单选题 John Lubbock, a British member of the Parliament, led to the first law to safeguard Britain"s heritage—the Ancient Monuments Bill. How did it happen?
By the late 1800s more and more people were visiting Stonehenge for a day out. Now a World Heritage Site owned by the Crown, it was, at the time, privately owned and neglected.
But the visitors left behind rubbish and leftover food. It encouraged rats that made holes at the stones" foundations, weakening them. One of the upright stones had already fallen over and one had broken in two. They also chipped pieces off the stones for souvenirs and carved pictures into them, says architectural critic Jonathan Glancey.
It was the same for other pre-historic remains, which were disappearing fast. Threats also included farmers and landowners as the ancient stones got in the way of working on the fields and were a free source of building materials.
Shocked and angry, Lubbock took up the fight. When he heard Britain"s largest ancient stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire was up for sale in 1871 he persuaded its owners to sell it to him and the stone circle was saved.
"Lubbock aroused national attention for ancient monuments," says Glancey. "At the time places like Stonehenge were just seen as a collection of stones, ancient sites to get building materials."
"Lubbock knew they were the roots of British identity. He did for heritage what Darwin did for natural history."
But Lubbock couldn"t buy every threatened site. He knew laws were needed and tabled the Ancient Monuments Bill. It proposed government powers to take any pre-historic site under threat away from uncaring owners, a radical idea at the time.
For eight years he tried and failed to get the bill through parliament. Finally, in 1882, it was voted into law. It had, however, been watered down; people had to willingly give their ancient monuments to the government. But what it did do was plant the idea that the state could preserve Britain"s heritage better than private owners.
Pressure started to be put on the owners of sites like Stonehenge to take better care of them.

单选题 According to the text, Stonehenge in the late 1800s was ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。根据题干中的关键词Stonehenge和in the late 1800s可定位至文章第二段。结合该段最后一句“...it was, at the time, privately owned and neglected.”中“neglect”一词可知，当时对巨石阵的态度是“忽视的”。A选项“一项皇室财产”，B选项“完全被忽视”，C选项“被依法保护”，D选项“一项公共财产”。对比选项，只有B选项符合题意，故B为正确答案。

单选题 One stone in Stonehenge fell over because ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。根据题干内容可定位至文章第三段第三句。结合该段第二句“It encouraged rats that made holes at the stones" foundations, weakening them.”可知，巨石阵立柱倒塌的原因是老鼠在石柱的基座上打洞导致石柱变得脆弱，这与A选项rats weakened its foundation“老鼠使石柱的基座变脆弱”表达相符，故A为正确答案。

单选题 Lubbock proposed a bill to ______.

单选题 When the bill was voted into law in 1882, it had been made less ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 推理题。根据题干内容可定位至文章倒数第二段。在1882年，这个法案经投票成为了法律。作者用了“It had, however, been watered down”这个句子，紧接着提到了“people had to willingly give their ancient monuments to the government.”即“人们必须自愿将自己所有的古代遗迹交给政府。”这与前一段最后一句提到的“It proposed government powers to take any pre-historic site under threat away from uncaring owners, a radical idea at the time.”即“这个法案建议政府从漠不关心的私人业主手上将受到威胁的史前遗迹接管过来”相比，措施缓和了许多，从radical变成了willingly，由此可以推断措施已经变得没有那么严厉了，因此A选项(less)severe符合题意，为正确答案。