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  3. Twenty years ago, a tall young woman with a shy smile flubbed her lines before millions of people and became a superstar. On Jul

Twenty years ago, a tall young woman with a shy smile flubbed her lines before millions of people and became a superstar. On Jul

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问题     Twenty years ago, a tall young woman with a shy smile flubbed her lines before millions of people and became a superstar. On July 29, 1981, Lady Diana Spencer took "Philip Charles Arthur George"—she mangled the order of Prince Charles’ names during her vows—as her lawful wedded husband and entered a family hidebound by practices no outsider could fathom.
    Diana, with her photogenic good looks, her sympathetic gestures and an air of vulnerability, seemed much more relaxed than the other royals, and much more accessible. She instantly clicked with the public, who couldn’t get enough of her.
    Newspaper editors found the public was eager to lap up articles about Diana, her clothes, her style, her public engagements, how she was raising her two young sons. The ’80s, says Houston, were "the Decade of Diana."
    Then, in June 1992, the carefully constructed facade imploded with the publication of Andrew Morton’s Diana: Her True Story. The book—written with Diana’s cooperation—exposed the princess’s battles with bulimia and depression, and reviled Charles as an unfaithful husband.
    The revelations of Charles’ relationship with a married woman, Camilla Parker Bowles, sent the Prince of Wales’ popularity plummeting. But the revelations of Diana’s problems did not decrease the public’s affection for her. It only increased their appetite to know more.
    The tabloid fodder kept coming: There was the royal separation, the two camps’ attempts to woo the public, the televised admissions by both Charles and Diana of adultery. After the divorce became final, in 1996, the media continued to follow Diana’s every move. And then, on Aug. 31, 1997, came the car crash in a Paris tunnel that claimed her life.
    The massive outpouring of public grief made the Windsors sit up and take notice. "The amazing eruption of emotion over her death got through to them that their world has had to change," says Houston.
    The person who really got the message was Prince Charles, who witnessed not only the public reaction but the grief of his own sons, William and Harry.
    "One of the great discussions, especially since Diana’s death, is, how does the House of Windsor modernize itself?" says Houston. "They certainly learned the lessons from the decade of Diana in terms of accessibility, discarding some of the more pompous aspects of formality."
    He says, "One of the greatest challenges the royal family faces is to overcome the apathy, however, the future looks bright for the royals. I think they’ve got a trump card in William."
What does "plummeting"(Para. 5)most probably mean in the context?
选项
答案Decreasing．/Falling．/Dropping．/Going down．
解析 第5段提到了查尔斯王子的婚外情丑闻，本题考点的单词用于形容这段婚外情丑闻对查尔斯王子的受欢迎程度的影响，按照逻辑，丑闻会让查尔斯王子的受欢迎程度一落千丈。再加上下一句But…did not decrease形成的对比，现在可以确认plummeting的意思就是“下降”“减少”的意思，可以表达为decreasing，falling，dropping，going down等近义词。
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