Question

Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work , forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived(復興) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish song which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.
【小題1】What does the author tell us in paragraph 1?

A．How the Irish fought against the English.

B．How Ireland gained independence.

C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland.

D．How two “Irelands” came into being..

【小題2】We learn from the text that in Ireland            .

A．food shortages in the 1840s led to a decrease in population

B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside

C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker

D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments

【小題3】The last paragraph is mainly about               .

A．the Irish character	B．Irish culture
C．Irish musical instruments	D．a(chǎn) famous Irish writer

【小題4】 What can be the best title for the text?

A．Life in Ireland

B．A Very Difficult History

C．Ireland, Past and Present

D．The Independence of Ireland

Answer 1

【小題1】D
【小題1】A
【小題1】B
【小題1】C

解析【小題1】根據(jù)第一段Ireland has had a very difficult history.及下文描述可知，本文主要描述了愛爾蘭人是如何反抗英國人的，故選D。
【小題1】根據(jù)In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger.描述，可知食物短缺導致了人口減少。故選A。
【小題1】根據(jù)Since independence, Ireland has revived(復興) its own culture 及本段描述，可知本段主要描述了愛爾蘭的文化，故選B。
【小題1】這篇短文主要介紹愛爾蘭的歷史和近代以來的發(fā)展情況。故選C，愛爾蘭的過去和現(xiàn)在。