Germany’s chimney sweeps—hallowed as bringers of good luck, with their black top hats and coiled-wire brushes— are under attack. Last week the European Commission’s directorate for the internal market revived proceedings against an antiquated German law that protects sweeps against competition. The country’s chimney sweeps enjoy a near-perfect monopoly. Germany is divided into around 8000 districts, each ruled by its own master sweep who usually employs two more sweeps. Although this is a private enterprise, the maintenance and inspection service provided is compulsory and prices are set by the local authority: sweeps cannot stray outside their district, nor can householders change their sweep even if they loathe him. This rule cuts both ways. "There are some customers I can’t stand either," says one Frankfurt sweep.
The rationale is simple: chimney-sweeping and related gas and heating maintenance in Germany are treated as a matter of public safety. Annual or semi-annual visits are prescribed, keeping the sweeps busy all year round. For centuries, chimney-sweeps in Europe were a wandering breed. But in 1937 the chimney-sweep law was revised by Heinrich Himmler, then the acting interior minister. His roles tied chimney sweeps to their districts and decreed that they should be German, to enable him to use sweeps as local spies.
The law was updated in 1969, leaving the local monopolies in place but opening up the profession, in theory at least, to non-Germ, ans. But in practice few apply. Four years ago a brave Pole qualified as a master in Kaiserslautern, according to a fellow student, and this year an Italian did so in the Rhineland Palatinate. But he, like most newly qualified German masters, will spend years on a waiting list before he gets his own district.
The European Commission would like to see a competitive market in which people can choose their own sweeps, just as they choose builders or plumbers. It first opened infringement proceedings in 2003, and the German government of the time promised to change the law but failed to do so. And despite the huffing and puffing from Brussels, tile government is still reluctant to dismantle its antiquated system on safety grounds. The number of deaths from carbon-monoxide poisoning in Germany is around one-tenth that in France or Belgium, claims the Frankfurt sweep. So Germans are likely to be stock with their neighbourhood Schornsteinfegers—whether they can stand each other or not—for some time to come.
Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 2（）
A. Chimney-sweeping is impotant in Germany because it is treated as a matter of public safety
B. Chimney-sweeping visit was done every a year and a half
C. Before 1937, chimney sweeps are German and work in their districts
D. Heinrich Himmler revised the law because he can use sweeps as local spies
参考答案：A
解析：
[直击题眼] 第二段：... chimney-sweeping and related gas and heating maintenance in Germany are treated as a matter of public safety. Annual or semi-annual visits are prescribed, keeping the sweeps busy all year round. For centuries, chimney-sweeps in Europe were a wandering breed. But in 1937 the chimney-sweep law was revised by Heinrich Himmler... tied chimney sweeps to their districts and decreed that they should be German, to enable him to use sweeps as local spies．
[深层剖析] 本段讲到清洁工常年忙碌，这项工作被认为是关系到公共安全的问题，就是说在德国烟囱清洁是很重要的，[A]正确。
[主干扰项分析] 文中的Annual or semi-annual意为“一年或半年一次”，选项[B]则是一年半一次，错误。文中说 1937年前烟囱清洁工是wandering breed，即“漂泊的人群”，这一年之后才限制必须是德国人，并只能在本地工作， [C]与原文恰恰相反。
[次干扰项分析] 本段最后一句中的to enable him to use sweeps as local spies可以证明让烟囱清洁工充当间谍是原因之一，但[D]选项未明确指出修订的是哪项法律，故不正确。