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  3. The New Year Celebration Ceremony of Times Square When the New York Times officially opened its new headquarters in Times Sq

The New Year Celebration Ceremony of Times Square When the New York Times officially opened its new headquarters in Times Sq

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问题               The New Year Celebration Ceremony of Times Square
    When the New York Times officially opened its new headquarters in Times Square in 1904, owner Alfred Ochs not only convinced the city to rename the intersection formerly known as Longacre Square, but he also threw a grand party to commemorate the mile stone. The New Year’s Eve celebration started with an all-day street festival, transitioned to a fireworks display ending with cheers at mid-night from the crowd of more than 200,000. Previous New Year’s Eve celebrations typically took place outside of Old Trinity Church in Manhattan’s financial district. But by contemporary standards these weren’t parties at all because there was no ball.
    For decades, residents of US cities would synchronize (校准钟表) their pocket-watches using a giant globe that would descend from a pole in a public space to mark the exact hour. Ochs conceived of a well-decorated "time ball" that would descend just before midnight to mark the exact end of the year. The first ball to drop—an illuminated 400-pound iron-and-wood globe—was lowered from a flagpole. Tradition took root and the ball has announced a new beginning almost every year since—in 1942 and 1943, during World War II , the ball was temporarily put out of commission by a war-time "dimout". Instead crowds gathered in the square and observed a moment of silence before cheering.
    Although the newspaper moved to a different location in 1914, the ball remained a Times Square tradition, with several redecorations along the way. In 1955 it slimmed down to a 200-pound aluminum (铝) globe, and remained that way until the 1980s when red lights and a green stem were added to make it an apple promoting the city’s "I Love New York" tourism campaign. That flashy phase ended in 1988 in favor of simple white lights, followed later by rhinestones (莱茵 石) with edges and strobes (频闪闪光灯). But the biggest checkup was saved for the ball that would ring in the new millennium. Weighing up to 1, 070 pounds, the massive new ball marketed handcrafted Waterford crystal triangles, each with a design symbolizing various messages such as "Hope for Fellowship", "Hope for Wisdom" and "Hope for Abundance". With minor changes, that sphere remained through the 2007 festival.
    This year’s ball tops out at 12 feet in diameter (double the size of previous balls) and weighs 11,875 pounds; it sparkles with 32,256 LED lights and 2,668 crystals, it’s not the only thing that’s gotten bigger since the 1900s; a crowd estimated at a million people will be celebrating in Times Square on Dec. 31, and millions more will be watching worldwide.
Which of the following is TRUE of the first "time ball" according to the passage?
选项 A、It was made of iron and wood and illuminated from outside.
B、It was moved with New York Times to a new place in 1914.
C、It was lowered from a flagpole the first time it appeared.
D、It was lowered to celebrate the new year all the way to 1955.
答案C
解析 事实细节题。由题干中的the first“time ball”定位到第二段第三句。该句指出The first ball to drop．．．was lowered from a flagpole，C与之相符，为正确答案。虽然此句对这个大球的描述是an illuminated 400一pound iron-and-wood globe，但我们并不能确定照明的来源是球外，故排除A；第三段第一句说：虽然《纽约时报》在1914年搬到了另一个地方，但是时间球保留下来成为了时报广场的一个传统，由此可知时间球并没有随着《纽约时报》一起搬家，故排除B；第二段第四句中提到，在二战期间，时间球曾于1942年和1943年暂停它的使命，故排除D。
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考研英语一

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