A linguist，an expert on languages，is always listening，never off-duty．I invited a group of friends round to my house，telling them that I was going to record their speech．I said I was interested in their regional accents（地方口音），and that it would take only a few minutes．Thus，one evening，three people came to my house and were shown into my front room．In front of each chair there was a microphone at head height，connected to a recorder in the middle of the floor．They sat down，rather nervously，and I explained that all I wanted was for them to count from one to twenty．Then we could relax and have a drink．
I turned on the recorder and each in turn counted from one to twenty in their best accents．When it was over，I turned the recorder off and brought round the drinks．The rest of the evening was spent in total relaxation．I joined them in talking and joking freely，leaving them only for a telephone call which lasted some time．
Or at least that is how it would appear．For，of course，the microphones were not connected to the recorder in the middle of the room at all but to another one in the bedroom．My friends，having seen the recorder before them turned off，paid no more attention to the microphones a few inches from their mouths，thus giving excellent sound quality．It meant that I was able to get as natural a piece of talk as it would be possible to find．
I should add，perhaps，that I did tell my friends what had happened to them，after the recording was over，and asked them whether it should be destroyed．None of them wanted to—but for some years after that，it always seemed that when it came to buying drinks，it was I who paid of them．Linguistic research can be a very expensive business．
1．The writer asked his friends to count from one to twenty because he __________．
A．wanted to record how they pronounced numbers in their regional accents
B．had to check if his recorder was working
C．wanted them to think that was all he wanted to record
D．wanted to discover who had the best pronunciation
2．The writer left the room in the middle of the evening because __________．
A．he had to make a phone call B．the phone rang in the bedroom
C．he wanted the others to have a talk without him
D．he didn't like talking with them
3．The recording which the writer was able to make was __________．
A．natural B．controlled C．unclear D．expensive
4．When he told his friends what he had done，they __________．
A．wanted him to destroy the recordings he had made
B．didn't seem to mind much
C．were angry with him D．made him buy them more drinks
5．The writer recorded their talk __________．
A．on the recorder in the middle of the floor
B．through hidden microphones
C．on a recorder in another room D．in the front room
参考答案：1．C 2．C 3．A 4．B 5．C
