The fire of London ______ on a night of September, 1666. A．was broken out B．had broken o

A．was destroyed

B．destroy

C．were destroying

don, at least ten priceless paintings were completely destroyed.

(A) broke off (C) broke down

(B) broke out (D) broke up

【题目描述】

第59题：When a fire ________ at the National Exhibition in London, at least ten priceless paintings were completely destroyed. A) broke off

B) broke out

C) broke down

D) broke up

【我提交的答案】： B

【参考答案与解析】： 正确答案：B

答案分析：

【我的疑问】（如下，请求专家帮助解答）

break off 是什么意思？

it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. One hundred thousand people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives. The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King’s baker(面包师) in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window in the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery (面包房) into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the eginning. By eight o’clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Paul’s and the Guildhall were among them. Samuel Pepys, the famous writer, wrote about the fire. People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat. The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the paths of the fire. With nothing left to burn , the fire became weak and finally died out. After the fire, Christopher Wren ,the architect , wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone. In fact, the streets are still narrow, but he did build more than fifty churches, and the new St Paul’s is among them. The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place : a city for the future and not just of the past.

1The fire began in ____.

A.a hotel

B.the palace

C.Pudding Lane

D.Thames Street

2The underlined word “family” in the second paragraph means _____.

A.home

B.children

C.wife and husband

D.wife and children

3It seems that the writer of the text was most sorry for the fact that______.

A.some people lost their lives

B.the birds in the sky were killed by the fire

C.many famous buildings were destroyed

D.the King’s bakery was burned down

4Why did the writer cite (引用)Samuel Pepys ？

A.Because Pepys was among those putting out the fire.

B.Because Pepys also wrote about the fire.

C.To show that poor people suffered most.

D.To give the reader a clearer picture of the fire.

5How was the fire put out according to the text？

A.The King and his soldiers came to help.

B.All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed.

C.People managed to get enough water from the river.

D.Houses standing in the direction of the fire were pulled down.

阅读材料，回答题。

Do you know insurance (保险)？Buying insurance is a means by which people can protect themselves____51____large losses. Protection against fire is one kind of insurance. Large numbers of people pay____52____sums of money to an insurance company. Although thousands of people have paid for fire insurance, only____53____will lose their homes by fire. The insurance company will pay for these homes out of the sums of money it has collected.

The first modem fire insurance company was____54____in London, England, in 1666. A great fire had just____55____most of the city, and people wanted to protect against____56____losses. The fire company grew rapidly. Soon, other companies were founded in other areas.

Benjamin Franklin helped form. the first fire insurance company in America in 1752. He also____57____a new kind of insurance for farmers. The new insurance would offer protection against the loss of crops by storm.

In 1759, Benjamin Franklin helped start____58____new insurance. This company, which offered life insurance, collected some money regularly from different men. Although a man died, his family was given a large sum of money. Today, this company is still in business.

Over the years, people have____59____from many new kinds of insurance when they have suffered from such accidents as car, plane crashes. Tomorrow, almost everyone has____60____kind of insurance.

______ 查看材料

A.against

B.to

C.from

D.on

Passage Two

I was only eight years old when the Second World War ended, but I can still remember something about the victory celebrations in the small town where I lived on the day when the war in Europe ended. We had not suffered much from the war there. But both at home and at school I had become accustomed to the phrases "before the war" and "when the war's over". "Before the war", apparently, things had been better, though I was too young to understand why, except that there had been no bombs then, and people had eaten things like ice -cream and bananas, which I had only heard of . When the war was over we would go back to London, but this meant little to me. I did not remember what London was like.

What I remember now about VE (Victory in Europe) Day was the May evening. After dinner I said I wanted to see the bonfire (大火堆) , so when it got dark my father took me to the end of the street. The bonfire was very high, and somehow people had collected some old clothes to dress the un- mistakable figure with the moustache (胡子) they had to put on top of it. Just as we arrived, they set light to it. The flames rose and soon swallowed the "guy". Everyone was cheering and shouting, and an old woman came out of her house with two chairs and threw them on the fire to keep it going.

I stood beside my father until the fire started to go down, not knowing what to say. He said nothing, either. He had fought in the First World War and may have been remembering the end of that. At last he said, "Well, that's it, son. Let's hope that this time it really will be the last one."

40. Where did the author live before the Second World War？

A. In London.

B. In a small town.

C. In Europe.

D. In the countryside.

hing about the victory celebrations in the small town where I lived. We had not suffered much from the war there, though like most children of my age, I was used to see-ing bombed houses in the streets and the enormous army lorries passing through. But both at home and at school I had become accustomed to the phrases "before the war" and "when the war's over." "Before the war," apparently, things had been better, though I was too young to understand why, except there had been no bombs then, and people had eaten things like ice cream and bananas, which I had only heard of. When the war was over, we would go back to London, but this meant very little to me. I did not remember what Lon-don was like.

What I remember now about VE Day was the afternoon and the evening. It was a fine May day. I remember coming home at about five o'clock. My father and mother came in about an hour later. After dinner I said I wanted to see the bonfire (篝火), so when it got dark my father took me to the end of the street. The bonfire was very high, and some peo-ple had collected some old clothes to dress the unmistakable figure with the moustache (小胡子) they had put on top of it. Just as we arrived, they set light to it. The flames rose and soon covered the "guy." Everyone was cheering and shouting, and an old woman came out of her house with two chairs and threw them on the fire to keep the fire going.

I stood beside my father until the fire started to go down, not knowing what to say. He said nothing either. He had fought in the First World War and may have been remem-bering the end of that. At last he said, "Well, that's it, son. Let's hope that this time it really will be the last one. "

Where did the narrator live before the Second World War？

A．In a small city.

B．In London.

C．In Europe.

D．In the countryside.

rious 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(资讯法庭) 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.

In the "legal battle", it was ruled by court that ______.

A．many universities had buildings at serious risk

B．the risk of university buildings should be revealed

C．the Guardian mustn't interfere in university administration

D．universities should improve the quality of their buildings