There’s a blue house in central Florida that’s hard to miss. It’s somewhat famous among people who live nearby — it’s painted to look like Starry Night”, the iconic painting by Vincent van Gogh — but not everyone is a fan of the larger-than-life artwork.
“We had not originally intended to paint the house like this,” Nancy Nemhauser, who lives there with her husband, Lubomir Jastrzebski, and their adult son, told TODAY. They started by painting the wall that runs outside of their home, because it was “in disrepair” and they wanted it to look nice. The couple said they even asked permission from the city to paint the wall, and were told it was OK.
“So we went ahead and started having the wall painted by an artist who has his work shown throughout South America,” Nemhauser said. They chose Van Gogh because their son, who has autism (自闭症), is a fan — and they hoped that the mural would come in handy if he ever wandered far from home.
“God forbid he were to be in a situation where he did not have the ability to tell people his address clearly. We’re hoping that he would have the ability to at least say that he belongs at the Van Gogh house,” Nemhauser said. The couple added that their son loves the look of the house. “There’s some magical connection I think between Van Gogh and autistic kids, because Van Gogh was possibly also autistic,” Jastrzebski said.
After the couple painted the wall, they got a citation (传票) from the city stating that the wall painting was considered graffiti (涂鸦), and that the wall must match the house. That’s when they decided to paint the entire house to look like “Starry Night” — knowing that’s not quite what the city had in mind, but confident that they weren’t breaking any law.
Since then, they’ve been fined $10,600. In February, they filed a federal lawsuit against the city, claiming the city is violating their right to freedom of expression.
Neither Mount Dora city officials nor their lawyer would comment on the issue. But in February, they did say in a statement that they were trying to preserve the residential character of our neighborhoods, and that the house “may present a distraction to safe vehicle operation along the street which fronts the home”.
Nemhauser and Jastrzebski add that many neighbors love the house, and thousands of people have signed an online petition (请愿) in support of keeping the painting. While both sides are in settlement talks, the fate of the mural is still up in the air. The family said they were ready to battle for what they believe in.
1.What was the couple’s initial intention to paint the wall?
A.To beautify the damaged wall.
B.To respond to the call of the city.
C.To assist an artist to show his work.
D.To express their son’s admiration to Van Gogh.
2.What does the underlined phrase “God forbid” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A.May God forgive us.
B.It’s forbidden by God.
C.Even God can’t help it.
D.We hope it does not happen.
3.What’s Mount Dora city officials’ attitude towards the unique house?
A.Supportive. B.Disapproving.
C.Ambiguous. D.Understanding.
4.What is the text mainly about?
A.“Starry Night” house in Florida arouses a heated debate.
B.Neighbors sign an online petition in support of “Starry Night” house.
C.The magical connection between Van Gogh and autistic kids.
D.Homeowners battle for their “Starry Night” house in Florida.
Red Adair became “the man to call” if you wanted a fire in an oil well put out, a task that was extremely dangerous and difficult.
One of Red Adair’s most dangerous jobs was in 1962. He and his men put out a natural gas fire in the Sahara Desert in Algeria. The fire had been burning for six months. The fire was so fierce that American astronaut John Glenn could see it from space as he orbited Earth and the sand around the fire had melted into glass from the extreme heat. This famous fire was called the “Devil’s Cigarette Lighter”.
Adair’s success with the big fire and earlier well fires captured the imagination of the American film industry. In 1968, Hollywood made an action film called “Hellfighters” which was roughly based on events in Red Adair’s life. Adair said one of the best honors in the world was to have John Wayne play him in a movie.
In 1988, Adair troubleshot what was possibly the world’s worst ocean accident at the Piper Alpha oil platform in the North Sea. Not only did Red Adair and his team have to put out the fires but they also had to deal with winds blowing at more than one hundred and twenty kilometers an hour, as well as the sea which was at least twenty meters high.
In March of 1991, Red Adair went to Kuwait to put out about seven hundred Kuwaiti fires following the Persian Gulf War. His efforts saved millions of liters of oil. Some experts say the operation also helped prevent an environmental tragedy.
Red Adair died at 89. Many Americans remember him as a very brave man. He lived his life troubleshooting danger. He was known for risking his own life to save others.
1.Why was John Glenn mentioned in Paragraph 2?
A.To explain how the sand melted.
B.To confirm it was a natural gas fire.
C.To prove the fire was really big.
D.To show Adair’s job was important.
2.What can be learned about Hellfighters?
A.It was a big hit in Hollywood.
B.It was directed by John Wayne.
C.It is a documentary on firefighters.
D.It is mainly based on Adair’s life.
3.What happened in 1988?
A.Adair was asked to put out a big ocean fire.
B.Many people died in a big ocean fire accident.
C.Adair helped prevent an environmental tragedy.
D.Strong winds caused a big ocean fire.
4.What can be the best title of the passage?
A.The danger of fires B.Red Adair’s life story
C.A great firefighter D.Some unforgettable fires in the world
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1.What is the main benefit of the SunBridge Advantage?
A.A relatively low total price. B.A small hotel charge.
C.A discount on food. D.A low airfare.
2.How does Punta Senca Resort help families have fun?
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假定你是李华，你学校下个月将举办“Approach to China”为主题的英语演讲比赛，目前正在招募比赛选手。请你用英语写封申请信。信件内容包括：
1.写信目的。2.个人优势。
注意：1.词数100字左右。
2.增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Sir/Madam,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处，每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（八），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
This year I joined in the Chinese poetry club in our school. The member of our club meet once a week. We have difference activities, that I enjoy very much. We've invited some famous poets to a club to talk about the history of Chinese poetry but teach us the basic techniques of writing poems. At the weekend, in order to enriching our knowledge, we often go to visit poetry exhibitions, where we studied the masterpieces of well-known poets. I am very glad that our club is getting more popular and firmly believe that more poems will created. And I am sure that our schoolmates will get to love our great traditionally culture.
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
October usually marks the 1.(begin) of a new season, but what you call that season depends 2.where you are and whom you are.
In the UK, people will tell you it's "autumn". However, you will find people use both "fall" and "autumn" interchangeably when 3.(mention) this time of year in the US. Why does it have to be so 4.(confuse)?
According to Dictionary.com, "fall" isn't a modern nickname(昵称)5. followed. In Old English the season 6.(call) "harvest" meaning that farmers would have a big harvest in this season. Then, in 7.1600s, without farming, the term "harvest" 8.(gradual) became less useful to city dwellers, so English speakers needed a different name for the season. They knew leaves fell from trees during the season, so people called 9."the fall of the leaf", or "fall" for short.
But at the end of the 1600s, autumn, from the French word "autompne", came to England. It became more popular and took the place of "fall" as the word for the season.
At the same time, British people were making their trips to North America, bringing the words "fall" and "autumn" with them. That's 10. today's Americans have two names for one season.
