PART III    READING COMPREHENSION (40 MIN.)
　
SECTION A: READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN.)
In this section there are four reading passages followed by fifteen multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your Answer Sheet.

TEXT    A
　
The House of Lords has a charm few people seem able to resist. The more cut-off it becomes from everyday life, the greater its attraction for weary businessmen and politicians. On the road outside the word "Peers" is painted across the car-park in large white letters. Inside a tall ex-Guardsman directs you through the vaulted entrance hall, past a long row of elaborate gothic coat-hooks, each one labeled, beginning with the royal dukes -- one of the many features of the building reminiscent of a school.
　
Upstairs you come to a series of high, dark rooms, with gothic woodwork and carved ceilings. A life-size white marble statue of the young Queen Victoria watches elderly peers sitting at tables writing letters on gothic writing paper. Doors lead off to long dining-rooms, one for guests, another for peers only and to a large bar looking over the river, which serves drinks all day and sells special "House of Lords" cigarettes. Other closed doors are simply marked "Peers" -- an embarrassing ambiguity for lady peers, for "peers" can mean the Lords equivalent of "gentle-men".
　
There is an atmosphere of contented old age. The rooms are full of half-remembered faces of famous men or politicians one had -- how shall one put it -- forgotten were still around. There is banter between left-wing peers and right-wing peers and a great deal of talk about operations and ailments and nursing homes.
　
Leading off the man ante-room is the chamber itself -- the fine flower of the Victorian romantic style. It is small, only eighty feet long. Stained glass windows shed a dark red light, and rows of statues look down from the walls. On either side are long red-leather sofas with dark wooden choir stalls at the back. Between the two sides is "the Woolsack", the traditional seat of the Lord Chancellor, stuffed with bits of wool from all over the Commonwealth. At the far end is an immense gold canopy, with twenty-foot high candlesticks in the middle, the throne from which the monarch opens Parliament.
　
Leaning back, on the sofa, whispering, putting their feet up, listening, fumbling with papers, making notes or simply sleeping, are the peers. On a full day, which is rear, you can see them in their groups: bishops, judges, industrial peers. But usually there is only a handful of peers sitting in the room, though since peers have been paid three guineas for attending, there are often an average of 110 peers in an afternoon.
　
In the imposing surroundings it is sometimes difficult to remember how unimportant the Lords are. The most that the Lords can do now is delay a bill a year, and any "money bill" they can delay for only a month. Their main impact comes from the few inches of space in next morning's papers. The Prime Minister can create as many peers as he likes and, though to carry out the threat would be embarrassing, the nightmare is real enough to bring the peers to heel.

36. The author feels that House of Lords is ____
A. delightful, but out of touch with the modern world.
B. remote from daily life and rather tired.
C. a place that businessmen and politicians like resting in.
D. an excellent resting place for politicians and businessmen.
正确答案是

37. Many members of the House of Lord are ____
A. well-known politicians and famous TV personalities.
B. distinguished and celebrated politicians.
C. notorious and remarkable men.
D. men who have dropped out of the world in which they became well-know.
正确答案是

38. The only real influence the peers have now is ____
A. to delay money bills for one year if they don't agree with them.
B. if their speeches affect pubic opinion through the newspapers.
C. that they can make the Prime Minister nervous if they threaten not to agree to his bills.
D. they can refuse to accept any government act for one year.
正确答案是