单选题 Generally speaking, a British is widely regarded as a quiet, shy and conservative person who is (1) only among those with whom he is acquainted. When a stranger is at present, he often seems nervous, even (2) . You have to take a commuter train any morning or evening to (3) the truth of this.
Serious-looking businessmen and women sit reading their newspapers or dozing in a corner; hardly anybody talks, since to do so would be considered quite (4) .
(5) , there is an unwritten but clearly understood code of behavior which, once broken, makes the offender immediately the object of (6) .
It has been known as a fact that a British has a (7) for the discussion of their weather and that, if given a chance, he will talk about it (8) .
Some people argue that it is because the British weather seldom (9) forecast and hence becomes a source of interest and (10) to everyone.
This may be so. (11) a British cannot have much (12) in the weathermen, who, after promising fine, sunny weather for the following day, are often proved wrong (13) a cloud over the Atlantic brings rainy weather to all districts! The man in the street seems to be as accurate — or as inaccurate — as the weathermen in his (14) .
Foreigners may be surprised at the number of references (15) weather that the British (16) to each other in the course of a single day. Very often conversational greetings are (17) by comments on the weather. “Nice day, isn’t it?” “Beautiful!” may well be heard instead of “Good morning, how are you?” Although the foreigner may consider this exaggerated and comic, it is (18) .pointing out that it could be used to his advantage. If he wants to start a conversation with a British but is at a loss to know (19) to begin, he could do well to mention the state of the weather. It is a safe subject which will (20) an answer from even the most reserved of the British.

单选题 [A] relaxed [B] frustrated [C] amused [D] exhausted

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。前面说英国人安静、羞涩、保守，后面定语从句说只有和认识的人在一起时他们才能感到怎么样。从语义角度首先排除[B]frustrated“灰心的”和[D]exhausted“劳累的”。[C]amused是“高兴的”，可以逆向思考一下：和认识的人在一起才高兴，那么和不认识的人在一起就不高兴，不符合常理；所以只有 [A]relaxed“放松的”正确。

单选题 [A] reserved [B] urgent [C] embarrassed [D] anxious

单选题 [A] experience [B] witness [C] watch [D] undergo

单选题 [A] impolite [B] defensive [C] deliberate [D] offensive

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。首先要明白这句话中的do so是指talk，公共场合说话不可能被认为是[C]deliberate“深思熟虑的”，或者是[B]defensive“防御的”，只可能是[A]impolite“不礼貌的”，或者[D]offensive“令人不快的，讨厌的”。另外，impolite从语气上来说程度较轻，而且由下一段中的offender可知，[D]offensive最能衔接文意。
[点拨] 复现照应是解答完形填空题时常用的技巧，注意解题时从上下文中寻找照应线索。

单选题 [A] Deliberately [B] Apparently [C] Frequently [D] Consequently

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 逻辑衔接题。本句是对上一段所讲英国人比较安静这一现象的总结，前后没有因果关系，所以排除[D]Consequently“因此”。因为有了上面的现象，就很容易得出下面的结论，因此选择[B]Apparently“显而易见的”。[B]Deliberately“故意的”，[C]Frequently“频繁地，经常地”，都不能与文意衔接。

单选题 [A] compassion [B] opposition [C] criticism [D] assault

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。前面的offender是对该选项的提示，既然是“冒犯别人的人”，就不会是大家compassion“怜悯”的对象。不成文的行为准则被打破，不会达到招致众人的opposition“反对”或assault“攻击”那么严重的程度，因此只有[C]criticism“批评”正确。
[点拨] 解答本题关键在于把握“度，需结合常识和语境进行合理判断。

单选题 [A] emotion [B] fancy [C] likeliness [D] judgment

单选题 [A] at length [B] to a great extent [C] from his heart [D] by all means

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 惯用衔接题。这里说一有机会，英国人就会怎么样谈论天气。[A]at length“详细地”，符合文意，也和前面的fancy在语意上相互呼应。[B]to a great extent是“很大程度上”，一般用于说明事情的真实程度； [C]from his heart是“发自心底”，说每个人谈论天气时都是发自心底的，意思不通顺，因此排除；[D]by all means“尽一切办法”，语气上过于夸张，与文章基调不符。

单选题 [A] follows [B] obeys [C] defies [D] supports

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。这一句话是解释上一句话的原因，之所以大家都讨论天气，是因为天气很少像预报的那样出现。[A]follows“遵循”为答案。[B]obey“遵从，顺从”，一般表示下级遵从上级；[C]defy“挑衅”，指不服从，和文意相反；[D]support“支持”，用在此处不通顺。
[点拨] 当词语的意思相近时，注意它们之间的细微区别，obey的主语一般为人，故被排除。

单选题 [A] dedication [B] suspicion [C] contemplation [D] speculation

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。既然天气不遵循预报，那么天气就成了大家兴趣和猜测的源泉，另外还要注意所填词须和前面的interest搭配。[D]speculation意为“推测”，强调在不知道事实的情况下的推测，符合文意。[A] dedication“贡献”，与语义不符；[B]suspicion“怀疑，猜疑”常用于表示不信任；[C]contemplation“沉思”，注意这句话是解释英国人喜欢谈论天气的原因，因此这里不能选择“沉思”。

单选题 [A] Usually [B] Generally [C] Certainly [D] Fundamentally

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。这里需要一个表示程度的副词，后面句子中的often是个很重要的提示，既然预报员经常出错，那么人们当然就不会非常信任他，所以选[C]certainly。[A]Usually“通常”，[B]Generally“通常，一般”，这两个词在语义上与原文衔接不当；[D]Fundamentally“基础地，根本地”，过于夸张。

单选题 [A] faith [B] hope [C] honor [D] credit

单选题 [A] since [B] once [C] when [D] while

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 逻辑衔接题。前面谈到，预报员在承诺了第二天的好天气之后，坏天气的出现又证明了他们是错的。按照这样的逻辑关系，proved wrong和“出现rainy weather”之间应由when来衔接，故本题选[C]。[A] since意为“既然”或者“自…以来”，放在此理解不通；[B]once“一旦”，与前面的often不搭配；[D]while“当…时候”，强调两种可持续的动作的同时发生，用在此处不恰当。

单选题 [A] propositions [B] predictions [C] proposal [D] prophecy

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。本段讲述的都是预报员的不准确，这一句话也不例外，不过是通过比较来说的，意思是大街上的人和预报员一样准确或者不准确，那么准确或者不准确只能是对天气的预测，即[B]predictions“预测”。从语义上可以排除[A]propositions“建议，陈述”、[C]proposal“提议，建议”、[D]prophecy“预言”。

单选题 [A] about [B] on [C] in [D] to

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 惯用衔接题。reference的意思是“提及，提到”，后面跟介词to表示“提及…”，因此只有[D]to正确。
[点拨] reference是一个重点词汇，经常考到的reference短语有 with reference to, in reference to, have reference to, bear some reference to, make reference to.平时注意多积累这些短语。

单选题 [A] take [B] forecast [C] make [D] predict

单选题 [A] started [B] replaced [C] conducted [D] proposed

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。注意所填词的逻辑宾语是conversational greetings，排除[C]conducted“引导，管理”和[D]proposed“提议”，这两个词用在此处理解不通。如果单是conversation，用[A]started会更好些，但此处是 conversational greetings，即“问候”，而且后面一句中又有instead of作提示，因此推断[B]replaced“替换”合适，意思是对天气的评论代替了问候语。

单选题 [A] reasonable [B] useful [C] worthwhile [D] meaningful

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 惯用衔接题。从搭配上讲，[A]reasonable“合理的”，[B]useful“有用的”和[D]meaningful“有意义的”后面都跟介词to，只有[C]worthwhile“值得的”常用于It’s worthwhile doing sth.结构，因此答案为[C]worthwhile。
[点拨] 做完形填空题时，不仅考虑词语的释义是否符合语境，还要考虑词语本身的用法。

单选题 [A] where [B] how [C] what [D] which

单选题 [A] stimulate [B] constitute [C] furnish [D] provoke

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 语义衔接题。从后面的the most reserved British可以判断，要从这类人那里得到回应很不容易。 [D]provoke“刺激”，指激起某人的感情，符合“得到最保守的英国人的回应”这一语境；[A]stimulate也是“刺激”，但其宾语直接是受刺激的对象，用在此不合语境；排除[B]constiture“构成”和[C]furnish“提供”。
[点拨] 四个选项中[A]和[D]意思接近，且难以区分，因此两者之一极有可能为答案，重点放在这两个选项上，这就为解题节省了时间。