space the astronauts will have to face the circumstances ____________ on the earth. (train)
在太空，航天员将不得不面对他们在地球上训练时的情形。
75. “I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that ____________ just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” (live)
“我不想在生命终结的时候才发现我只活了生命的长度，我也想要一并活出生命的宽度。”
76. “If China saw social and economic confusion, then ___________ a disaster for the world,” Wen Jiabao. (be)
“如果中国经济和社会出现问题，将会给世界带来灾难，”温家宝。
77. By May 2008, the World bank was estimating that 100 million people ____________ subsistence poverty due to food inflation in the first quarter of that year. (push)
世界银行估计到2008年第一季度由于粮食价格的飞涨，有1亿人口陷入勉强维持生存的贫困。
78. I tell you in winter when there’s no baseball, I stare out the window, _____________. (wait)
告诉你吧，在没有棒球的冬天，我就盯着窗外，等待春天的到来。
79. Kelly was born in China and grew up there. __________ she knows so much about China! (wonder)
凯莉在中国出生长大。难怪她对中国知道得这么多！
80. ____________ in face of danger matters much in case of emergency. (stay)
在紧急情况下，面对危险我们应该保持镇静，这点至关重要。
第二节：短文写作（共1题；满分30分）
请根据以下提示，结合你的校园生活，就学校是否在学生中开展课外体育运动这一话题，用英语写一篇短文。
A lot of kids and adults think that sports out of class in campus have become too intense. Injuries and burnout are on the rise among young people. Schools, especially parents are anxious about the kids’ safety. What do you think?
①无须写标题，不得照抄英语提示语；
②除诗歌外，文体不限；
③内容必须结合校园生活中的一个事例；
④文中不得透漏个人姓名和学校名称；
⑤词数为120左右。
武汉市2012届高中毕业生二月调研测试英语试卷参考答案
第一部分：听力（共两节，满分30分）
1―20: BACAC&BCABA&CBBBC&ACABA
第二部分：词汇知识运用（共两节，满分40分）
第一节：多项选择（共10小题,每小}1分；满分10分）
21―30: CAACD&BBDAC
第二节：完形填空（共20小题,每小题1分；满分20分）
31―50: CADDB&BCDCA&BACDA&BCDAB
第三部分:阅读理解（共20小题;每小题2分，满分40分）
51―70: BADC&CADB&DABB&AADC&CBBD
第四部分:书面表达(共两节，满分50分）
第一节：完成句子（共10小题;每小题2分,满分20分）
71. did we see
72. as soon as you decide
73. Look in another direction
74. in/under which they are/have been traind
75. I have lived
76. it would be
77. had been pushed into
78. waiting for spring
79. It is no wonder/No wonder
80. That we should stay calm
第二节：短文写作（共1题；满分30分）
Yes, some injuries have indeed taken place in the campus recently. I still remember I once had my arm broken while playing basketball. Since then, my parents have forbidden me to take part in any PE class. Some schools have even withdrawn from sports activities out of class. They require kids just to stay in the classroom. Those who violate the “rules” would be scolded.
As far as I’m concerned, sports should not be cancelled for the students’ sake. We can take some measures to avoid such injuries. Sports can build up our bodies, and enable us to grow up in good health. Though sports require a big investment of time, money and energy, the physical and emotional benefits coming from playing sports are worth it.
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