单选题   Scores of university halls of residences and lecture theatres in the UK were judged 'at serious risk of major failure or breakdown' and 'unfit for purpose', a secret database obtained after a legal battle by the Guardian reveals.
    Some of the most popular, high-ranking institutions, such as the London School of Economics, had 41% of their lecture theatres and classrooms deemed unsuitable for current use, while Imperial College London had 12% of its non-residential buildings branded 'inoperable'. At City University, 41% of the student apartments were judged unfit for purpose.
    Universities argue they have spent hundreds of millions in freshening them up since the judgments were made two years ago and use some of the buildings for storage purposes only.
    The government agency that holds the information, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce), was forced to reveal it after an information tribunal (法庭) ruled in the Guardian's favour, agreeing that it was in the public's interest for the data to be made public.
    Hefce is thought to have spent up to ￡50,000 trying to conceal the data from the Guardian, which requested it two and a half years ago. The newspaper's lawyer, Aidan Eardley, said the case would make it harder for government agencies to withhold information in future.
    The database, which aims to help universities compare the condition of their estate with their competitors, shows more than 90% of higher education institutions had at least 10% of their buildings judged below the 'sound and operationally safe' category. One in 10 institutions had at least 10% of their estate judged inoperable and at serious risk of major breakdown.
    Universities employ surveyors to judge the condition of their estate according to four categories: as new; sound and operationally safe; operational but in need of major repair and inoperable; posing a serious risk of major failure and breakdown. The surveyors also record whether buildings are suitable for student living, teaching and learning under four more categories, from 'excellent' to 'unsuitable for current use'.
    Property consultants who advise universities said that, at its most extreme, buildings deemed inoperable could break fire regulations, have leaks and rot.
单选题     In the 'legal battle', it was ruled by court that ______.
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】第1段和第4段。 第1段首先提到了a legal battle，直到第4段，作者才指出法庭是ruled in the Guardian's favour(做出了对《卫报》有利的判决)，其后的分词结构表明法庭判决the data to be made public, the data指的是前几段提到的有关大学有危楼的数据。由此可见，法庭判决了“大学有危楼”这个事实应告知公众，B与此内容最为相近，故为本题答案。 A有很强的干扰性，与第1段前半部分的内容极为相似，特别是文中的judged一词，很具误导作用，但只要结合该段后半句a secret database...reveals可知前半句是一个秘密数据库显示的内容，并非官司的裁决。
单选题     The word 'deemed' in the second paragraph has the closest meaning to '______'.
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第2段第1句。 第2段列举了三所大学危楼的百分比，分别是第1句中的伦敦经济学院和帝国大学和第2句中的城市大学。第1句中的while表明前后两句为并列关系，对比两句的内容和结构可发现deemed与branded(印商标于……)同义。而第2句与第1句的并列关系表明deemed，branded和judged同义，可见，branded此处喻指“被评价”，而deemed可译作“被判定为”，因此，本题选A。 做这类题关键是要结合上下文进行推断。
单选题     What did universities do with the buildings at risk?
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】第3段。 该段中的freshening them up表明大学对存在危险的校舍进行了修缮，因此，本题应选C。 第3段暗示大学是知道校舍存在危险的，不然就不可能去修缮了，可见，A、B不正确；D“缺乏资金进行修缮”也与原文不符，因此，D不正确。
单选题     The database was originally intended for ______.
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】第6段第1句。 该句中的定语从句表明建立数据库的目的是为了help universities，可见数据库是给各所大学使用的，因此，本题应选D。 其他选项虽然在原文也有提及，但数据库的使用者和目的只有在第6段第1句提及。
单选题     At least ______ of the university estate was judged inoperable and at serious risk of major breakdown.
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第6段第2句。 原文该句中的One in 10 institutions也可理解为“10%的大学”，将这个10%与后面的另一个10%相乘，就可以得出结论：至少1%的大学建筑被定为“不能使用，有倒塌的危险”，因此，本题应选A。 B最具干扰性，与第6段第2句的宾语部分相同，但本题题干将所有大学的建筑作为基数，并非只讨论那“10%的大学”，因此，B不正确。