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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2024-11-25  31
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 about"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 passage, we can infer all of the following EXCEPT that______.
选项 A、commercial rents for Burlington House would be beyond the Societies’ means
B、the other four societies had faced a dispute similar to that of SAL
C、the Societies feared that they would be forced out of Burlington House
D、the Societies are now offered new sites at affordable rents
答案 D
解析 推断题。第四段第三句提到“Compromises reached with the government have given the LearnedSocieties security of tenure at affordable rents”，五大学会和政府之间达成协议，政府允许其继续使用Burlington House，但要适当收取租金，故答案为[D]。第三段第三句提到“…the government wanted toturf the Societies out—or to get a full market rent，which would have amounted to much the same thing”，据说政府要把五大学会清除出去，或者按照周边地区的市价收取租金，结果也没什么分别，可知按市价计算的租金是五大学会负担不起的，因此排除[A]和[C]；第三段第二句提到政府对SAL提起了诉讼，最后一句接着提到“Alarmed feathers from five aviaries of rare birds went flying”，吓得珍稀鸟类们在五个鸟笼里乱飞乱撞，羽毛满天飞，可知五大学会都因租金问题受到困扰，因此排除[B]。
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