Our visit to the excavation of a Roman fort on a hill near Coventry was of more than archaeological interest. The year’s dig had

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问题     Our visit to the excavation of a Roman fort on a hill near Coventry was of more than archaeological interest. The year’s dig had been a fruitful one and had assembled evidence of a permanent military camp much larger than had at first been conjectured. We were greeted on the site by a group of excavators, some of them filling in a trench that had yielded an almost complete pot the day before, others enjoying the last-day luxury of a cigarette in the sun, but all happy to explain and talk about their work. If we had not already known it, nothing would have suggested that this was a party of prisoners from the nearby prison. This is not the first time that prison labor has been used in work of this kind, but here the experiment, now two years old, has proved outstandingly satisfactory.
    From the archaeologists’ point of view, prisoners provide a steady force of disciplined labor throughout the entire season, men to whom it is a serious day’s work, and not the rather carefree holiday job that it tends to be for the amateur archaeologist. Newcomers are comparatively few, and can soon be initiated by those already trained in the work. Prisoners may also be more accustomed to heavy work like shoveling and carting soil than the majority of students. When Coventry’s Keeper of Archaeology went to the prison to appeal for help, he was received cautiously by the men, but when the importance of the work was fully understood, far more volunteers were forthcoming than could actually be employed. When they got to work on the site, and their efforts produced pottery and building foundations in what until last year had been an ordinary field, their enthusiasm grew till they would sometimes work through their lunch hour and tea break, and even carry on in the rain rather than sit it out in the hut. This was undoubtedly because the work was not only strenuous but absorbing, and called for considerable intelligence. The men worked always under professional supervision, but as the season went on they needed less guidance and knew when an expert should be summoned. Disciplinary problems were negligible: the men were carefully selected for their good conduct and working on a party like this was too valuable a privilege to be thrown away.
    The Keeper of Archaeology said that this was by far the most satisfactory form of labor that he had ever had, and that it had produced results, in quantity and quality, that could not have been achieved by any other means.
How did prisoners demonstrate their attitude to work?

选项 A、By spending most of their time sitting in a hut.
B、By insisting on professional guidance.
C、By taking no initiative.
D、By working voluntarily.

答案D

解析 事实细节题。第二段段首在提到犯人们对考古挖掘的态度时用了serious一词,后面进行了具体阐述。其中该段第四、五句谈到:...far more volunteers were forthcoming..., they... work through their lunch hour and tea break, and even carry on in the rain...,故[D]正确。[C]与[D]相反,故[C]错误;[A]项表达是对第五句后半部分的错误理解,恰好与原文意思相反;[B]是对第七句中but后面的内容的误解,随着时间的流逝,对专家指导的需要越来越少,而非一直需要。
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