Before the economy fell apart, it was Britain’s society that was supposed to be in terminal decline, especially in the eyes of the Tories. David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader, was wont to bemoan "broken Britain", mired in moral degeneracy, with high rates of teenage pregnancy, low rates of marriage and other less quantifiable breakdowns in the civilised scheme of things.
Such antediluvian worries were raked over again on July 13th when Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader, called for an official endorsement of marriage. Mr Duncan Smith cites several reasons to encourage wedlock, including family stability (married couples are much less likely to split than cohabiting ones ) and healthier children who do better in later life. There was talk of state-run counselling, pro-marriage propaganda in schools and mandatory "cooling-off" periods before divorces. Mr Duncan Smith favours tax breaks for married couples, something that Labour has long refused to endorse.
It is true that marriage is a declining institution. Marriage rates are at their lowest since 1895．But, curiously, those who do marry now stay together for longer. Divorce rates are falling, not rising, and have been for several years. In 2007 11.9 married couples per thousand untied the knot, down from 12.2 the year before and the lowest since 1981．The time that divorcing couples endure each other before flinging back the rings has lengthened too., from 10.1 years in 1981 to 11.7 in 2007．Indifference towards the sacrament of marriage appears strongest among the elderly, not the feckless young. Since 2004, when the overall divorce rate peaked at 14.1 per thousand, over-60s have been the only part of the population whose rates have continued to rise.
There are plenty of competing explanations for the diminishing appeal of divorce, and no easy way to discover which are true. Immigration may have helped, since immigrant families often have more conservative attitudes than the degenerate natives. Accountants and divorce lawyers reckon a string of recent big settlements may have acted as a deterrent (although it could equally have encouraged the poorer partners in financially unequal marriages).
Falling marriage rates and falling divorce rates could be two sides of the same coin, says Kathleen Kiernan, a professor of social policy at York University. The unpopularity of marriage and the relative ease of divorce has left only a hard core of stable couples bound in wedlock. And the rise in the average age at which people get married (now 36 for men and 33 for women) is helping too, since older brides and grooms tend to stay together longer in any case. If so, politicians should be cautious about handing out tax breaks. Even if they work (and Ms Kiernan thinks they would have to be enormous to have much effect), chivvying unmarried couples into wedlock is likely to mean more divorces in the future.
Which of the following is TRUE according to the text

A:Marriage rates now are the lowest since 18th century. B:Divorce rates in 2007 were lower than that of last year. C:Young people are more inclined to divorce than old people did. D:Marriage and divorce rates have been both increasing these years.

Part A
Directions:
Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D．
Text 1

Which of the following is TRUE according to the text

A:Marriage rates now are the lowest since 18th century. B:Divorce rates in 2007 were lower than that of last year. C:Young people are more inclined to divorce than old people did. D:Marriage and divorce rates have been both increasing these years.

Visitors from space may have landed on our planet dozens, even hundreds of times during the long, empty ages while Man was still a dream of the distant future. Indeed, they could have landed on 90 percent of the earth as recently as two or three hundred years ago, and we could never have heard of it. If one searches through old newspapers and local records, one can find many reports of strange incidents that could be interpreted as visits from outer space. A stimulating writer, Charles Fort, has made a collection of UFO sighting in his book! One is tempted to believe them more than any modern reports, for the simple reason that they happened long before anyone had ever thought of space travel. Yet at the same time, one can’t take them too seriously, for before scientific education was widespread, even sightings of meteors, comets, auroras, and so on, gave rise to the most incredible stories, as they still do today.

According to the passage, visitors from space may have landed on the earth （）

A:long before man had dreamed of it B:long before there were human beings C:in the last few hundred years D:after the space age began

Visitors from space may have landed on our planet dozens, even hundreds of times during the long, empty ages while Man was still a dream of the distant future. Indeed, they could have landed on 90 percent of the earth as recently as two or three hundred years ago, and we could never have heard of it. If one searches through old newspapers and local records, one can find many reports of strange incidents that could be interpreted as visits from outer space. A stimulating writer, Charles Fort, has made a collection of UFO sighting in his book! One is tempted to believe them more than any modern reports, for the simple reason that they happened long before anyone had ever thought of space travel. Yet at the same time, one can’t take them too seriously, for before scientific education was widespread, even sightings of meteors, comets, auroras, and so on, gave rise to the most incredible stories, as they still do today.
According to the passage, visitors from space may have landed on the earth ______.

A:long before man had dreamed of it B:long before there were human beings C:in the last few hundred years D:after the space age began

Passage Four
The English language we know today is about six hundred years old. For half that time, English was just the language of the people living in England. The modern English language grew by about the year 1 400. Now English is the most widely spoken language in the world. It is one of the working languages at international meetings, business, science and other fields.
The differences between American English and British English are not very great. Written English is more or less the same in both Britain and America, though there are some spelling differences. For example, centre, licence, colour and travelled are spelt as center, license, color and traveled in American English. In America "cock, rubber, iii, holiday, lorry, post... "are called "rooster, eraser, sick, vacation, truck, mail..." But people from the two countries can still understand each other easily.
There are only a very small number of differences in grammar between American English and British English. The most important differences are in spoken English. For example, Americans pronounce "tomato" differently from English people.
You may wonder "Which is correct" The answer is that it does not matter. You should speak either American English or British English. But do not try to speak both at the same time.

When was English only spoken in England（）

A:About the 6th century. B:Before the 17th century. C:Before the 14th century. D:Before the 15th century.

Passage Two

According to the passage, visitors from space may have landed on the earth ______.

A:long before man had dreamed of it B:long before there were human beings C:in the last few hundred years D:after the space age began

Passage Four The English language we know today is about six hundred years old. For half that time, English was just the language of the people living in England. The modern English language grew by about the year 1 400. Now English is the most widely spoken language in the world. It is one of the working languages at international meetings, business, science and other fields. The differences between American English and British English are not very great. Written English is more or less the same in both Britain and America, though there are some spelling differences. For example, centre, licence, colour and travelled are spelt as center, license, color and traveled in American English. In America "cock, rubber, iii, holiday, lorry, post... "are called "rooster, eraser, sick, vacation, truck, mail..." But people from the two countries can still understand each other easily. There are only a very small number of differences in grammar between American English and British English. The most important differences are in spoken English. For example, Americans pronounce "tomato" differently from English people. You may wonder "Which is correct" The answer is that it does not matter. You should speak either American English or British English. But do not try to speak both at the same time.

When was English only spoken in England（）

A:About the 6th century. B:Before the 17th century. C:Before the 14th century. D:Before the 15th century.