________ Staten Island. It has a span of 4,260 feet. The bridge is so long ________ the shape of the earth had to ________(take) into account by its designer. Two great towers support four huge cables. The towers are built on immense underwater platforms __________(make) of steel and concrete. The platforms extend to a ________(deep) of over 100 feet under the sea. These alone took sixteen months to build. Above the surface of the water, the towers rise ________ a height of nearly 700 feet. They support the cables from________the bridge has been suspended. Each of the four cables contains 26,108 lengths of wire. It ______________(stimulate) that if the bridge were packed with cars, it would still only be carrying a third of its total capacity. However, size and strength are not the only important things about this bridge. ________ its immensity, it is both simple and elegant,___________(fulfill) its designer's dream to create 'an enormous object _______(draw) as faintly as possible'.

Lesson 18 Electric currents in modern art现代艺术的电流

Modern sculpture rarely surprises us any more. The idea________ modern art can only be seen in museums is mistaken. Even people _____ take no interest in art cannot have failed to notice examples of modern sculpture_____display in public places. Strange forms stand in gardens, and outside buildings and shops. We have got quite used to them. Some________ 'modern' pieces have been on display for nearly eighty years.

In spite of this, some people -- including myself -- were surprised by a recent exhibition of modern sculpture. The first thing I saw when I entered the art gallery was a notice ___________: 'Do not touch the exhibits. Some of them are dangerous!' The objects on display were pieces of moving sculpture. Oddly shaped forms that are suspended form the ceiling and move in response to a gust of wind are quite familiar_________ everybody. These objects, however, were different. __________(line) up against the wall, there were long thin wires __________(attach) to <I>meta</I>l spheres. The spheres had been magnetized and attracted or repelled each other all the time. In the centre of the hall, there were a number of tall structures _____ contained coloured lights. These lights flickered ______________(continue) like traffic lights ________ have gone mad. Sparks were emitted from small black boxes and red lamps flashed on and off angrily. It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment. These peculiar forms not only seemed designed to shock people ________(emotion), but to give them electric shocks as well!