Text 3Painting your house is like adding something to a huge communal picture in which the rest of the painting is done either by nature or by other people. The picture is not static; it changes as we move about, with the time of day, with the seasons, with new painting, new buildings and with alterations to old ones. Any individual house is just a fragment of this picture, nevertheless it has the power to make or mark the overall scene. In the past people used their creative talents in painting their homes with great imagination and in varied but always subtly blending colors. The last vestiges of this great tradition can still be seen in the towns of the extreme west of Ireland. It has never been recognized as an art form, partly, because of the physical difficulty of hanging a street in a gallery and partly because it’ s always changing, as paint fades and is renewed. Also it is a communal art which cannot be identified with any one person, except in those many cases where great artists of the past found inspiration in ordinary street scenes and recorded them in paint.Following the principles of decoration that were so successful in the past, you should first take a long look at the house and its surroundings and consider possible limitations~ The first concerns the amount of color and intensity in the daylight in Britain. Colors that look perfectly in keeping with the sunny, clear skies of the Mediterranean would look too harsh in the grayer light of the north. Since bright light is uncomfortable-for the eyes, colors must be strong in order to be seen clearly. Viewed in a dimmer light they appear too bright. It is easy to see this if you look at a brick house while the sun is alternately shining and then going behind a cloud. The brickwork colors look much more intense when the sun is hidden.The second limitation is the colors of the surroundings: the colors which go best with Cotswold stone and a rolling green countryside will be different from those that look best by the sea or in a red - brick/blue - slate industrial town. In every area there are always colors that at once look in keeping.In many areas there are distinctive traditions in the use of color that may be a useful guide. The eastern counties of England and Scot land, particularly those with a local tradition of rendering or plastering, use colors applied solidly over the wall. Usually only the window frames and doors are picked out in another color, often white or pale gray. Typical wall colors are the pink associated with Suffolk and pale buffs and yellows of Fife. Much stronger colors such as deep earth red, orange, blue and green are also common. In the coastal villages of Essex, as well as inland in Hertfordshire, the house - fronts of overlapping boards are traditionally painted black--originally tarred like ships--with windows and doors outlined in white. In stone areas of Yorkshire and farther north, color is rarer: the houses are usually left in their natural color, though many are painted white as they probably all were once. Why are weather - boarded houses painted white according to the passage()
A. To contrast with the colored window - frames and doors.
B. As a break with the traditional coloring.
C. Because this is the tradition.
D. To cover the original tarred surface.
Text 4My church recently staged a Sensitivity Sunday to make our congregation aware of the problems faced by people with physical handicaps. We are asked to "adopt a handicap" for several hours on Sunday morning. Some members chose to be confined to wheelchairs, others stuffed cotton in their ears, hobbled around on crutches, or wore blindfolds.Wheelchairs had never seemed like scary objects to me before I had to sit in one. A tight knot grabbed hold in my stomach when I first took a close look at what was to be my only means of getting around for several hours. I was stuck by the irrational thought, "once I am in this wheelchair, the handicap might become real, and I might never walk again." This thought, as ridiculous as it was, frightened me so much that I needed a large dose of courage just to sit down.After I overcame my fear of the wheelchair, I had to learn how to cope with it. I wiggled around to find a comfortable position and thought I might even enjoy being pampered and wheeled around. I glanced over my shoulder to see who would be pushing me. It was only then that I realized I would have to navigate the contraption all by myself! My palms reddened and started to sting as I tugged at the heavy metal wheels. I could not seem to keep the chair on an even course or point the wheels in direction I wanted to go. I kept bumping into doors, pews, and other people. I felt as though everyone was staring at me and commenting on my clumsiness.When the service started, more problems cropped up to frustrate me even further. Every time the congregation stood up, my view was blocked. I could not see the minister, the choir, or the altar. Also, as the church’ s aisles were narrow, I seemed to be in the way no matter where I parked myself. For instance, the ushers had to step around me in order to pass the collection plate. This Shade me feel like a nuisance. Thanks to a new building program, our church will soon have the wide aisles and well - spaced pews that will make life easier for the handicapped. Finally, if people stopped to talk to me, I had to strain my neck to look up at them. This made me feel like a little child being talked down to and added to my sense of helplessness.My few hours as a disabled person left a deep impression on me. Now, I no longer feel resentment at large tax expenditures for ramp equipped buses, and I wouldn’t dream of parking my car in a space marked "Handicapped Only." Although my close encounter with a handicap was short - lived, I can now understand the challenges, both physical and emotional, that wheelchair - bound people must over come. Why did the writer say "Wheelchairs had never seemed like scary objects to me before I had to sit in one"()
A. Because a tight knot would grabbed hold in his stomach.
Because he would have to sit in one for several years.
C. Because he would never walk again.
D. Because it seemed as if the handicap might become real.