2015同等学力英语阅读理解练习(38)

　　Foreigners are a hot topic in Britain. Opinion polls consistently rate asylum and immigration as one of voters’ main concerns, and right-wing parties of varying degrees of extremism have been profiting by playing up the threat to the British way of life posed by a flood of unwashed foreigners。

　　So a report published this week by the UNHCR will make welcome reading for the government. It shows asylum applications to industrialized countries falling sharply, continuing the downward trend of the past three years. But one statistic will be of special significance: while Britain was the most popular rich-country destination in 2003, it has now fallen into second place behind France。

　　So what’s behind the drop in applications? One reason is simply that there are fewer asylum-seekers. The UNHCR reckons that, in the first half of 2004, the number of people seeking sanctuary in rich countries fell by 22% compared with the same period last year. Part of the drop is due to the removal of unpopular governments; Iraqis and Afghans, in particular, have stopped leaving home in such large numbers. Iraqis were the biggest single group of refugees at the start of 2003, marking 11,094 applications. By the second quarter of this year that had fallen to only 2,070. Afghans have seen a similar, though slightly less precipitous, decline。

　　But a fall in the general level of asylum-seeking worldwide doesn’t explain why Britain has lost its particular attractiveness as a sanctuary. While asylum applications in Europe have fallen by 20% in the past six months, applications to Britain are down by a 37%。

　　Aware of public anxiety, the government has been making life increasingly difficult for anyone trying to reach Britain. British immigration officers now conduct patrols in France, aiming to catch stowaways on trains or ferries. High-tech scanning machines have been installed in European ports to detect people hiding in cargo shipments. “We think it’s the huge number of barriers that have gone up that prevent people from claiming asylum,” says Hannah Ward of the Refugee Council. “To claim asylum, you actually have to get to the UK。”

　　The asylum system still needs reform. Even when applications are turned down, most people are never removed from the country. The approvals process itself needs work, too: one in five of all appeals is currently upheld, and the number rises to more than 40% for Somalis, Sudanese and Eritreans, suggesting that officials are doing a bad job of processing the initial applications. But if fewer foreigners are coming, voters won’t mind so much that the system is a mess。

　　1.Downing Street No.10 will benefit from_____。

　　[A] a recently released account [B] a consistent opinion poll

　　[C] the right-wing parties [D] a flood of unwashed foreigners

　　2.Hannah Ward’s remarks are quoted to _____。

　　[A] clarify the welcome reading by UNHCR

　　[B] emphasize the awareness of public anxiety

　　[C] indicate the cause of application dive

　　[D] categorize the stowaways and cargo shipments

　　3.The term “work” in Line 2, paragraph 6 denotes_____。

　　[A] function [B] improvement [C] publicity [D] visibility

　　4.It can be inferred from the text that voters simply care_____。

　　[A] a hot topic

　　[B] varying degrees of extremism

　　[C] the number of immigrants

　　[D] a flood of high-tech scanning machines

　　5.Which of the following could be the best title for the text?

　　[A] Asylum applications. [B] A worldwide decline。

　　[C] A messy system. [D] From flood to trickle。

　　参考答案：A　C　B　C　D