Downing Street is the most exclusive street in Britain, not
because it only has three houses along its short (26) , nor
particularly because of its location between Whitehall and St. James’s Park, but
because its only residents are (27) from the elected
Government. Numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street arc the
(28) London residences of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor
of the Exchequer—the First and Second Lords of the Treasury. Numbers 9 and 12
are the offices of their key (29) and colleagues in
Government. The location has been (30) for
centuries, of course, as even before modern government the (31)
was close to Westminster Abbey and later Whitehall Palace.
But it was Sir George Downing who made the most of its (32)
and built the street of houses that bears his name. In
his later (33) as a property speculator and developer,
Downing sought—and won— the permission of King Charles II to name his
prestigious new development at St. James’s Park "Downing Street". (34) , when King George II offered Number 10 as a gift
to Sir Robert Walpole. Walpole is now recognized as Britain’s
first Prime Minister, (35) He declined the gift, but agreed
that it become the official residence for the First Lord and subsequently moved
in. (36) — the modern Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
【参考答案】
The street’s links to the Government date back to 1732