Big Ben, the landmark of London, a clock famous for its accuracy and chimes(和谐的钟声), stopped working for 90 minutes, an engineer said Saturday.
People do not know why the 147-year-old clock on the banks of the River Thames stopped at 10:07 p.m. Friday. It continued keeping time, but stopped again at 10:20 p.m. and remained silent for about 90 minutes before starting up again, a spokeswoman for the House of Commons said.
There has been speculation(推测) that a recent period of hot weather may have been to blame(责备). Temperatures in London reached 90 ℉on Saturday, and forecasters called it England’s hottest day in May since 1953.
The clock has experienced occasional problems. In 1962, snow caused the clock to stop before the New Year. In 1976, the clock stopped when a piece of its machinery broke. Big Ben also stopped on April 30, 1997, and once more three weeks later.
小题1:How many times has Big Ben stopped up to now?
A．Three
B．Five
C．Six
D．Eight小题2:The probable reason for Big Ben stopping working this time is ________.
A．high temperature
B．low temperature
C．broken machine
D．heavy snow小题3:The passage mainly talks about ________.
A．Big Ben’s history
B．the solution to Big Ben’s problem.
C．the landmark of London
D．Big Ben’s silence
小题1:C
小题2:A
小题3:D
题目分析：这篇文章讲的是大本钟突然停了下来，这可能是因为天气炎热造成的，文章还提到以往大本钟停止工作的情况。
小题1:细节题：根据第二段的句子：stopped at 10:07 p.m. Friday. It continued keeping time, but stopped again at 10:20 p.m.可知大本钟这次停了两次，根据第四段的内容可知以前停过四次，一共是六次，所以选C。
小题2:细节题：根据第三段的句子：There has been speculation(推测) that a recent period of hot weather may have been to blame(责备).可知大本钟停止工作的原因可能是高温，所以选A。
小题3:主旨题：根据全文的内容和第一段的句子：Big Ben, the landmark of London, a clock famous for its accuracy and chimes(和谐的钟声), stopped working for 90 minutes, an engineer said Saturday.可知这篇文章讲的是大本钟突然停了下来以及可能的原因，所以选D。