文本及疑难解析
1. Back in the first to the fourth centuries AD, when the Romans controlled England, London grew into a town of 45,000 people, and what's now the East End—the area by the river Thames, and along the road heading north-east London to the coast—consisted of farmland with crops and livestock which helped to feed that population.
公元1世纪至公元4世纪，当罗马帝国统治英格兰时，伦敦发展成了一个拥有4万5千人的城镇，也就是现今的伦敦东区。伦敦东区位于泰晤士河附近，沿着伦敦东北走向的公路一直通向海岸，在这块海岸上，耕种及畜牧业是当时人民赖以为生的方式。
2. In the eleventh century, in 1066 to be precise, the Normans conquered England, and during the next few centuries London became one of the most powerful and prosperous cities in Europe.
在11世纪，更确切地说，是在1066年，诺尔曼人侵占了英格兰。在接下来的几个世纪中，伦敦成为了欧洲最强大和最繁荣的城市之一。诺尔曼人指现今的法国人，1066年后，法国对英格兰又进行了上百年的统治，由此出现了“百年战争”以及英法之间至今都存在的敌对情绪。
3. The East End benefited from this, and because there were fewer restrictions there than in the city itself, plenty of newcomers settled there from abroad, bringing their skills as workers, merchants or money-lenders during the next few hundred years.
伦敦东部受益于此，而且当地的限制并没有伦敦市内多。许多人在接下来的几个世纪中从国外来这里定居，有工人、商人或是放贷者。
4. In the seventeenth century, the East End was still a series of separate, semi-rural settlements.
在17世纪，伦敦东部仍然是一块偏僻的、半乡村的移民居住地。
这里的separate可理解为“偏僻的”。semi-直接翻译成中文为“半”，例如半脱脂牛奶是semi-skimmed milk。
5. There was a shortage of accommodation, so marshland was drained and built on to house the large numbers of people now living there.
那时住宿是一个巨大的问题，因此沼泽地被抽干用来建造房屋，为那里的很多人提供了住处。
此句中的house为动词，理解为“为……提供住处”。
6. Those who could afford to live in more pleasant surroundings move out, and the area became one where the vast majority of people lived in extreme poverty，and suffered from appalling sanitary conditions.
那些能够负担得起更好居住环境的人搬走了，这个地区成为了极贫困人群的居住地，并遭受着极严重的卫生问题的折磨。
7. But the poor and needy were attracted by the possibility of work, and they had to be housed.
那些贫困的和生活艰难的人被这里的工作机会吸引过来，而且他们也需要有地方住。
8. It was the availability, rather than the condition, of the housing that was the major concern for tenants and landlords alike.
对房东及房客来说，最重要的问题是有没有房子，而不是房子的条件如何。
9. Few houses had electricity at this time, so other sources of power were used, like coal for the fires which heated perhaps just one room.
那时很少有房子能用上电，因此也利用其他能源，例如人们用煤来点火，但那也只能为一个房间供暖。
题目解析
第31～37题为表格填空题。
解题的关键在于能否抓住核心词以帮助定位答案。题目中所有的世纪(period)在原文中均有重现，难点在于右边一列的内容是否能够在原文中分辨清楚，这就要求考生能够把握题干中的核心词及其近义词，并在听的过程中做出快速反应。
第38～40题为选择题。
其中，第38题的overcrowding在原文中的表达为crowded；第39题选项中的heating一词在原文中为heated perhaps just in the room。难点在于第40题，选项F的poor standard of living在原文中没有同义词体现，但用排除法依然可以得出答案，因为另外几个选项在文中根本没有涉及。
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