篇章結構練習

It is impossible to imagine Paris without its cafés. The city has some 12,000 cafés varying in size, grandeur, and significance. The cafés are like an extension of the French living room, a place to start and end the day, to gossip and debate. (41) The oldest café in Paris isLe Procope. It was opened in 1686 by Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, the man who turned France into a coffee-drinking society. (42) By the end of 18th century, all of Paris was intoxicated with coffee and the city supported some 700 cafés. (43) By the 1840s the number of cafés had grown to 3,000. The men who gathered in these cafés and set the theme of the times included journalists, playwrights and writers. Around the turn of the 20th century, the sidewalk cafés became the meeting halls for artists and literary figures. (44) The artists gathered at the café may not be as great as those of the past, but faces worthwatching are just the same. (45)You’ll see the old men in navy berets; ultra-thin, bronzed women with hair dyed bright orange; and schoolchildren sharing an afternoon chocolate with their mothers. The café in Paris has always been a place for seeing and being seen.

(A) When did the cafés in France start?
(B) Linger a bit and you will see that the Parisian stereotypes are still alive and well.
(C) Nowadays in Paris cafés still play the role of picture windowsfor observing contemporary life.
(D) These were like all-male clubs, with many functioning as centers of political life and discussion.
(E) Le Procope attracted Paris’s political and literary elite, and thus played an important part among the upper class.

答案：(41) A (42) E (43) D (44) C (45)Ｂ
--

Today, millions of people want to learn or improve their English but it is difficult to find the best method. Is it better to study in Britain or America or to study in your own country?

The advantages of going to Britain seem obvious. Firstly, you will be able to listen to the language all the time you are in the country. You will be surrounded completely by the language wherever you go. Another advantage is that you have to speak the language if you are with other people. In Italy, it is always possible, in the class, to speak Italian if you want to and the learning is slower.

On the other hand, there are also advantages to staying at home to study. You don't have to make big changes to your life. As well as this, it is also a lot cheaper than going to Britain but it is never possible to achieve the results of living in the UK. If you have a good teacher in Italy, I think you can learn in a more concentrated way than being in Britain without going to a school.

So, in conclusion, I think that if you have enough time and enough money, the best choice is to spend some time in the UK. This is simply not possible for most people, so being here in Italy is the only viable option. The most important thing to do in this situation is to maximise your opportunities: to speak only English in class and to try to use English whenever possible outside the class.

--