大学英语四级阅读理解每日一练6.pdf

新东方英语四级：/kcnet1820/ 四级qq群：238407043 口音是英国划分等级阶层的最大依据 As regards social conventions, we must say a word about the well-known English class system. 『This is an embarrassing subject for English people, and one they tend to be ashamed of, though during the present century class-consciousness has grownless and less,andtheclasssystem less rigid.』① Butit stillexists below thesurface. Broadly speaking, it meansthere are two classes, the “middle class” and the “working class”. (We shall ignore for a moment the old “upper class”, including the hereditary aristocracy, since it is extremely small in numbers; but someof itsmembershave the righttositin the HouseofLords, andsome newspapers takeasurprisinginterestintheirprivatelife.)Themiddleclassconsistschiefly of well-to-do businessmen and professional people of all kinds. The working class consists chiefly of manual and unskilled workers. Themostobviousdifferencebetweenthemisintheiraccent.Middle-classpeople useslightlyvaryingkindsof “receivedpronunciation”whichisthekindofEnglish spokenbyBBCannouncersandtaughttooverseaspupils.Typicalworking-classpeople speak in many different local accents which are generally felt to be rather ugly and uneducated. One of the biggest barriers of social equality in England is the two-class education system. To have been to a so-called “public school” immediately marks you out as one of the middle class. The middle classes tend to live a more formal life than working-class people, and are usually more cultured. Their midday meal is “lunch” and they have a rather formal evening meal called “dinner”, whereas the working man’s dinner, if his working hours permit, is at midday, and his smaller, late-evening meal is called supper. As we have said, however, the class system is much less rigid than it was, and for a long time it has been government policy to reduce class distinctions. 『Working-classstudentsverycommonlyreceiveauniversityeducationandenterthe