单选题 Far from suffering from an Olympic hangover, Britons are closing 2012 in a mood of fond nostalgia for the London Games, according to a Guardian/ICM poll. By an emphatic four-to-one margin, the public said the Games were worth the expense—and there are signs that the resulting feelgood factor has rallied spirits more widely in the year of a double-dip slump.
Even after being reminded of the ~9bn price tag, 78% of voters said the Olympics "did a valuable job in cheering up a country in hard times", as compared with just 20% who look back on them as "a costly and dangerous distraction".
This new vote of confidence is even more marked than that which ICM found at the height of the Games. In an online survey taken immediately after so-called Super Saturday ICM asked an identical question, and found support for the games running at 55%, with 35% against. Instead of narrowing as the Games slipped into memory, that 20-point margin has widened to 58 points today. The Paralympics may have helped to cement this majority.
For all the pre-Games controversy about the public money involved, the strong retrospective support is reflected remarkably closely across the range of demographic groups and the political spectrum: 79% of men say the Games were "well worth the cost" as do 77% of women. In every age bracket, more than three-quarters of people take the same view, with the 80% of 65 + voters who gave the thumbs-up being the most emphatic of all.
A similarly crushing margin in favor of London 2012 is found in every social class, and more strikingly, across every region. Some had feared that the Games would be heavily concentrated in the capital and its hinterland, but in fact 79% support in the south is closely matched by 80%, 74% and 77% respectively in the Midlands, the north and in Wales. Only the Scots are somewhat less enthusiastic, and even among them the overall 69%-31% balance in favor of the Games is striking.
The Olympics themselves took up little more than two weeks in a year which has also witnessed volatile weather, the diamond jubilee and the first double-dip recession since the 1970s. Asked to consider all of these things together, and reflect on 2012 as a whole, 49% of respondents said the year has made Britain a better place to live—against 41% who said the reverse, suggesting a positive public take on the Olympics is coloring wider perceptions of the year. The overall verdict ought to surprise voters themselves, who in last year's Guardian Christmas poll told ICM by a 60%-30% margin that they expected Britain would become a more miserable place in 2012.
But if London 2012 has left a feelgood legacy, it is not one which any politician-and particularly not the coalition—is finding it easy to cash in. David Cameron will be dismayed to learn that his Conservative party remains eight points behind Labour for the third month in a row.
Disdain for the political mainstream comes into sharper relief` when voters are asked to award a school report grade for work taken in the last year alone. No senior politician chalks up a better average grade than C-awarded to both Cameron and Ed Miliband. The one figure to do much better is the Queen, who comes in with a solid B+. And that average grade is brought down by the less loyal of her subjects: 32% of the most enthusiastic award her an A+, a grade that only the smallest handful of voters award to anyone else.
The warm mood towards the monarch comes in a country that harbours no illusions about the Olympic year having restored its lost imperial role. Only 27% believe that 2012 allowed Britain to increases its power in the world, less than half the 61% who say that British power diminished this year. In a similarly downbeat vein, voters continue to expect the slump to drag on. Asked to look ahead to the end of 2013, 42% expect that Britain will by then have turned the economic corner, as against 51% who believe the country will still be stuck in a downturn.
While the balance of opinion on the economy leans to the negative side, the tilt is far less marked than 12 months ago. In December 2011, 68% expected a continuing downturn through to the end of 2012, as against just 27% who anticipated turning the corner by then. Likewise, expectations for the mood of the country in 2013 are less gloomy than they were for 2012 last year. By 47% to 42% respondents expect Britain to be a more miserable rather a happier place next year, a relatively even split compared with the 60%-30% margin by which voters were predicting a miserable 2012 this time last year.
The feelgood mood of the Olympic year may have smoothed some rough edges off the psychology of the double-dip recession. Despite the most sustained squeeze on pay packets since the 1920s, there is an even split—45% to 45%—on whether Britain has got better or worse as a place "for you and your family" to live, with supporters of the coalition parties being more positive and Labour voters more negative than the average about their personal experience of the past 12 months.

单选题 How many ICM surveys are mentioned in the passage?

A. 3.
B. 4.
C. 5.
D. 6.

单选题 The poll done in 2012 indicates that most voters think the 2012 Olympics is ______.

A. costly and dangerous
B. well worth the cost
C. heavily concentrated in London
D. helpful to the country's image

单选题 The poll done in 2012 takes into consideration several factors of 2012 EXCEPT ______.

A. sudden changes of weather conditions
B. the diamond jubilee
C. a double-dip recession since the 1970s
D. the Paralympics

单选题 Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The Queen was awarded the highest grade of A+.
B. The Conservative has received less support than the Labour recently.
C. The poll shows an equal enthusiasm for the Games from all Britons.
D. The balance of opinion on the economy leans to the positive side.

单选题 Most voters' anticipation of 2013 is ______.

A. that Britain will become a more miserable place to live in
B. not influenced by the feelgood mood after the Olympics
C. that economic situation in Britain will brighten up
D. less gloomy than the expectations for 2012 last year