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  3. Susan Baroness Greenfield is a British institution. In a country that perceives its scientists as white-coated eccentrics, and p

Susan Baroness Greenfield is a British institution. In a country that perceives its scientists as white-coated eccentrics, and p

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问题     Susan Baroness Greenfield is a British institution. In a country that perceives its scientists as white-coated eccentrics, and probably male, Lady Greenfield is fashionable, extravagant, and female. At least, that is the image she has sought to project as a populariser of science. She is accused, though, of bringing another British institution, the Royal Institution (RI), to the verge of bankruptcy. The RI, of which she was director from 1998 until last Friday (January 8th), has made her job redundant. She says she plans to respond with a suit for sexual discrimination.
    Lady Greenfield, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, was recruited to shake up the two-century-old institution because she had made a name for herself, particularly on television, as one of the popular faces of science. The RI is, in part, a members’ club famous for its Christmas lectures "adapted to a juvenile audience" , which are broadcast on television every year, and its Friday evening discourses (black ties, please, gentlemen), in which prominent scientists chat about their work for precisely an hour—no more and no less—before everyone is served tea and chocolate cake. But it is also a serious research laboratory (one of the longest-established in the world), looking into things like the medical applications of nanotechnology.
    Lady Greenfield’s offence, if offence it be, was to modernize the RI’s headquarters in May-fair, one of the most stylish parts of London, without proper cost control. The redecoration included a high-class bar and restaurant that are open to the general public. Sadly, these opened for business in October 2008—the least favorable moment imaginable for such a venture.
    The redecoration, which cost ￡22m, much of which was raised by selling the institution’s shares of property, has left the RI ￡3m in debt, and the trustees have decided that one way to cut costs is to cut the job of director. Lady Greenfield, the first female director in a line that stretches back through Michael Faraday to Humphry Davy, seems to suspect that financial considerations were not the only ones when this decision was made.
    Instead of a director, the RI is to be led by a newly-invented chief executive officer, in the person of Chris Rofe. Mr. Rofe, who was appointed in April 2009, has a degree in business administration, not science. Given the debt, though, perhaps an alchemist, a person who devotes himself to turning ordinary metals into gold, would be the most appropriate person for the job.
By saying Lady Greenfield is "a British institution" , the author means
选项 A、she is well-known in Britain.
B、she owns a British association.
C、she is suing a British institution.
D、she is accused by a British institution.
答案A
解析 该题为句意理解题。由第一段的第三句“At least，that is the image she has sought to project as a populariser of science．”和第二段的第一句“…because she had made a name for herself，particularly on television，as one of the popular faces of science．”可知，格林菲尔德夫人是英国很有名的一个人物，经常出现在电视屏幕上。选项B、C、D都属于理解错误，故选A。
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