In other Europeans’ eyes, the British are binge-drinkers (酗酒者) and class-conscious. Are we British really so – drinking excessively and being sensitive to class status? Let’s take a look at these observations and see whether they hold water.Start with the bottle. Statistics show that we are far from Europe’s heaviest drinkers. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked us 11th in Europe for alcohol consumption, far behind France in first place, followed by Portugal and Austria. But while the French, German, Spanish and Italians are drinking much less than they did in 1980, the British are drinking nine percent more.Still, it’s not the volume of pints consumed that has led to our boozy reputation. It’s the way we drink that’s the problem. The French figure may be high, but that’s driven up by a lot of people drinking moderately: a glass or two of red wine at dinner. The British, however, have vast, rapid consumptions aimed solely at getting hammered. One study found that 54 percent of British 15- and 16-year-olds admit to binge drinking, compared to a European average of 43 percent.Now let’s look at class. It’s tempting to say that class is out of date, that most British now belong in the vast, sprawling middle class. But the figures are much less comforting. The OECD put Britain at the bottom of the social mobility league table, finding that children born into poor families here have a lower chance of getting on than they do in Italy, France, Spain or Germany.Even if the figures were not against us, we could hardly complain if our fellow Europeans think we have a hang-up about class. What message do we British think we send when our signature cultural export of 2011 was Downton Abbey, a television drama entirely about the intricacies of class and social hierarchy?Now we may say that there is more than a little reality behind our image. Yet no British could accept these depictions of us without some dissent (意见分歧). For instance, those descriptions are often contradictory. How can we simultaneously be both self-controlled and prone to rip our clothes off in a drunken haze? Thus, what our European neighbors see of us is a thumbnail (简要的) sketch, not the whole picture.1. The phrase “hold water” (Para. 1) probably means "___________".A) be convincing B) be excessiveC) be flexibleD) be conscious2. According to the statistics of the OECD, Britain has ___________.A) the lowest number of overweight drinkers in EuropeB) the largest number of moderate drinkers in EuropeC) a larger amount of alcohol consumption than France and AustriaD) a larger amount of alcohol consumption today than in the 1980s 3. The British are different from the French in terms of drinking habits in that ___________.A) they drink a large amount within a very short time B) they drink more red wine than other wines at dinnerC) they impose harsh rules to ban teenage drinkingD) they start binge drinking from a much earlier age4. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?A) Social mobility has less appeal to the British than to the Italians.B) Social mobility is more active in Britain than in Spain and Germany.C) Class distinctions still exert great influence on the lives of modern British. D) Class status has become an outdated concept in modern British society.5. The author thinks that the image of the British as viewed by other Europeans is ___________.A) somewhat worrisome but trueB) somewhat reasonable but incomplete C) absolutely accurate but briefD) absolutely wrong but popular