D
It’s hard to be the bearer of bad news，but most of IKEA’s print and digital fascinating shots of picturesque rooms and products are fake．Those beautiful，“natural-looking” photos of gorgeous rooms and kitchens are mostly the work of computer magic，adjusted and corrected until they’re picture-perfect．
Martin Enthed，IT manager for IKEA’s in-house communications agency，revealed，“In 2012，12 per cent of its product and concept images was CGI-rendered，increasing to 25 per cent in 2013．Since then，that percentage of rendered images appearing in the company’s catalogue and online has tripled．75 per cent of the furniture company’s product images today are created by computers．”
It’s a move that first caught the attention of photographers and graphic designers a few years back when the furniture giant announced it would cancel photoshoots in favor of computer-generated imagery(CGI)．
Enthed said IKEA began shifting equipment in 2009 when company officials called in his team and said they weren’t pleased with some previous photos and CG images．
“So we looked at all the images they said weren’t good and the two of three they said were great，and the ones they didn’t like were photography and the good ones were all CG，”Enthed said．“Now we only talk about a good or bad image - not what technique created it．”
It’s a not-so-secret strategy used by top companies specializing in home and furniture design，though many consumers remain oblivious．
The company claims the shift is another way to reduce its environmental footprint，saying constructing digital files produces less waste．It also helps the home furnishing empire’s pocketbooks．
What directly led IKEA to adopt CGI on a larger scale?
| A．The convenience of high technology． |
| B．Company officials’ reaction to works． |
| C．The change in the concept of management |
| D．Development of environmental awareness． |
According to the passage，the advantage of the shift is that IKEA can 。
| A．expand into another field |
| B．increase its financial benefits |
| C．win more support of consumers |
| D．produce more furniture of high quality |
The underlined word “oblivious” in paragraph 6 means “ ”．
| A．unaware | B．calm |
| C．conservative | D．disturbed |
It can be concluded from the passage that ．
| A．IKEA should be punished because of fake photos |
| B．IKEA set a good example as the furniture giant |
| C．IKEA adjusted strategies to answer its need |
| D．IKEA has a pioneering spirit in promotion |
I was very disappointed not to be able to go to the jazz concert last Friday. The announcement in the paper said that you could buy tickets at the theater box office in Richland Hills any day between 10:00 and 4:00. Since I work from 9 o’clock to 5:30, the only time I could go to the theater was during my 45-minute lunch break. Unfortunately, the theater is on the other side of the town, and the bus service between my office and Richland Hills is not very good. But if you are lucky, you can make the round trip in 45 minutes. Last Monday, I stood at the bus stop for fifteen minutes waiting for a bus. By the time I saw one come around the corner, there was not enough time left to make the trip—so I gave up and went back to the office. The same thing happened on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday. On Thursday, my luck changed, I got on a bus right away and arrived at the theatre in exactly twenty minutes. When I got there, however, I found a long line of people at the box office. I heard one man say he had been waiting in line for over an hour. Realizing I would not have enough time to wait in line, I caught the next bus and headed back across the town. By Friday I realized my only hope was to make the trip by taxi. It was expensive, but I felt it would be worth hearing the concert. The trip by taxi only took 10 minutes, but it felt like an hour to me. When I got to the theatre, I was relieved to see that nobody was waiting in line. The reason, I quickly discovered, was that they had already sold all the tickets.The writer is probably ______.
| A．worker | B．a college teacher |
| C．manager of a company | D．a clerk |
He learned ______ that there would be a concert last Friday.
| A．from his friends | B．from one of his colleagues |
| C．over the radio | D．from the newspaper |
He could go and buy the ticket ______.
| A．any day before work hours | B．both before and after work hours |
| C．only during lunch time | D．on Saturday and Sunday |
The word “relieved” in the last two sentences may best be replaced by “______”.
| A．surprised | B．pleased | C．puzzled | D．sorry |
The story is about ______.
| A．a good concert |
| B．someone enjoying a good concert |
| C．someone trying to buy concert tickets for his friends |
| D．someone’s disappointment at not being able to go to the concert |
Crossing Texas and Mexico, the Big Bend region is high in biodiversity(生物的多样性). It’s a place so untamed that if something doesn’t bite, stick, or sting, it’s probably a rock.
You know you have arrived in the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert when it feels as if you have fallen off the edge of the earth and into the rabbit hole. Nothing is as it appears. Moths (蛀虫) are the size of birds. Are those twin pillars (柱) of black rock (a landmark known as Mule Ear Peaks) ten miles (16 kilometers) away or fifty (80 kilometers)? Visibility (能见度) reaches more than a hundred miles on a clear day, and since there are few roads or buildings to use as milestones, distance is difficult to judge.
This is a place where water runs uphill, where rainbows have to wait for rain. The line between myth (虚构的故事) and reality is unclear. Stare long enough at the Chisos Mountains or the Sierra del Carmen, the two mountain ranges, known as sky islands, which lie on the land, and they rise and float above the plain.
The vast Chihuahuan Desert is a land of no people. There is always the chance you’ll die of thirst. The “You Can Die”possibilities are endless, and keep some visitors — 350,000 a year to Big Bend National Park, built in 1944 — from coming back. Those who do return are left to think of the remarkable courage of the brave few who have managed to survive in this terrible environment. The underlined word“untamed”in Paragraph 1 means“________”.
| A．untouched | B．wild | C．unchanged | D．fresh |
Why do the twin pillars of black rock seem ten or fifty miles away?
| A．They were put so far away. |
| B．They lie across the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| C．It is difficult to judge the distance, with few milestones. |
| D．One lies in the Chisos Mountains, the other in the Sierra del Carmen. |
How many years are there since the Big Bend National Park was built?
| A．350,000 years. | B．350 years. | C．66 years. | D．44 years. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The natural wonders of the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| B．Everything you see is not what it seems in the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| C．The terrible environment of deserts in Texas and Mexico. |
| D．A special place where none who go can return. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．There are all kinds of living things in the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| B．No people live in the Big Bend region. |
| C．Nothing is as it appears in the Big Bend region. |
| D．Traveling in the Big Bend region is dangerous. |
Last year my wife and I spent a most interesting month in Turkey. Before we left, we were reminded of the difficulties of driving in Turkey. We certainly did not find this to be the case and, except for a few places in faraway mountain areas, the roads were wide, and well-paved (铺设). We drove for 12 days along the Western Coast of Turkey and had no problems at all. We found the Turkish drivers to be very polite and well educated. We also found that eating lunch in the smaller towns was difficult, so we picnicked almost every day.
The following day after our arrival was Turkey’s Children’s Day, started by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk loved children and he often said: “Children are a new beginning of tomorrow.” He even dedicated (奉献) the day 23rd of April to the children which today is celebrated as Children’s Day as well as the date when the Republic of Turkey was founded.
On that day certain children are picked to take over the places of the government, and a lucky kid will be the president of Turkey for a whole day. He can decide what’s going to happen and whether or not he is going to have the president next to him. There are a very large number of possibilities of things he can do but some shops aren’t open because they are celebrating the day as well.
All in all, it was a more enjoyable trip. I would recommend (推荐) a trip to Turkey to anyone with an adventurous (冒险的) spirit!Before the author and his wife went on a trip to Turkey, they were told that ________.
| A．it was difficult to travel in Turkey |
| B．it was not easy to drive in Turkey |
| C．the streets in Turkey were dangerous |
| D．there were many mountainous roads |
Which of the following is TRUE, according to the first paragraph?
| A．Places in mountain areas were difficult to reach. |
| B．The couple drove for 12 days during their journey. |
| C．The Turkish drivers had good manners. |
| D．It was difficult to eat meals in Turkey. |
The underlined word “He” in Paragraph 3 refers to ________.
| A．every one of us | B．the government |
| C．the president of Turkey | D．the lucky child |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．The couple had no difficulty making their way in Turkey. |
| B．Turkey’s National Day falls on the 22nd of April. |
| C．The author joined in celebrating Children’s Day. |
| D．On Turkey’s Children’s Day everyone had holidays. |
What does the author think of the trip to Turkey?
| A．Interesting and dangerous. | B．Difficult and expensive. |
| C．Enjoyable and exciting. | D．Boring and adventurous. |
Years ago, there lived a wealthy man named Mr. Cooper who, with his dearest young son John, loved art collecting. Together they traveled around the world, collecting the finest art treasures.
One winter, war came to the nation, and John left to serve his country. After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram reading that John had died while saving a fellow soldier. Filled with sadness, the old man cried. On the coming Christmas morning, a soldier called on him and gave him a picture of John.
The following spring, the old man became ill and passed away. According to his will, all of his works of art would be auctioned (拍卖) on Christmas Day, when he had received the greatest gift of his life. The day soon arrived and art collectors from around the world gathered to buy some of the world’s greatest paintings. The auction began with a painting of the old man’s son. “Who will open the bidding (出价) with $100?” the auctioneer (拍卖人) asked. Minutes passed, but no one spoke. Finally, a neighbor of the old man’s spoke. “Can I take the painting for ten dollars? It is all I have, and he is a good man.”
“Will anyone go higher?” called the auctioneer. After more silence, the auctioneer said, “Going once, going twice, gone.” The gavel(槌) fell. “Now we can get on to the real treasures,” someone shouted angrily. But the auctioneer said that the auction was over. Someone asked,“It’s over? We didn’t come here for a picture of some old guy’s son. There are millions of dollars worth of art here!”The auctioneer replied, “It’s very simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son ... gets all.”Why did they travel around the world?
| A．They wanted to visit some well-known artists. |
| B．They had their own companies around the world. |
| C．They wanted to visit all kinds of places of interest. |
| D．They wanted to collect the world’s finest art. |
When did the old man die?
| A．The morning when the solider visited him. |
| B．Several months after John died. |
| C．A few days after John served in the army. |
| D．The day he received the news of John’s death. |
The underlined words “the greatest gift” in Paragraph 3 refer to ________.
| A．a picture of John | B．the painting John collected |
| C．the finest work of art | D．the telegram about his son |
A neighbor of the old man’s bought the painting of John ________.
| A．because he knew the will of the old man |
| B．to pick up the world’s greatest paintings |
| C．in honor of John, who was worth respecting |
| D．because no one else was willing to buy it |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
| A．the old man and the auctioneer were good friends |
| B．no art collectors wanted to buy Mr. Cooper’s collection of art |
| C．John was a successful art collector and an excellent artist |
| D．the old man, Mr. Cooper, loved his son very much |
The Great Fire of London started in the very early hours of 2 September, 1666. In four days it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. Over one hundred people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives.
The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King’s baker (面包师) in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window into the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery (面包房) into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.
By eight o’clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Paul’s and the Guildhall among them.
Samuel Pepys, the famous writer, wrote about the fire, “People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat .”
The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire. With nothing left to burn, the fire became weak and finally died out.
After the fire, Christopher Wren, the architect (建筑师), wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone. In fact, the streets are still narrow, but he did build more than fifty churches, among them the mew St Paul’s
The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place: a city for the future and not just of the past.From the passage, we can learn that the fire began in ________.
| A．a hotel | B．the palace | C．Pudding Lane | D．Thames Street |
The underlined word “family” in the second paragraph means ________.
| A．wife and husband | B．wife and children | C．home | D．children |
It seems that the writer of the text was most sorry for the fact that ________.
| A．many famous buildings were destroyed |
| B．some people lost their lives |
| C．the birds in the sky were killed by the fire |
| D．the King’s bakery was burned down |
Why did the writer cite (引用) Samuel Pepys?
| A．Because Pepys was among those putting out the fire. |
| B．Because Pepys also wrote about the fire. |
| C．Because he wanted to give the reader a clearer picture of the fire. |
| D．Because he wanted to show that poor people suffered most. |
How was the fire put out according to the text?
| A．The King and his soldiers came to help. |
| B．Houses standing in the direction of the fire were pulled down. |
| C．All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed. |
| D．People managed to get enough water from the river. |
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