单选题

Broadly speaking, the Englishman is a quiet, shy, reserved person who is fully{{U}} (21) {{/U}}only among people he knows well.
In the presence of strangers or foreigners he often seams inhibited.{{U}} (22) {{/U}}embarrassed. You have only to{{U}} (23) {{/U}}a commuter train any morning or evening to see the truth of this. Serious looking businessmen and women sit reading their newspapers or dozing in a corner; no one speaks. In fact, to do so would seem most unusual.{{U}} (24) {{/U}}, there is here an unwritten but clearly understood code of behavior which.{{U}} (25) {{/U}}broken, makes the person immediately the object of{{U}} (26) {{/U}}.
It is a well-known fact that the English have a{{U}} (27) {{/U}}for the discussion of their weather and that, given half a chance, they will talk about it{{U}} (28) {{/U}}. Some people argue that it is because English weather{{U}} (29) {{/U}}forecast and hence is a source of interest and.{{U}} (30) {{/U}}to everyone. This may be so.{{U}} (31) {{/U}}Englishmen cannot have much{{U}} (32) {{/U}}in the weathermen, who, after promising fine, sunny weather for the following day, are of- ten proved wrong{{U}} (33) {{/U}}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{{U}} (34) {{/U}}. The overseas visitors may be excused for showing surprise at the number of references{{U}} (35) {{/U}}weather that the English make to each other in the course of a single day. Very often conversational greetings are{{U}} (36) {{/U}}by comments on the weather. "Nice day, isn't it?" "Beautiful!" may well be heard instead of "Good morning, how are you?"{{U}} (37) {{/U}}the foreigner may consider this exaggerated and comic, it is worthwhile pointing out that it could be used to his ad- vantage.{{U}} (38) {{/U}}he wants to start a conversation with an Englishman but is{{U}} (39) {{/U}}to know where to begin, he could do well to mention the state of the weather. It is a safe subject which will{{U}} (40) {{/U}}an answer from even the most reserved of Englishmen.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】考查副词辨义和上下文理解。由上下文可以看出，空格所在句是对前一句进行的说明。前一句说，“这样做似乎很不正常”，而这一句说“这里有一条不成文但大家都理解得很清楚的行为规则”，因此，它们之间用obviously(显然)最合逻辑。contrarily反之，相反地；frequently经常，频繁地；practically实际上，事实上(因为前文中已有in fact，所以这里不能再用)。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】考查上下文理解。这道题需要考生仔细分析句子结构。which后的部分为code的定语从句，而空格所在的分句应当是定语从句的状语。如果不要这一状语，定语从句及整个句意就会出现逻辑混乱，所以该状语应当是表示一种假设的相反情况，而broken指的是打破这一行为准则，这样句意才合逻辑，故选 if。注意if broken相当于if it(=code)is broken。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】考查名词辨叉与上下文理解。suspicion怀疑，疑心；opposition反对；attack攻击；study研究，学习。由前文所述得知，英国人拘谨腼腆，在陌生人多的地方如市郊往返火车上一般不说话，这已成了一条行为准则。这里说，如果打破这一准则，打破的人(也就是说话的人)立即就会成为______的对象。所以选用 [A]最合适；[B]、[C]两项太过，也与前文不符；[D]明显不对。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】考查固定搭配辨义与上下文理解。at length详细地；to a great extent在很大程度上；from their heart从心底里，打心眼里；by all means尽一切办法地。由句意和常识可知，英国人喜欢谈论天气，如果有机会，他们就会谈起天气来。[B]、[C]两项明显不对；说他们“尽一切办法地”去谈论天气显然不合常理．所以应选[A]，指“详细地谈论天气”。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】考查动词辨义与上下文理解。follow跟随，理解，遵循；predict预知，预言，预报；defy违抗，藐视，不服从，不符合；violate违犯，违反，冒犯。由下文的描述可知，这里应当是指英国的天气难以预报，所以选defy，指“不好预报”。注意violate虽与defy近义，但其宾语一般是法律、规定、守则等。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】考查名词辨义与句意理解。proposition主张，建议，陈述，命题；prediction预言，预报)approval同意，赞成，批准；defiance违抗，蔑视。由句意可知，这里是将英国的普通人与天气预报人员进行对比。而前文一直谈论的是预报不准确，这里当然也是将两者预报的准确性进行对比了。[C]；[D]两项与文意无关。