Every January, Breckenridge hosts the International Show 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 each. The sculptors bring out their
vorite 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 feed(后腳) reaching into a fish bowl complete with water ripples(漣漪) 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 (腳爪) 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 then vote on creativity, technical skill, and visual impact(視覺效果) of the designs
In 2006, Team USA took firs place for their golden dog sculpture titled “Discovery”。 But the competition is not just about medals and ribbon. “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.
What kind of tools are the sculptures NOT permitted to use? (回答詞數(shù)不超過6個)
What gives the sculptors ideas for their creative work? (回答詞數(shù)不超過9個)
Why did Team USA win the competition in 2006? (回答詞數(shù)不超過15個)
The idea about the phoenix goes back to
Ancient Egypt, where we find the phoenix described as a handsome, eagle-like
bird, with part-golden, part-red plumage, that spent most of its life in the
Arabian deserts. It was rarely seen and according to one version of the story,
only appeared in Egypt once every five hundred years, when it flew to Heliopolis,
“city of the sun”, and deliberately burnt itself to ashes by settling on the
altar (祭壇) flame
there! However, it seems it did not really die because from those same ashes a
young, fully formed phoenix was born and flew away, apparently back to Arabia.
It is pretty obvious that no one has ever
seen or will see a living phoenix. The interesting thing is that we can find
certain clues which may explain one aspect of the Egyptians’ idea. It may sound
unbelievable, but some birds are apparently quite charmed by flames and small
fires, especially members of the crow family. One zoologist actually proved
this by setting fire to some straw near to a tame(馴養(yǎng)的)rook, a large black bird like a crow. Far from
becoming nervous and backing away, the bird deliberately stood over the flames,
with raised and vibrating wings. It didn’t get burnt, but the image it
presented by its strange behavior was almost exactly like that shown in
illustrations of the mythical phoenix!
Why birds should occasionally behave in
this strange way is not clear. One idea is that they carefully use the heat of
the flames to relieve the annoyance caused by their feather mites (虱) which all birds have.
Whatever the reason, it is quite possible that the Ancient Egyptians saw birds
behaving in this way, from time to time, and used it as the basis of their
phoenix myth, adding fanciful details which closely linked it to their worship
of the sun and their belief in resurrection.
Nowadays, the phoenix is much less
important to us than it was to the Egyptians. But the logo of modern fire
insurance companies, which employ the phoenix as one of their symbols, refers
that in one sense the idea of it remains.
1. According to the passage, the phoenix
_________ .
A.is a handsome and eagle-like bird living in Arab
B.used to be seen when the Egyptians held religious activities
C.has never really existed in the world
D.is the king of all kinds of birds
2. The reason why birds stand above flames
is probably that _________ .
A.the phoenix used to do so
B.they may get rid of the mites
C.they want to burn their feather
D.they can heat themselves
3.Which of the following statements is NOT
correct?
A.The ancient Egyptians worshiped the phoenix.
B.The scientists have discovered why birds are attracted by fire.
C.The modern people still favor the idea of the phoenix.
D.The mythical tales about the phoenix were based on facts.
4.Which of the following is closest to the
underlined word “resurrection” in the 3rd paragraph?
A.living forever
B.offering warmth
C.coming back to life
D.staying healthy
5.What does the phoenix probably mean in
the logo of a fire insurance company?
A.Our company can protect you from being harmed by fire.
B.If your property is destroyed by fire, we will help you build it
up again.
C.Our company will always be energetic and wealthy.
D.If needed, we will save you at the risk of losing lives.