John Lee likes to tinker with vehicles: his four-wheel-drive resembles a tractor more than a car. "It’s watertight," he smiles.

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问题     John Lee likes to tinker with vehicles: his four-wheel-drive resembles a tractor more than a car. "It’s watertight," he smiles. For the past week he has been driving down sodden lanes in Surrey, southwest of London, transporting people and medicines. Flooding is a misery, but at least it provides an opportunity to show off a set of wheels.
    Much of southern England is now sodden, and parts of the Thames Valley and Somerset are simply underwater. In Shepperton, a town in Surrey, the village green used for the summer fete is best reached by canoe. In Devon a sea wall has collapsed, shutting down a vital railway link to the south-west. As The Economist went to press, 16 severe flood warnings had been issued by the Environment Agency, a much-criticised quango that oversees flood defence.
    Floods are like snowflakes, says Andrew McKenzie of the British Geological Survey, a research body: none is quite like another. Rivers can overflow, as in Somerset. Groundwater can flood, as in the Thames Valley. Tides can surge, inundating villages, as they have in Lincolnshire. Rain can pound down too quickly to be absorbed. None of these is rare on its own. But over the past two months Britain has been subject to the whole lot, often in combination, over a large area.
    Last month was the wettest January in southern England since 1910. The rain was unusually prolonged, falling on 23 days out of 31, a four-decade record. Rain continues to fall on this sodden ground. As a result, the Thames river has been running high for longer than at any point since records began in 1883. The calamitous floods that struck England in 1947, by contrast, were over much more quickly.
    Fingers have been pointed at the government, for squeezing the Environment Agency’s budget. According to the Committee on Climate Change, an independent body, government funding for flood management between 2011 and 2015 will be less than in the previous four years, even in cash terms. The maintenance budget was cut particularly savagely, says Iain Sturdy of the Somerset drainage board.
According to Paragraph 4, which one of the following is true?

选项 A、The day of rain in this January broke a century record.
B、The water level of the Thames has been highest in history.
C、In 1947, another serious flood struck England but was over soon.
D、The rain had been falling for 31 days, which broke a 40-year record.

答案C

解析 选项A对应该段第一句:Last month was the wettest January in southern England since 1910.大意为:今年一月是自1910年以来英国南部降雨最多的一次。原文说的是“降雨最多”,而不是该项说的“降雨天数最多”,该项属于偷换概念,故错误。选项B对应第四句:As a result,the Thames fiver has been running high for longer than at any point since records began in 1883.原文说的是“高水位持续时间最长”,而不是该项的“达到历史最高水位”,该项也是偷换概念,故错误。选项C对应最后一句:The calamitous floods that struck England in 1947, by contrast, were over much more quickly. 该项正确,其中“over soon”=“over much more quickly”。选项D对应第二句:The rain was unusually prolonged, falling on 23 days out of 31, a four-decade record. 该项与原文明显不符,原文说的是“23 days out of 31”,而不是该项的“for 31 days”。综上所述,答案为选项C。
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