《考研英语阅读理解100篇 高分版》 Unit 25 - TEXT ONE

With the benefit of hindsight, Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid's story about her first visit to China sounds like a tale of destiny. In 1981, China was just awakening and opening up to the outside world. Hadid was fascinated. She bought every color of Mao suit available (black, charcoal grey, green, blue). The cities were dark and drab, but she said it was a “very, very important trip.” She traveled by train to various towns and met Chinese who'd never seen foreigners before. “I bought Walkman tapes, and Chinese borrowed them to listen to at night,” she told Newsweek during a recent trip to Beijing. “Even then I thought, ‘You could do a lot of building here.’”
And since then, she has. As dusk fell on a crisp October day, thousands of well-wishers converged on Beijing's second ring road, jamming traffic and thronging what had been for several years a vast construction site. Everyone jostled to catch a glimpse of the architect and her boldest project yet—a futuristic development called Galaxy SOHO. “A few days ago we tweeted news about the project's completion and invited people to sign up for the opening,” said Zhang Xin, CEO and cofounder of SOHO China, which built the project. “Fifteen thousand people tweeted back, saying they wanted to come.” When Hadid and Zhang entered a central atrium to greet fans, a stampede nearly broke out as everyone surged to take cellphone photos.
Even by Beijing standards, the surrealistic project—with its bulging, organic shapes and mesmerizing curves—is an eye-opener. Without the high-tech computerized design methods developed over the last decade, said SOHO China cofounder Pan Shiyi (Zhang's husband), “you simply couldn't do this. Over here, every piece of glass is different. Over there, each strip of aluminum is not the same.” China-based architect Antonio Ochoa says the project's “fluidity is unique,” while U. S. ambassador Gary Locke declared it “just like the Starship Enterprise.” As if the building's sinuous, swooping lines weren't otherworldly enough, female staff hired for the opening celebration wore white Star Trek-style outfits with iridescent wigs in fuchsia, violet, and lime green. “I first came to Beijing more than 30 years ago,” Hadid told the adoring crowd. “We always thought we could do something amazing here. Now is the right time, and this is the right place.”
“No one's a bigger draw than Zaha,” said Zhang, whose firm is involved in two other projects with Hadid. “More of her firm's projects are in China than in any other single country.” China and Hadid seem to be a natural fit. In 1994 Hadid designed a radical opera house for Cardiff in Wales, but red tape prevented it from being built. In 2011 when the stunning black granite-and-glass Guangzhou Opera House, designed by Hadid's firm, opened to praise, many commented that this was the opera house that Britain could have had.
Indeed, onlookers say there's something subliminally “Chinese” about the Guangzhou Opera House and Galaxy SOHO, especially the way they evoke water and land forms. “Zaha has stressed the importance of the construction being part of nature,” says Beijing-based architect Zhu Pei. Even the language her firm uses to describe Galaxy evokes nature: its four domed masses “coalesce and fuse, pull apart and connect, via bridges and plateaus.” Retail units surround a central “canyon.” There's no question that the 2004 winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize (tantamount to a Nobel for architects) has left her mark on China's landscape. The secret of her success here may have something to do with the fact that China also left its mark on Hadid.
1. Which one of the following statements is NOT the reason Hadid thought she could do a lot of buildings in China?
[A] China had just opened up to the outside world, having the potential in building.
[B] The buildings in China were so dark and drab.
[C] Hadid liked Chinese architecture very much.
[D] China was a big market for her architectural design.
2. That Galaxy SOHO is an eye-opener lies in _____.
[A] every part of the building is different
[B] Galaxy SOHO is a very huge building
[C] people never saw this kind of building
[D] the designer is more attractive
3. The word “iridescent” (Line 7, Paragraph 3) most probably means _____.
[A] exotic
[B] baroque
[C] beautiful
[D] colorized
4. Which one of the following is NOT the reason why Hadid's projects are so welcomed in China?
[A] Chinese never saw this kind of building before.
[B] The buildings Hadid designs are part of nature.
[C] The design of the buildings is subliminally “Chinese”.
[D] The way they evoke water and land forms is preferred by Chinese.
5. According to the text, Zhang Xin's attitude to the future of the Galaxy SOHO is _____.
[A] wait-and-see
[B] optimistic
[C] lukewarm
[D] enthusiastic