For thousands of years, the most important two buildings in any British village have been the church and the pub. In fact, until a place has a church and a pub, it is not really considered a community worthy of a name. Traditionally, the church and the pub are at the heart of any village or town, where the people gather together to socialize and exchange news. They are institutions at the heart of British society. After all, the word ‘pub’ is actually short for ‘public house’.
As a result, British pubs are often old and well preserved. Many of them have become historic sites. that tourists visit. One of the most famous examples is the city of Nottingham called “The Old Trip to Jerusalem”, which dates back to the year AD 1189 and is probably the oldest pub in England. It was the same year in which kings Richard the first came into power, who led the First Crusade into the Holy Land, towards Jerusalem.
Many British pubs have old names referring to governors, such as The King's Head or The Queen Victoria, but of course this doesn’t mean they are only for kings and queens. Pubs have always welcome people from all classes and parts of society. On a cold night, the pub's landlord or landlady can always find a warm place for you by the fire. There is always honest and hearty food and plenty of drink available at an affordable price.
That’s how things used to be. but there are worrying signs that things are beginning to change. Economic downturns, governmental financial measures, and cultural changes are causing many pubs to go out of business. People do not have a lot of spare money to spend on beer. On top of that, in 2007 smoking was banned in all public indoor spaces, including pubs, which may also have affected the numbers of customers going to pubs since then.
This decline is happening despite the fact that pubs are now allow by law to stay open after 11 pm. Previously, with 11 pm as closing time, customers would have to drink quite quickly, meaning they sometimes got more drunk than they would if allowed to drink slowly. The British habit of drinking is known as “binge drinking”, and it causes long-term health problems individuals and problems with violent crime for communities. The UK government is trying to find ways of discouraging binge drinking, and regularly spends money on television commercials to warn people of the problems of king too much.
【小题1】Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?| A．British pubs are preserved well mainly to attract tourists from all of the world. |
| B．British pubs are quite popular and accessible to people from all walks of life. |
| C．Most British pubs are going out of business because of economic and cultural bans. |
| D．Most British pubs have to shut down to adjust themselves to meet the smoking ban. |
| A．To stimulate customers to spend more on drinks. |
| B．To help British pubs survive economic downturns. |
| C．To encourage more sensible ways of drinking in pubs. |
| D．To get rid of violent crime in most part of Britain. |
| A．drinking too much and too quickly | B．social problems related to British pubs |
| C．a new long-term drinking approach | D．problems caused by drinking too much |
| A．Different methods to welcome new customers to pubs. |
| B．Various advertisements encouraging people to quit drinking. |
| C．The campaigns and strategies to support the traditional pubs. |
| D．Trends of migrating back from the modern wine bars to old ones. |
