首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
Of all the cuts to public services, few have provoked such loud protests as proposals to close libraries. Petitions and curses h
Of all the cuts to public services, few have provoked such loud protests as proposals to close libraries. Petitions and curses h
admin
2013-06-26
90
问题
Of all the cuts to public services, few have provoked such loud protests as proposals to close libraries. Petitions and curses have been followed by legal challenges. On November 16th a judge in London ruled against plans to close 21 libraries in Gloucestershire and Somerset. Campaigners in Brent, in north-west London, have taken their fight against closures to the Court of Appeal.
Local politicians are startled. Keith Mitchell, leader of Oxfordshire county council, which was forced by public pressure to abandon plans to close many libraries, complained that protesters seemed much less upset by cuts to social care and rubbish collection. Visits to libraries have declined by 6. 7% in the past five years, according to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).
But this is to underestimate the symbolic role libraries play as a visible public good. A 2010 poll found that 69% of people had been to a library in the past year. More than 80% view libraries as " essential" or " very important".
Yet savings have to be made somewhere. If library closures cause protests, cuts must be done stealthily. In the 2010-11 fiscal year libraries acquired 7. 4% fewer adult fiction books and 13. 7% fewer non-fiction books than they had the year before. An older, less appealing stock could speed the decline in library visits.
Yet hard times are also forcing innovations that may help libraries in the long run. In a quiet success for David Cameron’s "Big Society" , the number of volunteer librarians has risen from 12,708 to 21,642 in the past five years. That trend has its critics, especially among professional librarians. But staff account for at least half the cost of running a library. Other savings could probably be made by consolidating England’s 151 library authorities, and by making better use of technology. "London has 32 library authorities but just one police authority," marvels Desmond Clarke, a library campaigner.
An entirely different option is to pour money into a single edifice in the hope that it will have a benign effect on the neighborhood. England’s most popular library is the Norfolk & Norwich Millennium, a multi-storey space in a sparkling new building with a restaurant and gallery, which lured nearly 1. 5m people last year. As the anchor of the development, the library attracts users who then linger and spend money nearby. Birmingham is building a new £ 188.8m library, the flagship of a development in the city centre that is due to open in 2013. Many of the city’s other 39 libraries could face cuts in service, including shorter opening hours and fewer staff. Libraries are not dead—just a little dusty.
In the author’s opinion, public libraries in Britain faces a______future.
选项
A、bleak
B、rosy
C、uncertain
D、despairing
答案
C
解析
整篇文章似乎都在讨论英国图书馆的没落,在经济危机的背景下,图书馆似乎必然会陷入无人问津的尴尬境地。但是文章有好几处显示了作者对于公共图书馆的信心,特别是在最后一段,有些地方政府通过建立图书馆带动当地经济发展的行为让作者看到了英国图书馆的曙光,因此他在最后一句话中说“Libraries are not dead—just a little dusty.”作者既没有悲观绝望,也不怀有十分的信心,这里[C]选项uncertain一词能十分准确地概括作者的态度。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/vKd4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Accordingtothepassage,CraigConway______.PeopleSoftclaimsthattheOracle’stakeoverofPeopleSoft
Whenenthusiaststalkofsustainabledevelopment,theeyesofmostpeopleglazeover.Thereisawhiffofsack-clothandashesa
Whenlabratssleep,theirbrainsrevisitthemazetheynavigatedduringtheday,accordingtoanewstudy(1)_____yesterday,o
Large,multinationalcorporationsmaybethecompanieswhoseupsanddownsseizeheadlines.Buttoafargreaterextentthanmos
TryingtogetAmericanstoeatahealthydietisafrustratingbusinesscanbeeasilyprovedbythefactthatItcanbeinferre
ThepurposeofthewebsiteistoTheauthor’spositiveattitudetowardsMilano’sworkisshownin
(46)Astechnologycontinuestoadvance,countriesmustdecidehowtheywilldealwiththeissueofhumancloningforreproductio
Thevaluewhichsocietyplacesonworkhastraditionallybeencloselyassociatedwiththevalueofindividualismandasaresult
(46)TelevisionhastransformedpoliticsintheUnitedStatesbychangingthewayinwhichinformationisdistributed,byalterin
Theenergycontainedinrockwithintheearth’scrustrepresentsanearlyunlimitedenergysource,butuntilrecentlycommercial
随机试题
某资产于2000年2月购进,2010年2月评估时名义已使用年限10年。该资产技术指标正常使用情况下,每天应工作8小时,该资产实际每天工作7.5小时(一年按360天计算)。要求:计算其实际已使用年限。
A.润滑作用B.缓冲作用C.杀菌和抗菌D.消化作用E.吞噬作用淀粉酶的作用是
A.10日用量B.7日用量C.5日用量D.3日用量E.1日用量急诊处方开具的药物,一般不得超过的用量是()
图为某城市火车站地区局部的道路网布局方案示意,C-C为城市快速路,与主干道5-5交叉处已建有互通式立交,与火车站相通的南北轴线B/5-B/7为生活性干道。其他道路为城市主次干道。请你分析该方案存在的主要问题,并提出改进意见。
某日化厂为增值税一般纳税人,2008年8月发生以下业务:(1)生产成套化妆品礼品盒1000套全部售出,不含税销售单价为每套90元,外购原材料70000元,取得增值税发票,注明税款11900元;(2)三八妇女节发给本厂职工一批化妆品,该企业无同类产品价格
下列关于股利分配理论的说法中,错误的是()。
不能制止同事违规行为的要及时报告()
“用名以乱实”指的是任意改变约定俗成的“名”(即概念)的界说和范同,扰乱人们对“实”(即客观事物本身)的认识。根据上述定义,下列属于“用名以乱实”的是()。
保护计算机网络设备免受环境事故的影响属于信息安全的(48)。
有以下程序main(){chara=’H’;a=(a>=’A’&&a
最新回复
(
0
)