user: British society is considered to be divided into three main groups of classes--the Upper Class, the Middle Class, and the Lower or Working Class. This is known as the Class system and it is important to know something about it if you want to understand British people and society. Most British people grow up with a deep knowledge and understanding of the class system even if they are not very conscious of it. Most people know which class they belong to by the way they speak, their clothes, their interests or even the type of food they eat. Social class is not only about behavior and attitudes. For example, although many upper class people are rich and may own a lot of land, having a lot of money does not make a person upper class. It is also important to come from a particular kind of family, have friends who are considered suitable, have been to a certain type of private school and speak with the right kind of accent. There are people who are poor but who do not think of themselves as working class, because their family background, education, political opinions, etc. are different from those of most working-class people. Many people do not like the class system but it is impossible to pretend that these differences do not exist or that British people do not sometimes form opinions in this way. If an Englishman has much money,   _  . A) he belongs to the middle class B) he must be a member of the upper class C) he is not likely to be from the upper class D) he may buy an upper class title with the money
C


Recently, one of my best friends, whom I've shared just about everything with since the first day of kindergarten, spent the weekend with me.Since I moved to a new town several years ago, we've both always looked forward to the few times a year when we can see each other. Over the weekend, we spent hours and hours, staying up late into the night, talking about the people she was hanging around with.She started telling me stories about her new boyfriend, about how he experimented with drugs and was into other self-destructive behavior.I was blown away! She told me how she had been lying to her parents about where she was going and even stealing out to see this guy because they didn't want her around him.No matter how hard I tried to tell her that she deserved better, she didn't believe me.Her self-respect seemed to have disappeared. I tried to convince her that she was ruining her future and heading for big trouble.I felt like I was getting nowhere.I just couldn't believe that she really thought it was acceptable to hang with a bunch of losers, especially her boyfriend. By the time she left, I was really worried about her and exhausted by the experience.It had been so frustrating, I had come close to telling her several times during the weekend that maybe we had just grown too far apart to continue our friendship,but I didn't.I put the power of friendship to the final test.We'd been friends for far too long.I had to hope that she valued me enough to know that I was trying to save her from hurting herself.I wanted to believe that our friendship could conquer anything. A few days later, she called to say that she had thought long and hard about our conversation, and then she told me that she had broken up with her boyfriend.I just listened on the other end of the phone with tears of joy running down my face.It was one of the truly rewarding moments in my life.Never had I been so proud of a friend. What can be concluded from the passage? A) Friendship starting from childhood is not reliable. B) Friendship is a cure for any injury in life. C) Friendship should be everlasting once begun. D) Friendship can have magical power in life.
D


*Question*
On Saturday, February 12 two thousand, two things happened that changed everything in my life. The first was that on this day my baby sister was married. She was twenty-six this day, and yet to me she was still my baby sister. I suppose that I pictured her as a little girl, and treated her like one in order to hold onto and preserve my own youth. Until I saw her in her wedding dress I still had a vision of her with chubby little cheeks and long, dark-brown pigtails  blowing in the wind, perhaps even a permanent smudge of chocolate around her pink lips. I guess it's true that you see only what you want to see. Where did this beautiful woman with the glowing complexion and gentle curves  come from? I was happy that day, and also sad. Gone were the days of me bossingher around and telling her what she should do with her life. My bossy behavior had earned me the nickname Lucy. If you are a Peanuts fan then you can clearly imagine my behavior as an older sister. To me it wasn't an insult; I rather like the nickname Lucy. I happen to think that Lucy is strong and has incredible self-confidence, although she is a little overbearing  at times. I did my best to live up to the standards set forth by this dynamic cartoon character. I left the reception to get some air because suddenly I was overcome with grief at the realization that I was no longer a child. I went outside and walked to a nearby playground where there were children playing on the slide, the swings and digging in the dirt. There was a little girl twirlingaround on a bar, one knee wrapped tightly around the bar and fashioned behind her knee. It was all I could do to sit there and just watch, for I too wanted to get on that bar with her and see if I could still hold the all-timetwirlingrecord (ninety-nine times in fifth grade). Somewhere inside I knew that I would break my neck, and I was wearing abridesmaiddress. Not exactly playground material. And so I sat watching the children play. I'm not sure how long I sat there before my sister came and joined me.... What can you infer from the passage? A) The author's cousin Tom was sad about the death of Charles Schultz. B) The author lost many things on that day. C) The author had a husband and a child of her own. D) Charles Schultz had a great influence on the author's life.
**Answer**


assistant: D