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  3. Apart from a new football stadium and some smart university buildings, most of Middlesbrough looks as though it came to a dead h

Apart from a new football stadium and some smart university buildings, most of Middlesbrough looks as though it came to a dead h

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问题     Apart from a new football stadium and some smart university buildings, most of Middlesbrough looks as though it came to a dead halt in the 1980s. It boomed on steel and chemicals after iron ore was discovered in 1850. Just over a century later, as Britain’s traditional industries failed, it seemed to have reached the end of the road. Now government leaders hope that splendor and glamour can revive it.
    The most startling sign of this improbable ambition is an expensive art gallery. The ￡19.2 million Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) houses the local council’s collection of modern British paintings and ceramics. It opens on January 28th with works on loan for the occasion by artists rarely seen in the region—Picasso, Matisse, Jackson Pollock—alongside pictures by contemporary names such as Chris ofili and Damien Hirst.
    The glass-fronted modernist gallery, by Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat, sits on once-ruined land opposite the Victorian town hall and 1960s council buildings. The landscaped space in between has become a vast new square. "Middlesbrough lost its heart years ago," says Ray Mallon, the town’s frank elected mayor. "Now we have created a new heart."
    Locals are dubious. It looks nice, but they can’t see many people going to it; those who want culture go to Newcastle. Mr. Mallon is not worried by such comments. He says MIMA will lure some of the 7 million people who live within an hour and a halfs drive from the town, and persuade them to spend money there. With 5% of the town’s 137,600 residents claiming unemployment—twice the national average—and business registrations at half the national rate, outside money is needed.
    Using art for regeneration is a well-tried process, especially in northern England. Liverpool’s Tate North gallery and Salford’s Lowry Centre succeed because they are part of bigger attractions and in big cities. But Gateshead’s Baltic Mills art gallery and Sunderland’s National Glass Centre have struggled to draw visitors, and both have needed extra subsidies. Godfrey Worsdale, MIMA’s director, reckons he will achieve his aim of 110,000 visitors a year. Galleries that run into trouble, he says, tend to have single themes with niche appeal. Still, since 96% of MIMA’s cost has come from public funds and as two-thirds of the ￡1 million running cost will fall on local taxpayers, the council is taking a risk. "It is not going to be profitable," says Mr. Mallon bravely. "What it can do is make the town profitable."
According to the first two paragraphs, the "improbable ambition" (Line 1, Paragraph 2) is
选项 A、to make Middlesbrough boom on steel and chemicals again.
B、to revive the traditional industries in Middlesbrough.
C、to revive Middlesbrough with glitz and glamour.
D、to build an expensive gallery in Middlesbrough.
答案C
解析 事实细节题。第二段段首说，this improbable ambition，this指代的应当是在前一句，即首段最后一句，C项中的glitz与文中的splendor意思相同，故C项正确。A、B两项意思相近，均排除；D为强干扰项，artgallery虽紧接着this improbable ambition出现，但此句主语实为The most startling sign。说明建艺术馆只是ambition的一种表现。
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