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英国王室周一宣布，哈里王子与交往已久的女友梅根·马克尔订婚。未来的王子妃立刻吸引了全英国的目光。梅根·马克尔，这位来自美国、言行大胆、曾经有过一段婚姻的黑白混血演员，或许会成为最与众不同的一位王室成员。
测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：
aphorism ['æfərɪzəm] n. 格言，警语
aptitude ['æptɪtjuːd] n. 才能，资质
tutelage ['tjuːtəlɪdʒ] n. 监护，指导
thrust [θrʌst] vt./vi. 插入，推挤
exhort [ɪɡ'zɔːt] v. 劝诫，忠告
eschew [ɪs'tʃuː] v. 避开，戒绝
matrimonial [ˌmætrɪ'məʊniəl] adj. 婚姻的
阅读马上开始，建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用的时间，对照下方的参考值就可以评估出您的英文阅读水平。
In the Disney adaptation of the real-life romance starring Harry Windsor and Meghan Markle, we have now reached the point in the script where we find our princess-in-waiting looking soulfully in the mirror.
Standing there in her favoured vegan leather trousers and California casual Pilates gear, our heroine realises she cuts an unusual figure in the palace. She's American, she's mixed race, she was once a part-time freelance calligrapher — and she's chatty. Her free-spirited beliefs and self-affirming aphorisms clang along the corridors of the house she now inhabits. She has some understanding of the ways of the Windsors but yet, she realises, there are many more codes to learn. What she needs is a well-meaning confidante who will share with her the secrets of royal élan.
In the movie, here would follow a long makeover scene, an extended musical montage describing her re-education as a “proper” royal. We would see her learning how to wear a fascinator, or distinguishing different species of grouse or clan tartans. We would definitely see her practising her royal wave. Each scene would affirm her aptitude for public duty, and her natural warmth and radiance.
Ever since the fairy godmother summoned up a pair of glass slippers for Cinderella, the magic of metamorphosis has become a favourite cultural motif. From storybook heroine to reality show star, the wonder of transformation seduces us all. Often, the makeover precedes some meet-cute plot line — girl uses eyeliner; girl gets boy. But in more ambitious stories the makeover proposes something even more alluring: the certainty of social mobility and advancement. Under the tutelage of Professor Higgins, the cockney flower-seller Eliza Doolittle can pass through court society. With the help of a kindly hotel concierge, Pretty Woman's Vivienne can quit prostitution for a sweet hereafter of polo matches and platinum-coloured credit with her property tycoon prince.
Markle is now poised to undertake the same real-life transformation that attended the royal weddings of Grace Kelly, Kate Middleton and Charlene Wittstock. Already, she has been thrust into a narrative that is insisting on her metamorphosis with fetishistic glee. “See Markle's style transformation” exhort the fashion sites. Witness her “ladylike touch” as she eschews the bandeau dresses and opts for a calf-length skirt. Relish how Markle has “married royal sophistication with trendy pieces since meeting Harry”. One tabloid even offered her a “cheat sheet” on how she could “master the rules” and “truly become a member of the firm”. They included always walking behind her future husband, ditching the ripped jeans, and — yes — working on her royal wave.
And things are changing. She's already dropped the acting career. She's shut down her blog. For her first public engagement she swapped her leather biker jacket for a demure knee-length navy coat that matched her fiancé's; a small but subtle act of mirroring that suggests the Windsor assimilation is well under way. The world has murmured approvingly.
But the Markle makeover may not run so smooth. As the daughter of a social worker and a lighting designer, she has a different perspective on the worlD.She's older than her groom-to-be, she's divorced, and she's had a successful career. More importantly, she has a voice. Watching her being interviewed on television last week, her easy confidence was almost startling. Where the Windsors flinch before the cameras as though being subjected to an especially gruesome medical examination, Markle shimmers on screen.
Her cool telegenic manner is refreshing, as is her candour. She described the Queen as Harry's “granny”. She was strangely comfortable discussing how she felt about DianA.While the Duchess of Cambridge has always offered a more simpering line in matrimonial duty, Markle is calm and self-assured.
How wonderful would it be if, instead of following the same predictable storyline, Markle were to turn it upside down? Makeovers may be the stuff of fairy tales, but they also acknowledge a world still obsessed with codes and uniforms and the act of “fitting in”. Surely no one, in 2017, should really need to look the part. And what is the part anyway?
Rather than conform to a list of barren protocols, I'd like to see a royal makeover in which the Windsors become a bit more Markle instead: yoga-loving, articulate, quinoa-munching members of a modern establishment. I want to see a movie montage in which Markle shows the Duke of Edinburgh how to meditate, encourages the Duchess of Cambridge to dump the nude-coloured shoes and teaches calligraphy to the Queen. Let her wear ripped jeans. Let them all eat banana cake. And as for the matching his'n’hers wardrobe — I for one am praying to see Prince Harry in a pair of vegan leather trousers.
请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：
A.She was a part-time freelance calligrapher before engaged to Prince Harry.
B.She began to learn about royal codes after her engagement to Prince Harry.
C.She need to be re-educated to become a proper royal before the wedding.
D.She dropped the acting career to adapt to her new role in the royal family.
答案 (1)
A.To prove the magic of metamorphosis is a popular cultural motif.
B.To explain why real-life transformation stories fascinate us all.
C.To give an example of the more ambitious transformation stories.
D.To compare Meghan Markle's transformation with Eliza Doolittle.
答案 (2)
A.always walk behind Prince Harry.
B.eschew the bandeau dresses.
C.opt for trendy calf-length skirt.
D.discard her glass slippers.
答案 (3)
A.she will be the first mixed race member in the British royal family.
B.she has a more successful career than her fiance Prince Harry.
C.she behaves in an unconventional way differs from the old royal codes.
D.she has learned to conform to a list of royal protocols very quickly.
答案 (4)
(1) 答案：D.She dropped the acting career to adapt to her new role in the royal family.解释：事情正在变化。她已经放弃了演艺生涯，关闭了博客。
(2) 答案：C.To give an example of the more ambitious transformation stories.解释：在更加野心勃勃的故事中，改造的结果更加诱人：它可以保证人提高社会阶层。在希金斯教授的指导下，伦敦东区的卖花女孩Eliza Doolittle可以来往于宫廷社会。
(3) 答案：A.always walk behind Prince Harry.解释：一家小报甚至向她提供了一张“小抄”，包括一直走在未来丈夫的身后，抛弃破洞牛仔裤，还有练习皇家式挥手。
(4) 答案：C.she behaves in an unconventional way differs from the old royal codes.解释：她并没有向一大堆荒唐的行事规则屈服，而是把王室变得更像她自己的风格了。