Western New Bridge Library Announcement

2008-3-10

1. To attend the annual Children’s Gathering, one has to            .

       A. buy a ticket                                          B. apply in advance

       C. make a reservation                         D. contact the call-down service  

2. According to the passage, Enzo Monfre will            .

       A. show the children around a zoo

       B. tell stories to children over seven

       C. be present at the science show in person

       D. lead the children to the Ellen DeGeneres Show      

3. The Help Desk in this library supplies service               .

       A. only during the daytime                   B. in case of emergency

       C. till the end of the Spring Break         D. after 22:00 p.m. every day      

4. We can learn from the passage that children can            .

       A. attend all the activities with their parents

       B. borrow some relevant books for the activities

       C. participate in the activities from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

       D. choose only one of the activities according to their interest

Most young architects – particularly those in big cities – can only dream about working in a building of their own. And making that dream come true often means finding a building no one else seems to want, which is exactly what happened to David Yocum and his partner, Brian Bell. Their building is a former automobile electrical-parts firm in Atlanta. From the outside, it looks too old, even something horrible, but open the door and you are in a wide, open courtyard, lined on three sides with rusting （生锈的） walls.

In 2000, Yocum and Bell found this building in the city’s West End. Built in 1947, the structure had been abandoned years earlier and the roof of the main building had fallen down. But the price was right, so Yocum bought it. He spent eight months of his off-hours on demolition （拆除）, pulling rubbish out through the roof, because it was too dangerous to go inside the building. The demolition was hard work, but it gave him time to think about what he wanted to do, and “to treasure what was there – the walls, the rust, the light,” Yocum said. “Every season, more paint falls off the walls and more rust develops. It’s like an art installation （装置） in there – a slow-motion show.”

Since the back building had been constructed without windows, an all-glass front was added to the building to give it a view of the courtyard, and skylights were installed in the roof. The back of the building is a working area and a living room for Yocum and his wife. A sort of buffer (缓冲) zone between the front and the back contains a bathroom, a kitchen and a mechanical room, and the walls that separate these zones have openings that allow views through to the front of the studio and the courtyard beyond.

Yocum and Bell, who have just completed an art gallery for the city, feel that the experience from the decoration of their building, focusing on the inside rather than the outside, has influenced their work. It has also given these architects a chance to show how they can make more out of less.

1. According to the passage, it is           for most young architects in big cities to work in a building of their own.

       A. easy           B. unnecessary              C. unrealistic          D. common

2. Yocum bought the old building because         ．

A．it was a bargain to him

B．it was still in good condition

C．it was located in the city center

D．it looked attractive from the outside                                                                  

3. Working on the old building, Yocum and Bell         ．                                                 

A．pulled rubbish out through the roof

B．removed the skylights from the bathroom

C．presented a slow-motion show in an art gallery

D．built a kitchen at the back part of the old building

4. It can be inferred from the passage that Yocum and Bell         ．

A．benefited a lot from pulling down the roof

B．turned more old buildings down the roof

C．got inspiration from decorating their old building

D．paid more attention to the outside of the art gallery

5. The main idea of the passage is that         ．

A．people can learn a lot from their failures

B．it is worthwhile to spend money on an old building

C．people should not judge things by their appearance

D．creative people can make the best of what they have

You’re sitting on the train home and the person opposite you yawns（打哈欠）. Suddenly, you’re yawning with him, though you’re not tired.

This phenomenon confused scientists for years until a recent study found that people tend to sympathize with fellow humans. Supporting this claim was the discovery that those children who were unable to form normal emotional ties with others did not experience contagious（有感染力的）yawning, which showed that humans communicate regularly without words.

Hugo Critchley, a neuroscientist, has conducted an experiment recently, which will prove that happiness and sadness can spread like the common cold. According to Critchley, our mind and body are in constant exchange about how we’re feeling. “Emotions are closely linked with states of internal （内部的）responses,” he explained. “There are also more visible changes in our gestures and facial expressions. When we’re in a group, these signals can spread to another person. For example, there’s the obvious tendency to smile when smiled at and there are less obvious changes that reflect emotions of surprise, anger or sadness such as a change in our heart rate and blood pressure.”

Hugo Critchley further explained, “Our bodies synchronise and when we like the other person, we even copy his behavior. Next time you chat with a friend, take note of now you’re sitting－it’s pretty likely that you will be the same. Scientists believe it’s our way of telling each other that we’re partners. Through body language, humans give each other very subtle（微妙的）but clear signals that show emotions.”

So, what lessons can we learn from this? “Spend time with happy people－otherwise your health could suffer, ” said Critchley. “When we’re sad, our body goes into fight or flight mode. But when we’re happy, our body works normally and we feel relaxed and positive. So we look bright, our skin glows, we feel healthy and it affects everyone around us.”

1．According to Huge Critchley,          ．

A．emotions are as visible as facial expressions

B．we yawn more frequently when we have a cold

C．emotions are connected with states of internal responses

D．the change of blood pressure is not linked with the change of emotions

2．The underlined word “synchronise” in Paragraph 4 means “          ”．

A．move slowly                         B．change rapidly

C．relax temporarily                    D．respond accordingly

3．From the passage we can learn         ．

A．sadness is as contagious as happiness

B．anger is less contagious than friendliness

C．surprise is more contagious than smile

D．surprise is the most contagious among emotions

4．Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A．Emotions have delicate influence on fellow humans.

B．Children like copying the actions of fellow humans

C．Scientists are still confused about contagious yawning

D．People tend to communicate more with body language.

Celebrity（名人）has become one of the most important representatives of popular culture. Fans used to be crazy about a specific film, but now the public tends to base its consumption（消费）on the interest of celebrity attached to any given product. Besides, fashion magazines have almost abandoned the practice of putting models on the cover because they don’t sell nearly as well as famous faces. As a result, celebrities have realized their unbelievably powerful marker potential, moving from advertising for others’ products to developing their own

Celebrity clothing lines aren’t a completely new phenomenon, but in the past they were typically aimed at the ordinary consumers, and limited to a few TV actresses. Today they’re started by first-class stars whose products enjoy equal fame with some world top brands. The most successful start-ups have been those by celebrities with specific personal style. As celebrities become more and more experienced at the market, they expand their production scale rapidly, covering almost all the products of daily life.

However, for every success story, there’s a related warning tale of a celebrity who overvalued his consumer appeal. No matter how famous the product’s origin is, if it fails to impress consumers with its own qualities it begins to resemble an exercise in self-promotional marketing. And once the initial（最初的）attention dies down, consumer interest might fade, loyalty（忠城）returning to tried-and-true labels.

Today, celebrities face even more severe embarrassment. The pop-cultural circle might be bigger than ever, but its rate of turnover has speeded up as well. Each misstep threatens to reduce a celebrity’s shelf life, and the same newspaper or magazine that once brought him fame has no problem picking him to pieces when the opportunity appears. Still, the ego’s（自我的）potential for expansion is limitless. Having already achieved great wealth and public recognition, many celebrities see fashion as the next frontier to be conquered. As the saying goes, success and failure always go hand in hand. Their success as designers might last only a short time, but fashion－like celebrity－has always been temporary.

1．Fashion magazines today         ．

A．seldom put models on the cover

B．no longer put models on the cover

C．need not worry about celebrities’ marker potential

D．judge the marker potential of every celebrity correctly

2．A change in the consumer marker can be found today that         ．

A．price rather than brand name is more concerned

B．producers prefer models to celebrities for advertisements

C．producers prefer TV actresses to film stars for advertisements

D．quality rather than the outside of products is more concerned

3．The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 indicates that any wrong step will possibly         ．

A．decrease the popularity of a celebrity and the sales of his products

B．damage the image of a celebrity in the eyes of the general public

C．cut short the artistic career of a celebrity in show business

D．influence the price of a celebrity’s products

4．The passage is mainly about         ．

A．celebrity and personal style           B．celebrity and marker potential

C．celebrity and fashion design           D．celebrity and clothing industry

阅读下面短文，根据第1至第3小题具体要求，简要回答问题。

Every January, Breckenridge hosts the International Snow Sculpture Championships. Fourteen teams travel from all over the world to Switzerland to compete. Teams sculpt for sixty-five hours over five days. Each team hopes that when the time is up, its sculpture will be judged the best.

As the championship begins, the fourteen teams are faced with huge blocks of snow that weigh twenty tons cash. The sculptors bring out their favorite tools that work best on the hard iced snow, but they are not allowed to employ tools that use electricity.

Most teams are inspired by what they have seen in daily life. For example, one team carved a teapot with tea pouring out. Another team sculpted a little cat on its hind feet（后脚）reaching into a fish bowl complete with water ripples（涟漪）and a crab（螃蟹）trying to attack the cat. In 2006, Team USA sculpted a golden dog looking at its image reflected in a mirror. To create the effect that the little dog saw its reflection in the glass, the artists carved two dogs facing each other with their paws（脚爪）touching.

As the final hours of the competition tick by, exhausted team members add last-minute details. They use small brooms to brush off snow caught in tiny holes. One team member counts down the last five minutes while others are busy cleaning up the tools. If they leave any tools behind, they will be out. When the whistle blows, everyone must step away from the sculpture. The judges them vote on creativity, technical skills, and visual impact（视觉效果）of the designs.

In 2006. Team USA took first place for their golden dog sculpture titled “Discovery”. But the competition is not just about medals and ribbons. “It’s not about the prize,” said Rob Neyland, Team USA’s captain. “It’s about touching the audience.”

Every year, as the championship ends, each team is already dreaming of the next masterpiece it will design.

1．What kind of tools are the sculptors NOT permitted to use?（回答词数不超过6个）

2．What gives the sculptors ideas for their creative work?（回答词数不超过9个）

3．Why did team USA win the competition in 2006?（回答词数不超过15个）

We went right round to the west coast by ______ sea instead of driving across ______ continent.

A. the; the             B.不填；the          C. the; 不填                 D. 不填；不填

—Do you mind if I record your lecture?

—______. Go ahead.

A. Never mind              B. No way             C. Not at all                  D. No. You’d better not

—Is Peter there?

—______, please. I’ll see if I can find him for you.

A. Hold up                    B. Hold on             C. Hold out                   D. Hold off

The Science Museum, ______ we visited during a recent trip to Britain, is one of London’s tourist attractions.

A. which               B. what                 C. that                                 D. where

—I can’t repair these until tomorrow, I’m afraid.

—That’s OK, there’s ______.

A. no problem        B. no wonder         C. no doubt                         D. no hurry