“Until very recent times most Welsh people had this feeling of being second-class citizens,” said Dyfan Jones, an 18-year-old student. It was a warm summer night, and I was sitting on the grass with a group of young people in Llanelli, an industrial town in the south, outside the rock music venue of the National Eisteddfod, Wales's annual cultural festival. The disused factory in front of us echoed to the sounds of new Welsh bands.
“There was almost a genetic tendency for lack of confidence,” Dyfan continued. Equally comfortable in his Welshness as in his membership in the English-speaking, global youth culture and the new federal Europe, Dyfan, like the rest of his generation, is growing up with a sense of possibility unimaginable ten years ago.“We used to think. We can't do anything, we're only Welsh. Now I think that's changing.”
21.
According to the passage, devolution was mainly meant to ________.
[A] maintain the present status among the nations. [B] reduce legislative powers of England.
[C] create a better state of equality among the nations. [D] grant more say to all the nations in the union.
[参考答案] C
[详细解答]
细节题。第二段第三句提到了devolution(权力下放)的理念：使组成大不列颠联合王国各成员国之间的平衡得以恢复。[C]中的create 8 better state of equality是对restore the balance的同义转述，故为答案。原文中的restore表明，平衡已遭到破坏，英国在力图修复，排除：[A]；末句指出"权力部分下放"的原因：旨在还击似乎威胁着联盟理念的政权分散力量，[B]与此不符；末句只提到英国政府计划赋予苏格兰、北爱尔兰、威尔士更大发言权，并非所有成员国，[D]为绝对项，排除。
22.
The word "centrifugal" in the second paragraph means ________.
[参考答案] A
[详细解答]
语义理解题。根据第二段末句中centrifugal forces that seemed to threaten the verv idea of the union推断，centrifugal的含义应该与union的意思相反，是威胁联盟理念的某种力量。[A]意为"分立主义的"，与"联盟的"意思相对，故为答案。
23.
Wales is different from Scotland in all the following aspects EXCEPT ________.
[A] people's desire for devolution. [B] locals' turnout for the voting. [C] powers of the legislative body. [D] status of the national language.
[参考答案] D [您的答案] [得分] 0
[详细解答]
细节题。第三段首句提到威尔士人对权力下放没什么热情。然后用Whereas话锋一转，指出苏格兰人对权力下放的不同反响，可见[A]是两者之间的区别。第二句指出：苏格兰人以压倒性的多数投票选举议会，而威尔士人对议会进行选举时，其投票人数低于25％，仅以超过法定票数不到l％的票数勉强通过。可见两者投票选举的出席人数也不同，[B]符合文意。第i句指出威尔士人不热衷选举的结果：权力受到限制。第五句明确指出其与苏格兰的不同：没有立法权。[C]符合文意。只有[D]未提及，故为答案。
24.
Which of the following is NOT cited as an example of the resurgence of Welsh national identity?
[A] Welsh has witnessed a revival as a national language. [B] Poverty-relief funds have come from the European Union. [C] A Welsh national airline is currently in operation. [D] The national symbol has become a familiar sight.
[参考答案] B
[详细解答]
细节题。第二段首句明确指出：The revival of the language…is part 0f a resuI'gence of national identity sweeping through this small，proud nation．[A]是威尔士复兴的一个例证。第四段提到威尔士复兴的其他例证，第四句中的"a national airline"表明[C]是例证之一。最后一句提到到处都印有威尔士的国家标志：红色的龙。[D]是对该部分内容的概括。虽然第三段倒数第二句提到"威尔士从欧盟得到近200万美元解决贫困问题"，但该部分内容是对威尔士情况的介绍，并非国家地位复兴的例证，故[B]为答案。
25.
According to Dyfan Jones what has changed is ________.
[A] people's mentality. [B] pop culture. [C] town's appearance. [D] possibilities for the people.
[详细解答]
推断题。最后两段提到Dyfan Jones的看法，末段首句指出Dyfan Jones认为威尔士人生来缺乏信心。接着提到像他这一代的年轻人的信心逐渐增加，最后引用Dyfan Jones的话加以说明。由此可见，Dyfan Jones认为威尔士人的心态发生了变化，故[A]为答案。末段倒数第二句提到"a sense 0f possibility"，这里是指威尔士人逐渐认为有些事情是可以做到的，说明他们的信心在加强，并非[D]"威尔士人的机会增多"，排除。
题 26 - 29
Text B
Getting to the heart of Kuwaiti democracy seems hilariously easy. Armed only with a dog-eared NEWSWEEK ID, I ambled through the gates of the National Assembly last week. Unscanned, unsearched, my satchel could easily have held the odd grenade or an anthrax-stuffed lunchbox. The only person who stopped me was a guard who grinned and invited me to take a swig of orange juice from his plastic bottle.
Were I a Kuwaiti woman wielding a ballot, I would have been a clearer and more present danger. That very day Parliament blocked a bill giving women the vote; 29 M.P.s voted in favour and 29 against, with two abstentions. Unable to decide whether the bill had passed or not, the government scheduled another vote in two weeks- too late for women to register for June's municipal elections. The next such elections aren't until 2009. Inside the elegant, marbled Parliament itself, a sea of mustachioed men in white robes sat in green seats, debating furiously. The ruling emir has pushed for women's political rights for years. Ironically, the democratically elected legislature has thwarted him. Traditionalists and tribal leaders are opposed. Liberals fret, too, that Islamists will let their multiple wives vote, swelling conservative ranks. "When I came to Parliament today, people who voted yes didn't even shake hands with me," said one Shia cleric. "Why can't we respect each other and work together?"
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