（友情提示：鼠标拖选单词即时翻译） 2011年高考 英语阅读理解分类汇编 历史地理类

1.（2011•安徽卷）D
Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English rulers tried to conquer(征服) Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the united kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work , forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived(复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish song which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.
【文章大意】本文从地理状况、人口发展、经济情况以及社会生活等方面介绍了爱尔兰共和国，让我们对这个美丽的国家有更进一步的了解。
68. What does the author tell us in paragraph 1?
A. How the Irish fought against the English.
B. How Ireland gained independence.
C. How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland.
D. How two “Irelands” came into being.
【解析】选D。主旨大意题。通读第一段可知，本段介绍了爱尔兰共和国(The Republic of Ireland)及北爱尔兰(Northern Ireland)的由来，故D项正确。