There are still many things that Peter Cooke would like to try his hand at－ paper – making and feather – work are on his list. For the moment though, he will stick to the skill he has been delighted to perfect over the past ten years ;making delicate and unusual objects out of shells.
As he leads me round his apartment showing me his work, he points to a pair of shell-covered ornaments(装饰品) above a fireplace. ‘I shan’t be at all bothered if people don’t buy them because I have got so used to them, and to me they’re adorable. I never meant to sell my work commercially. Some friends came to see me about five years ago and said, “You must have an exhibition-people ought to see these. We’ll talk to a man who owns an art gallery”.’ The result was an exhibition in London, at which 70 percent of the objects were sold. His second exhibition opened at the gallery yesterday. Considering the enormous prices the pieces command-around ￡2,000 for the ornaments-an empty space above the fireplace would seem a small sacrifice for Cooke to make.
“I do wish, though,” says Cooke, ‘that I’d taken this up a lot earlier, because then I would have been able to produce really wonderful things-at least the potential would have been there. Although the ideas are still there and I’m doing the best I can now, I’m more limited physically than I was when I started. Still, the work that he has managed to produce is a long way from the common shell constructions that can be found in seaside shops. ‘I have a miniature(微型的)mind’ he says, and this has resulted in boxes covered in thousands of tiny shells, little shaded pictures made from shells and baskets of astonishingly realistic flowers.
Cooke’s quest for beautiful, and especially tiny, shells has taken him further than his Norfolk shore: to France, Thailand, Mexico, South Africa and the Philippines, to name but a few of the beaches where he has lain on his stomach and looked for beauties to bring home.
67．What does the reader learn about Peter Cooke in the first paragraph?
A．He has produced hand-made objects in different materials.
B．He hopes to work with other materials in the future.
C．He has written about his love of making shell objects.
D．He was praised for his shell objects many years ago.
68．When looking round his apartment, the wrier__________.
A．is attracted by Cooke’s personality
B．realizes he doesn’t like Cooke’s work at all
C．feels uncertain about giving Cooke his opinion
D．senses that Cooke wants his products to be admired
69．The ‘small sacrifice’ in Paragraph 2 refers to _________.
A．the loss of Cooke’s ornaments
B．the display of Cooke’s ornaments
C．the cost of keeping Cooke’s ornaments
D．the space required to store Cooke’s ornaments
70．What does Cooke regret about his work?
A．He is not as famous as he should have been.
B．He makes less money than he should make.
C．He is less imaginative than he used to be.
D．He is not as skillful as he used to be.
