单选题

Centers of the Great European Cities

The centers of the great cities of Europe are meeting places by tradition. People gather there to drink coffee and chat late into the night. A mixture of locals and tourists make for an exciting, metropolitan atmosphere.
Squares, plazas (广场) and arcades (拱廊) form the heart of Europe"s cities. Venice in Italy has the Piazza San Marco—a beautiful square surrounded by shops, churches, restaurants and cafes. In Barcelona, Spain, La Bosqueria is a lively market with hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of goods. London"s Covent Garden is filled with fruit and vegetable stalls by day and musicians, acrobats (杂技演员) and artists by night. The government buildings at the center of many cities often are architecturally impressive. In London, they serve as a beautiful backdrop (背景) to the coffee tables that line the streets and the banks of the Thames.
These vibrant (有活力的) hearts are the product of centuries of evolution, social historian Joel Garreau told US News and World Report recently. "The reason people think Venice is so great today is you don"t see all the mistakes," said Garreau. "Those have all been removed." Most European cities were laid out before the invention of the car, so bars, restaurants and cafes were near to people"s homes. Today, the focus of many Europeans" life has moved away from the centers. They live in the suburbs and outskirts, driving to supermarkets to get their supplies. But on a continent where people treasure convention, there are still those who hold onto traditional ways, living and shopping locally. These people, together with tourists, provide the city centers with the reason for existence.
Coffee culture plays a part in keeping these city centers flourishing. This is particularly true of Paris whose citizens are famous enthusiastic conversationalists. This skill is developed over many hours spent chatting over espressos (浓咖啡) and cigarettes.
Religion also plays a role in developing sociable atmosphere. People in Roman Catholic countries used to visit the Church on an almost daily basis. Entire communities would gather in the same building and then move out to the markets, cafes and bars in the surrounding streets. An enormous example of this relationship between church and society is the Duomo. The huge marble cathedral in Florence, Italy is surrounded by bakeries and coffee shops, and caters not only to the tourist crowds, but also the local community.

单选题 It can be inferred from the first paragraph that each big city in Europe ______

单选题 Which statement is NOT true of Covent Garden?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 根据第二段中“Venice in Italy has the Piazza San Marco—a beautiful square surrounded by shops, churches, restaurants and cafes”可知，选项D是对Piazza San Marco的描述。故选D。第二段第四句中提到，“London"s Covent Garden”，由此可知考文特花园在伦敦，因此B项符合原文的表述，因此排除。考文特花园白天“is filled with fruit and vegetable stalls(货摊)”，而晚上则有“musicians，acrobats (杂技演员)and artists”，因此可知，A项和C项均符合原文表述，排除。

单选题 Why do people think that Venice is so great?

单选题 What are Parisians famous for?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 根据第四段“this is particularly true of Paris whose citizens are famous enthusiastic conversationalists”可知，巴黎人以热衷于交谈而闻名于世。故选B。第四段开始提到咖啡文化使得这些城市的中心保持繁荣(keeping these city centers flourishing)，接着以巴黎人为例进行了说明，但是这并非是巴黎人出名的原因，因此C项不符合题意，排除。A项和D项文中没有提及，因此排除。