二、任务型阅读。
It is reported that thousands of red UK phone boxes will be protected from being taken down under the new rules. The UK's first phone box started appearing in 1921, with the special red style coming out 5 years later.
As smart phones have become part of everyday life, the public payphone boxes may seem out of date. But OFCOM, the UK's communications regulator (通信商), says they can still be a "lifeline" for people in need.
"Some of the call boxes we plan to protect are used to make low numbers of calls. But if one of those calls is from a sad child, an accident victim, that public phone line can be a lifeline at a time of great need," says Selina Chadha, a leader in OFCOM.
OFCOM plans to protect 5,000 phone boxes, especially in poor smart phone coverage areas. "We also want to make sure that people in those areas, often in poor areas, can still
make calls, " she adds.
According to the official report, nearly half of the phone boxes in the UK have been taken down because of the growth of the smart phone use. It is said that more than 6,500 unused call boxes have so far been turned into mini community libraries or pop-up coffee shops under a plan called "Adopt a Kiosk", which allows local organizations to buy a red phone for only one pound and turn the box into something useful.
1. Will there be more and more phone boxes in the UK?

2. When did the first red style phone box appear in the UK?

3. According to the passage, why did OFCOM plan to protect the phone boxes although people hardly make phone calls through them?

4. Like the phone boxes in the UK, many old building are taken down in China. Do you agree with that action? Why or why not?

1. No, they won't.
2. In 1926.
3. Because these phone boxes can still be a "lifeline" for people in great need to make calls in an emergency, and they can also make sure people in poor smartphone coverage areas (always poor areas) can still make calls.
4. 示例：I don't agree with the action. Because many old buildings are special cultural marks of the city, they carry lots of our sweet memories and have great historical value. We can change them into useful public places for people just like the UK does to the old red phone boxes, instead of taking them down directly.（答案不唯一，表述合理即可）

1. 通读全文可知英国目前近半数电话亭已经因智能手机的普及被拆除，新规仅计划保护部分电话亭不被拆除，没有新建更多电话亭的相关规划，因此可得出否定回答。
2. 定位原文第一段“The UK's first phone box started appearing in 1921, with the special red style coming out 5 years later.”，通过简单计算1921+5即可得出红色款式电话亭首次出现的年份。
3. 结合原文第二、三、四段的内容，梳理OFCOM保护电话亭的两点核心原因：一是电话亭在紧急时刻可以作为“生命线”，为遭遇困境的人提供通话帮助；二是它可以保障智能手机信号覆盖差的贫困区域的人们依然能够正常拨打电话。
4. 本题为开放性试题，观点明确、理由表述合理、符合逻辑即可。