(08·湖南)

“This Friday we’ll have the yearly Egg Drop Challenge,”said our science teacher, Mr. Baker.“You can work alone or with a partner.”

My friend, Cassie, and I smiled at each other. We always worked on projects

  36  .

The   37   of the Challenge was simple—to build a protective container to keep an egg from breaking when   38   the stadium wall.

I made my sandwich that afternoon while waiting for Cassie.  39   the butter cream gave me an idea.

“I have a brilliant design for our   40   container!”I said when Cassie arrived.“We can   41   the egg with some butter cream.”

“Why not put the egg in a basket with a parachute(降落伞)  42  ?”Cassie rolled her eyes.“The parachute is better than that stupid idea.”

I couldn’t believe it. Of course we’d had our little   43   in the past, but she’d never called any of my ideas “  44  ”before.

“Then I’ll build mine and you build yours!”

  45   words had been out, our friendship was challenged.

When Friday finally arrived, I had to   46   Cassie’s Egg Force One looked pretty good.  47  ,my Egg-cellent Egg Cream didn’t look quite scientific. We kids carried our containers up three stadium steps and dropped them over the side wall. Those whose eggs broke were out; those whose eggs survived   48   three more steps and dropped them again. This would go on till the last egg broke.

After four rounds, only Cassie and I were   49  .I let go of my box. I heard someone say “ew” after seconds. Had my egg broken? I raced down the   50  .The sidewalk was dotted with egg shells(蛋壳) from those   51   drops. Finally I found my little Egg-cellent  Egg Gream.

“That looks like egg drop soup, Laura,”Cassie said. She was holding her Egg Force One. My   52   raced. Had she won? I looked at her basket.  53  .

“My egg bounced   54  ,”she explained, pointing to a broken shell.

“A tie(平局),”Mr.Baker said.

Cassie looked at me,and her glare   55  .I laughed. She smiled...

36.A.patiently             B.silently            C.together             D.alone

37.A.function             B.goal                   C.reason             D.result

38.A.rolled down                                    B.pushed against

C.thrown at                                         D.dropped over

39.A.Spreading             B.Boiling             C.Baking            D.Holding

40.A.butter                   B.sandwich            C.cream                D.egg

41.A.protect              B.replace            C.carry                 D.mix

42.A.followed            B.covered              C.attached             D.supported

43.A.ideas                    B.fights              C.worries                  D.challenges

44.A.wrong                  B.stupid              C.brilliant        D.scientific

45.A.Since                    B.While                 C.But                    D.And

46.A.explain               B.deny                  C.admit                 D.prove

47.A.Therefore             B.Anyway             C.Otherwise          D.Besides

48.A.paced down                                      B.turned around

C.walked up                                        D.went back

49.A.left                    B.wanted            C.chosen            D.discovered

50.A.steps                    B.way                   C.wall                   D.sidewalk

51.A.intended             B.unexpected      C.failed              D.desired

52.A.eyes                         B.hands                 C.feet                    D.heart

53.A.Lost                     B.Dirty                  C.Broken            D.Empty

54.A.around                  B.out                     C.in                   D.down

55.A.returned             B.remained            C.increased            D.softened

 (08·湖南D篇)

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 market 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 poducts 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(忠诚) 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.

69.Fashion magazines today         .

A.seldom put models on the cover

B.no longer put models on the cover

C.need not worry about celebrities’market potential

D.judge the market potential of every celebrity correctly

70.A change in the consumer market 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

71.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

72.The passage is mainly about         .

A.celebrity and personal style

B.celebrity and market potential

C.celebrity and fashion design

D.celebrity and clothing industry

 (08·湖南B篇)

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.

60.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

61.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

62.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

63.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 into art galleries

C.got inspiration from decorating their old building

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

64.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

 (08·湖南A篇)

Western New Bridge Library Announcement

2008-3-10

56.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

57.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

58.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

59.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

Here is your best chance to travel around the UK in 2012: More than 200 B&Bs (bed & breakfast) across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are selected to offer you amazing services for your stay at their lowest prices! Don’t miss it. Just collect the vouchers（活动券） in our B&B Daily printed from 01/ 04/ 2012 to 07/ 04/ 2012 and book the stays for your travel following the terms and conditions below:

● The offer includes a room for the night and a breakfast the next morning.

● The offer is of two kinds: £20 per room, per night, valid（有效的） during stay period of 2/ 04/ 2012--- 31/ 05/ 2012 and then again 01/ 08/ 2012--- 31/ 10/ 2012; £35 per room, per night, valid during stay period of 01/ 06/ 2012 --- 31/ 08/ 2012.

● The offer is valid for a basic twin or double room only.

● The stay must be booked directly with the chosen B&Bs before 28/ 04/ 2012.

● If voucher holders book either the £20 or £35 per room per night, any additional services such as

lunch, evening meal or activities may require an extra charge. But these are not required in order to take up the offer. Please check directly with your chosen B&Bs to see what extra services are available.

● Vouchers must be presented on arrival. If no vouchers are presented, the B&Bs may reserve（保留） the right to charge at full price for every night of stay.

● Vouchers may not be used together with any other offer.

● The voucher holders must pay for the stay in full at the time of booking. Additional £10 may be paid to confirm（确认） the booking and will be returned on arrival.

● The B&Bs reserve the right to refuse voucher holders’ bookings for people under the age of 18.

1.The voucher can be used for a stay at the chosen B&B on           .

2.How much should be paid for a two-night stay in October 2012 at a chosen B&B?

3.By taking up the offer, the voucher holders can choose to           .