BEIJING, Sep. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- The extra-large model baby in the Spain Pavilion(馆) was “conceived”(构思)by a Spanish filmmaker, Shi Yingying reports.
Visitors admiring the 6.5-meter-high giant baby, Miguelin, in the Spain Pavilion may be surprised to realize that it was not the concept of a famous designer or a group of groundbreaking engineers. It came from one filmmaker’s interpretation of the meaning of “Better City, Better Life”.
Spanish director Isabel Coixet developed the idea after being asked to contribute to Expo 2010 Shanghai.
“They asked me to do something to tell the Chinese audience about Spain in the future and the first thing jumping to my mind was a baby,” said Coixet. “If we really fight to have better cars, better cities and better lives, it’s for them - for our children.”
Despite her Spanish heritage, Coixet doesn’t focus on making Spanish films or using Spain as the setting. Fans of her various award-winning films, including My Life Without Me, The Secret Life of Words and Elegy, may not even be aware of Coixet’s Spanish background.
“The borders between countries are just illusion(假象),” said Coixet. “Some directors feel really comfortable telling stories that belong to their territory.”
But Coixt feels the opposite: “I'm more comfortable outside my country. It gives me a strange freedom.”
One of her favorite things about being a director is the freedom. “The thing is that the world is wide and this freedom lets you make films everywhere,” she said.
Coixet’s curiosity took her latest exploration and movie work to Japan. In the movie Map of the Sound of Tokyo, the Catalan actor Sergi Lopez is the owner of a wine shop in Tokyo, and Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi is a young woman who works both as a fishmonger and as a hired killer.
The conflict of the two people's very different worlds and the tango-like relationship they develop is just one representation of what Coixet is able to produce by mixing cultures.
While she doesn’t know if she will shoot a film in Shanghai, two things have caught her attention: Shanghainese women and crickets(蟋蟀).
After just arriving in the city, she was surprised by the mix of old Chinese culture in a booming chief city “Behind the skyscrapers, there is a flower and bird market with heaps of crickets and birdcages in,” she said. “I'm totally amazed with the city.”The huge baby represents the idea that ______________.
A.our children are the new generation full of imagination. |
B.our children will develop the friendship between China and Spain. |
C.our children are our future. |
D.our children will understand the meaning of “better city, better life”. |
We learn from the passage that Coixet’s award-winning films were set ____________.
A.only in Spain. | B.only in Japan. |
C.mainly in the countries outside Spain. | D.mainly in the countries within Europe. |
According to Isabel Coixet, a flower and bird market behind the high rises_______________.
A.shows people in Shanghai are living a rich life spiritually and materially. |
B.reflects prosperity of the market. |
C.indicates the Chinese people are leading a rich life. |
D.represents the traditional culture of China. |
From the passage we can learn that ____________.
A.Isabel Coixet is dissatisfied with the design of the extra-large model baby. |
B.A mix of different cultures is reflected in Isabel Coixet’s films. |
C.Isabel Coixet feels less comfortable while making films all over the world. |
D.Isabel Coixet designed the huge baby according to the requirement of a group of engineers. |
阅读下面短文和问题,根据短文内容,在答题纸相应题号后的横线上写下相关信息(不多于五个单词),完成该问题的回答。答语要结构正确,书写工整,字迹清楚。
These days, people are concerned about the growing number of kids who are overweight. The number of overweight kids has increased a lot over the last 30 years. Today, more than 15% of the kids aged 6 to 19 are overweight.
In a recent study in the USA, 1,168 boys and girls were asked about the problem. More than half of them said too many girls were overweight.
What does “Overweight” Mean?
Most people who are overweight have too much body fat. The person who is overweight weighs more than is healthy. Being overweight can lead to health problems, like heart disease. Overweight kids also may feel sad about the way they look. Sometimes they get laughed at by other kids and it is harder for overweight kids to make friends.
Why Are Some Kids Overweight?
When asked why some kids were overweight, many kids said it was because overweight kids didn’t exercise enough or eat right. Others said that kids were overweight because fast food restaurants serve the wrong foods or it’s a problem of genes.
How Are the Kids Trying to Lose Weight?
Plenty of kids said they have tried to lose weight and they have been trying to do the following:
● go on a diet – 17%
● eat healthy and exercise – 64%
● eat out less – 4%
● take medicine – 5%
It’s great that kids are thinking about weight problems and are trying to solve them. It’s like putting together a difficult puzzle. Understanding that there’s a problem is one piece. Understanding what causes kids to be overweight is another. And knowing that eating healthy and exercising are the best ways to fix the problem is a very important piece.How do overweight kids feel about the way they look?
___________________________________________________________________Some kids have tried to lose weight. What have 64% of them been trying to do?
___________________________________________________________________What is the passage mainly about?
___________________________________________________________________
For well over a thousand years, smallpox was a disease that everyone feared. The disease killed much of the native population in South America when the Spanish arrived there in the early sixteenth century. By the end of the eighteenth century, smallpox was responsible for about one in ten deaths around the world. Those who survived the disease were left with ugly scars on their skin.
It had long been well known among farmers that people who worked with cows seldom caught smallpox; instead, they often caught a similar but much milder disease called cowpox (牛痘) . A British doctor called Jenner was extremely interested in this, and so he studied cowpox. He believed that, by vaccinating (给接种疫苗) people with the disease, he could protect them against the much worse disease smallpox. In 1796, he vaccinated a boy with cowpox and, two months later, with smallpox. The boy did not get smallpox. In the next two years, Jenner vaccinated several children in the same way, and none of them got the disease.
News of the success of Jenner’s work soon spread. Vaccination soon became a common method to protect people against other diseases caused by virus, such as rabies (狂犬病), and vaccines were sent across the world to the United States and India.
It took nearly two centuries to achieve Jenner’s dream of getting free of smallpox from the whole world. In 1967, the world Health Organization (WHO) started a great vaccination program, and the last known case of smallpox was recorded in Somalia in 1977. The story of vaccinations does not end there, however. There are many other diseases that kill more and more people every year. Besides, many new diseases are being discovered. The challenge for medical researchers will, therefore, probably continue for several more centuriesSmallpox was so serious that _________________ by the end of l8th century
A.its death rate was up to ten percent |
B.those who caught it were certain to die |
C.one in ten people in the world died of smallpox |
D.one in ten deaths in the world was caused by smallpox |
Edward Jenner discovered that vaccination with cowpox could ____________.
A.make smallpox much milder |
B.stop people from getting smallpox |
C.protect people against any disease |
D.prevent people’s scars after smallpox |
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
A.The first experiment with cowpox was made by a British doctor. |
B.After 1977 smallpox disappeared around the world according to WHO. |
C.Vaccination had existed among ordinary farmers before being discovered. |
D.Vaccination can be used to protect people in the world against not only smallpox. |
The author of the passage thinks that _________________.
A.vaccinations bring many new problems |
B.vaccinations end the spread of diseases |
C.there is a long way to go to fight against diseases |
D.there is a long way to go to discover new diseases |
The audience starts to scream and young people all over Britain turn on their TVs. Yes, it’s Top of the pops!
Top of the pops is an amazing 45-year-old programme. Pop stars from all over the world appear on this successful TV prograrmme. After about 2340 shows, it’s still the most popular pop music show in Britain.So what’s the secret?
“We get lots of bands to perform live in the studio,” says producer Chris Cowey. “That just doesn’t happen on other shows”
Chris starts the preparations for the programme over a week before it goes out.His first job is to decide which bands to have on the show. When the chart of the top twenty songs is produced on Sunday, Chris can start to book the bands
Monday starts with Chris meeting his sound, lighting and camera workers. They listen to each song and plan the show.
Tuesday is paperwork day. There are bookings to make sure of, letters to answer and lots of phone calls to make. The show is on Thursday. Bands arrive at the studio from 10 o’clock in the morning and start practicing. Tonight’s presenter, Jo Whiley, practises too
First the bands go to make up. Judy and Issy are the make-up artists. “We see the stars with no make-up on, looking terrible,” says Issy. Then the bands go to the costume department where Marianne dresses the stars.
Back in the studio things are happening. The audience is practising their dance moves! It takes over two hours to record the whole programme, then Chris edits it all night long. The final version is exactly 29 minutes longWhat make (s) Top of the Pops the most popular in Britain?
A.The famous singers of the bands. |
B.The live performances in the studio. |
C.The large numbers of pop fans in Britain. |
D.The jobs carefully done by the workers of the TV station. |
When the bands receive the invitations to the performance, ___________________.
A.they must decide what songs they will perform |
B.they have no idea what songs they will perform |
C.they don’t have to decide what songs they will perform |
D.the songs that will be performed haven’t been decided on |
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
A.The programme time on TV is exactly controlled. |
B.All the stars must make up before their performance. |
C.The producer plays the main role in planning the programme. |
D.There are no audience to join in the performance at the TV station |
How is the music programme made at the TV station?
Which is the proper title for the passage?
A.A Stage for Pop Stars |
B.Go Backstage of Top of the Pops |
C.Great Success Comes from Hard Work |
D.The Most Popular Is the Most Successful |
I had to knock on the taxi to get his attention. Finally, the driver, a man about 60, looked up from behind the wheel and apologized, “I’m sorry, but I was reading a letter.” He sounded as if he had a cold or a cough.
Since I was in no hurry, I told him to finish his letter. He shook his head, explaining that he had already read it several times and almost knew it by heart. Curious, I asked whether it was from a child or maybe a grandchild. “This isn’t family,” he replied. “Though he might just as well have been a regular member of the family, Old Ed and I grew up together.”
They were always friends. But since he moved away from the neighborhood 30 years ago, it’d generally just been postcards at Christmas time between them. A couple of weeks ago, Ed died. “I should have kept in touch.” He repeated this, more to himself than to me. To comfort him, I said sometimes we just didn’t seem to find the time. “But we used to find the time,” he said. “Take a look.” He handed the letter over to me.
The first sentence “I’ve been meaning to write for some time, but I’ve always delayed it.” reminded me of myself. It went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together. When I read the part where it said “Your friendship really means a lot to me, more than I can say because I’m not good at saying things like that”, I found myself nodding in agreement.
We had gone several kilometers and were almost at my hotel, so I read the last paragraph: “So I thought you’d like to know that I was thinking of you.” And it was ended with “Your Old Friend, Tom.”
“I thought your friend’s name was Ed,” I said.
“I’m Tom,” he explained. “It’s a letter I wrote to Ed before I knew he’d died. I never put it in the mailbox. I guess I should have written it sooner.” His face was pale as he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief.
When I got to my hotel room I didn’t unpack right away. I had to write a letter and post it. From Paragraph 4, we learn that the author _______.
A.often fails to write to his friends |
B.doesn’t want to write to his friends |
C.had many great moments with his friends |
D.was good at expressing his feelings to friends |
Who wrote the letter?
A.Old Ed | B.The driver’s grandchild |
C.The author | D.Tom |
It can be inferred from the passage that the driver regretted_____.
A.missing Ed’s funeral |
B.moving away from his neighborhood |
C.forgetting to send Ed Christmas cards |
D.not being able to keep in touch with Ed |
How often do you use your car? Can you use your car less often? Do you know the following facts in the UK?
• About 50% of all car journeys are just for fun.
• Over 80% people go to work by car.
• 25% car journeys are under two miles.
• 70% car journeys are under five miles.
WALKING & CYCLING
Instead of using the car for short journeys, why not walk or ride a bicycle? Walking is a most popular form of exercise—it’s healthy and it can save you money. If you work nearby, try walking or cycling instead of driving.
BUSES
Bus companies are using new buses: some run on new fuels which produce less pollution; some have easier access for disabled and old people. There are special traffic lanes (行车道) to make bus journeys easier and more reliable. So do something to help solve the pollution problem—let the bus take you to work and your children to school.
TRAINS
All car journeys, long or short, can be hard work. For some trips it is wiser to take the train. Leave your car at home and walk, cycle or take a bus to and from the station. Train travel is fast, safe and comfortable. Train tickets are not always expensive; some are quite cheap at discount.How many of car journeys are just for fun in the UK?
A.25%. | B.About 50% | C.70%。 | D.Over 80%. |
The writer believes that ________ can give children valuable road experience.
A.walking to school | B.travelling by train |
C.taking new fuel buses | D.having car journeys for fun |
What is the main purpose of this passage?
A.To teach people how to use the buses. |
B.To encourage people to travel by train. |
C.To advise people to use cars less often. |
D.To tell people to obey traffic rules. |