Question

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 （生銹的） 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 （裝置） 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 (緩沖) 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.

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

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

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

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 gallery

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

Answer 1

【小題1】 C

【小題2】A

【小題3】A

【小題4】C

【小題5】D

解析:

本文是一篇記敘文，講述的兩位年輕建筑師在離城市中心較遠的地方找到了一家工廠，并把它設(shè)計為自己的工作室，運用自己所學的知識，給工作室裝修了一番。

【小題1】根據(jù)首句“Most young architects ----particularly those in big cities ----can only dream about working in a building of their own.”得知年輕的建筑師有自己的工作室只是夢想，不現(xiàn)實（unrealistic）。

【小題2】 根據(jù)第二段的“But the price was right, so Yocum bought it.”得知，是因為那個價格便宜（bargain）。

【小題3】 根據(jù)第二段的“He spent eight months of his off-hours on demolition, pulling rubbish out through the roof”（把垃圾清出屋頂）得知：A正確；而由第三段的第一句判斷出B錯，由第二段的倒數(shù)第一二句判斷出C錯，由第三段的倒數(shù)第一句判斷出D錯。

【小題4】 根據(jù)第四段的“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.”（從裝飾他們的房子獲得的經(jīng)驗影響了他們的工作）得知： C正確、B錯誤；而由第二段的第三句判斷A錯，而B選項文章沒有提及，也不可推斷出。

【小題5】根據(jù)第四段的“It has also given these architects a chance to show how they can make more out of less.”得知：本文的主旨在于建造自己的工作室給這些年輕建筑師一個機會去展示他們怎樣把少變得多，即有創(chuàng)造性的人可以很好的利用和享受他們所擁有的，故選D。而ABC是顯然不符合文意的。

記敘文是高考的必考點，也是閱讀文章中比較容易的一篇文章，本文難度不大。