题目内容

Carnegie Hall, the famous concert hall in New York City, has again undergone a restoration. While this is not the first, it is certainly the most extensive in the building's history. As a result of this restoration, Carnegie Hall once again has the quality of sound that it had when it was first built.
Carnegie Hall owes its existence to Andrew Carnegie, the wealthy owner of a steel company in the late 1800s. The hall was finished in 1891 and quickly gained a reputation as an excellent performing arts hall where accomplished musicians gained fame. Despite its reputation, however, the concert hall suffered from several detrimental renovations over the years. During the Great Depression, when fewer people could afford to attend performances, the directors sold part of the building to commercial businesses. As a result, a coffee shop was opened in one comer of the building, for which the builders replaced the brick and terra cotta walls with windowpanes. A renovation in 1946 seriously damaged the acoustical quality of the hall when the makers of the film Carnegie Hall cut a gaping hole in the dome of the ceiling to allow for lights and air vents. The hole was later covered with short Curtains and a fake ceiling, but the hall never sounded the same afterwards.
In 1960, the violinist Isaac Stem became involved in restoring the hall after a group of real estate developers unveiled plans to demolish Carnegie Hall and build a high-rise office building on the site, This threat spurred Stern to rally public support for Carnegie Hall and encourage the City of New York to buy the property. The movement was successful, and the concert hall is now owned by the city. In the current restoration, builders tested each new material for its sound qualities, and they replaced the hole in the ceiling with a dome. The builders also restored the outer walls to their original appearance and closed the coffee shop. Carnegie has never sounded better, and its prospects for the future have never looked more promising.
The passage is mainly about ______.

A. changes to Carnegie Hall
B. the appearance of Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall's history during the Great Depression
D. damage to the ceiling in Carnegie Hall

查看答案
更多问题

What major change happened to the hall in 19467

A. The acoustic dome was damaged.
B. Space in the building was sold to commercial businesses.
C. The walls were damaged in an earthquake.
D. The stage was renovated.

According to the passage, ______ are the key factor to making "Now casts" a reality.

A. scientific and technological advances such as radar, or satellites
B. computer scientist
C. meteorologists
D. advanced computer programs

What happens when human beings are deprived of sleep for long periods of time? To answer this question, a New Yorker, Peter Tripp, offered to stay awake 200 hours. During that time Tripp was observed by a group of doctors, who reported on his progress.
After three days of staying awake, he began to show signs of mental breakdown. He laughed at things that were not funny, and wept at things that were not sad. Complaining of pressure caused by a hat on his head, he tried repeatedly to take it off. Tripp, of course, was not wearing a hat.
On the fifth day he cried out that a doctor's jacket looked like crawling worms. Then he imagined he was in another city; he tried to run away from the building, insisting it was on fire; and he thought the 200-hour mark had been passed but that doctors were "suffering from mental illness." He was
nearly mad!
Barely able to stand, Tripp was helped across the street to a room in a hotel. There, after being awake for 201 hours and thirteen minutes, he fell asleep. The doctors predicted he would sleep for twenty or thirty hours. "Peter Tripp will sleep in history. ' said the doctors. But he didn't sleep that long, and his first words were, "I feel fine." After a medical check, his greatly surprised watchers pronounced him fit. The next day he was back to work.
What is the main idea of the passage?

A. There is little danger of serious after-effects when human beings are deprived of sleep for long periods of time.
B. Going without sleep for a long period will cause bad shortlivede ffects, but apparently no serious after-effects.
C. After 200 hours without sleep Tripp was suffering from "mental ill ness".
D. The doctors predicted Tripp would sleep for twenty or thirty hours.

______ has recently been done to provide more flats for the people, the housing problem in

A. What
B. That
C. As a matter of fact
D. In spite of what

答案查题题库