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  3. It is quite a feat to be invisible while occupying substantial buildings in

It is quite a feat to be invisible while occupying substantial buildings in

游客2023-12-02  44
问题     It is quite a feat to be invisible while occupying substantial buildings in central London flanking the Royal Academy of Arts. But that’s just what the Linnean Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Geological Society of London, the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Astronomical Society managed to do for nearly a century. Then, in 2004, Her Majesty’s Government not only noticed but also questioned their right to remain at Burlington House, as the complex is called. To the Learned Societies this may have seemed a bitter irony. In 1857,the government of a previous queen had built Burlington House expressly to house them all. Reverence for such institutions, along with the value of real estate, was not what it had been in Victoria’s day. But their terms of occupancy remained unchanged.
    When they moved into Burlington House, only the Royal Academy, run by supposedly impractical artists, asked for a lease. It was given 999 years at a peppercorn rent. The Societies and their allegedly hard-headed scientist members, were leaseless and rent-free. As decades passed, keeping a low profile must have seemed a sensible idea. Indeed, by 1920,some fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL),thought it essential. When a 1919 Act of Parliament made it illegal to bar women from such societies merely because of their gender, a committee of SAL fellows pressed for immediate action: women must be invited to become fellows at once. This was not in order to right previous wrongs. It was to avoid criticism and with it the risk that people might notice that no rent was being paid. The danger averted, heads stayed below the parapet.
    But danger reappeared in 2004. With the reputed aim of clarifying SAL’s presence at Burlington House, the government brought a suit against it. Rumour swept through intellectual London that, in fact, the government wanted to turf the Societies out—or to get a full market rent, which would have amounted to much the same thing. Alarmed feathers from five aviaries of rare birds went flying.
    Now, three years later, feathers are smooth. Indeed, cooing can be heard occasionally from Burlington House. Compromises reached with the government have given the Learned Societies security of tenure at affordable rents. In return, the Societies have begun introducing themselves to one another and to the public.
    They have created a "cultural campus" in the courtyard to share scholarship and conviviality— and reflect their new appreciation that there is strength in numbers. Earlier this year, the Linnean Society announced it was producing a digital archive of its priceless collections of specimens, manuscripts and letters of the world famous Swedish naturalist, Carl Linnaeus, on this the 300th anniversary of his birth.
    The SAL, also 300 this year, is celebrating with a nine-month series of lectures. On September 26th, David Starkey, one of the most high-profile of its 2,300 fellows, will talk abouf’The Antiquarian Endeavour"at St James’s Church, Piccadilly. On November 8th at Harvard, home to many of SAL’s 100 American-based fellows, Felipe Fern ndez-Armesto tackles " Don Francisco’s nose-piece: forming new empires in Renaissance America". The biggest birthday event is an exhibition of 150 of SAL’s treasures at the Royal Academy from September 15th to December 2nd. Among these treasures is an oil on oak portrait of Queen Mary I painted by Hans Eworth in 1554 and a glowing 12th-century enamel casket designed to hold the remains of Thomas Becket. How good that invisibility is a thing of the past.  [br] According to the first two paragraphs, the Royal Academy of Arts________.
选项 A、had been granted occupancy of Burlington House rent free
B、was consisted of impractical artists
C、occupied Burlington House at a nominal rent
D、once charged the other five societies’ rent
答案 C
解析 细节题。第二段前两句提到“…only the Royal Academy，run by supposedly impractical artists，asked for a lease．It was given 999 years at a peppercorn rent”，只有“不讲求实际的”皇家艺术院提出要租用Burlington House，政府同意出租，租期为999年，并象征性地收取租金，故答案为[C]。“impractical artists”是反语，故排除[B]；第一段首句提到，皇家化学学会等五大学会在皇家艺术院的侧翼占用了大量房屋而没有引起注意，第二段第三句提到“The Societies and their allegedly hard—headed scientist members，were leaseless and rent．free”，五大学会和精明的科学家们在Burlington House是免付租金的，故排除[A]。
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