Big Ben’s famous clock will appear in time for it to do its most important yearly activity: marking the start of the New Year for thousands of people on London’s streets and millions more watching on television. The clock tower of Britain’s Houses of Parliament has been hidden in a repair project for over four years. Hundreds of workers are involved in the effort to fix the structure built in 1859.

 Nick Sturge, project manager for Sir Robert McAlpine’s special projects, said removing the scaffolding was an important step in the $107 million project. Scaffolding is a movable structure on which workers stand or sit while working high above the ground. “By New Year people will start to see a big difference; they’ll start to get their tower back,” he said. “The roofs will be fully visible along with the four clock faces.”

 The repair work includes replacing parts of the clock faces using handmade glass, Sturge said. The dial’s hands, numbers and other details have been repainted bright blue rather than the black long familiar to Londoners. Sturge said an early painting of Big Ben showed a color that was confirmed by a paint study to be Prussian blue.

 Big Ben is an internationally-known symbol of London and Britain’s parliamentary democracy(议会民主制). It is also one of the most photographed places in the city. The building was called the Clock Tower until 2012 when officials re-named it the Elizabeth Tower in honor of Britain’s Queen. The tower’s Great Bell, or Big Ben, marks the turning of the year with twelve strikes. That will be powered by an electric motor on January 1.

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1.What is Big Ben’s most important yearly activity?

A Striking to announce the New Year.

B Appearing on TV to let people see it.

C Repairing at the start of the New Year.

D Watching people hiding on the streets.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据第一段可知，大本钟最重要的年度活动是在新年开始的时候，为伦敦街头成千上万的人和电视机前数百万的观众敲响新年的第一钟，故选A。

2.What might be the Chinese meaning of “scaffolding” in Para. 2?

A 沙水泥.

B 松土机.

C 取样筒.

D 脚手架.

解析：选D。D 词义猜测题。根据第二段的“Scaffolding is a movable structure on which workers stand or sit while working high above the ground.”可知scaffolding是一种可移动的结构，工人在高处工作时可以在上面站着或坐着，D项的“脚手架”最符合文意，故选D。

3.What does the repair work include?

A Repainting the clock faces.

B Repainting parts of the clock.

C Studying the color Prussian blue.

D Installing handmade dial’s numbers.

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据第三段可知，修复工作包括用手工玻璃替换部分钟面，把表盘的指针、数字和其他细节重新粉刷成亮蓝色，故选B。

4.What can we infer from the last paragraph about Big Ben?

A It is the symbol of London.

B It is very welcome in London.

C Its former name was Great Bell.

D It will be powered by electric motorbike.

解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据第四段“It is also one of the most photographed places in the city.”可知大本钟是伦敦被拍照最多的地方之一，可推断大本钟在伦敦非常受欢迎，故选B。