One unchanging aspect of a British person’s class position is accent. The words a person speaks tell her or his class. A study of British accents during 1970s found that a voice sounding like a BBC newsreader was considered as the most attractive voice. Most people said this accent sounded “educated” and “soft”. The accents placed at the bottom in this study, on the other hand, were regional accents. These accents were seen as “common” and “ugly”. However, a similar study of British accents in the US turned these results upside down and placed some regional accents as the most attractive and BBC English as the least. This suggests that British attitudes towards accent have deep roots and are based on class prejudice (偏见).

In recent years, however, young upper middle-class people in London, have begun to adopt some regional accents, in order to hide their class origins. This is an indication of class becoming unnoticed. However, the 1995 pop song Common People puts forward the view that though a middle-class person may “want to live like common people”, they can never appreciate the reality of a working-class life. 

A recent study of public opinion shows that in modern Britain ______.  

A. it is time to end class distinction

B. most people belong to middle class

C. it is easy to recognize a person’s class

D. people regard themselves socially different