練習(xí)題：
1 How many members are there in the House of Commons?
A 650
B 524
C 72
D 651
2 Which of the following people didn’t use to be the British Prime Minister?
A Margaret Thatcher
B Winston Churchill
C Horatio Nelson
D John Major
3 By tradition, the leader of the majority party is appointed _____ by the Sovereign in the United Kingdom.
A Prime Minister
B Member of Parliament
C Lord of appeal
D Speaker of the House
4 The Tories were the forerunners of _____, which still bears this nickname today.
A the Labour Party
B the Conservative Party
C the Liberal Party
D the Social Democratic Party
5 In the United Kingdom, the party which wins the ____ number of seats in the House of Commons becomes the official Opposition.
A largest
B second largest
C third largest
D fourth largest
6 The term “British disease” is now often used to characterize Britain’s _____ decline.
A political
B educational
C military
D economic
7 The 1980s was remembered as the decade of _____.
A globalization
B nationalization
C privatization
D competition
8 Today, in Britain, ______ is called a “sick” industry.
A coal mining
B iron and steel
C textiles
D shipbuilding
9 The first steam engine was devised by Thomas Newcomer at the end of the 17th century, and the Scottish inventor ____ modified and improved the design in 1765.
A Abraham Darby
B James Watt
C John Kay
D Richard Arkwrightthe
10 _____ created the industrial working class, the proletariat, and it later led to trade union ism.
A The Chartist Movement
B The Industrial Revolution
C The French Revolution
D The Glorious Revolution
練習(xí)題答案及題解:
1 D, 下議院共有651名議員。
2 C, 撒切爾夫人，丘吉爾和梅杰都曾經(jīng)做過(guò)英國(guó)首相;而納爾遜(1758-1805)，英國(guó)海軍統(tǒng)帥，因作戰(zhàn)負(fù)傷，右眼失明，失去右臂。后任地中海艦隊(duì)司令，在特法爾加角海戰(zhàn)中大敗西班牙聯(lián)合艦隊(duì)，本人受重傷陣亡，號(hào)稱(chēng) Viscount Nelson。
3 A, 在英國(guó)，按照傳統(tǒng)，多數(shù)黨的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人由君主任命為首相，首相從本黨內(nèi)部挑選一些領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人擔(dān)任各部部長(zhǎng)職位。
4 B, 托利黨是英國(guó)保守黨的前身。
5 B, 在英國(guó)，在下議院中贏得第二席位的政黨為反對(duì)黨，它也有它自己的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)和影子內(nèi)閣(shadow cabinet)。
6 D, 現(xiàn)在“英國(guó)病”這一術(shù)語(yǔ)經(jīng)常用來(lái)指英國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)上的衰退。
7 C, 正如20世紀(jì)40年代被看作是國(guó)有化的時(shí)代一樣，20世紀(jì)80年代被看作是私有化的時(shí)代。包括英國(guó)石油、航空、鋼鐵、電訊在內(nèi)的幾乎40% 的國(guó)有公司實(shí)現(xiàn)了私有化。
8 A, 英國(guó)煤礦業(yè)被稱(chēng)為生病工業(yè)。英國(guó)的煤產(chǎn)量在一戰(zhàn)前達(dá)到頂點(diǎn)，如今的英國(guó)的煤礦業(yè)衰退，從而導(dǎo)致礦工的數(shù)量、煤礦的總產(chǎn)量大大下降。
9 B, 第一臺(tái)蒸汽機(jī)是 Thomas Newcomer 在17世紀(jì)末設(shè)計(jì)的，后來(lái)蘇格蘭發(fā)明家瓦特在1765年對(duì)原有的設(shè)計(jì)進(jìn)行了改進(jìn)提高，生產(chǎn)出了第一臺(tái)高效的蒸汽機(jī)并應(yīng)用到紡織和其他機(jī)械業(yè)中。
10 B, 工業(yè)革命產(chǎn)生了工人階級(jí)，即無(wú)產(chǎn)階級(jí)。后來(lái)形成了工會(huì)制度。