An American research company shows that $248.7 billion online sales are expected by 2014. It seems as if we can’t get enough of spending money through countless online clicks today. Following are some of the incredible things that you can buy online!
1) Parents
51-year-old Michael Amatrudo from Connecticut put a posting on Craig list in 2009 to sell his elderly parents, asking for $155 in return.
2) Chewing Gum
Bidding for Britney Spears’ chewing gum reached $14,000 in 2004. The pop star’s half-eaten sandwich also went for over $500.
3) Kidney Stone
Star Trek actor William Shatner sold his kidney stone for $20,000 when he put it up for sale online to see how much a piece of him was worth. He ended up giving the money to charity.
4) An Imaginary Friend
This imaginary guy went (or might still be going) by the name of Jon Malipieman and was sold on eBay for $3,000 by a man who claimed:
“My imaginary friend Jon Malipieman is getting too old for me now. I am now 27 and I feel I am growing out of him. He is very friendly. Along with him, I will send you what he likes and dislikes, his favorite things to do and his personal self portrait.”
5) Souls
The website demonical.com is probably the creepiest site I have ever visited. You can sell your own soul or buy the souls of people such as Fidel Castro and Woody Allen (both selling for $950). Bill Gate, whoever that is, has his soul for sale at $1,300 while Michael Jacobsen’s soul is being sold for $3000.
6) A Rock That Looks Like Meat
The screen shot from eBay tells us that people are bidding over $1 million for this “naturally formed bbq pork rock”. Absolute madness.What is the author’s purpose for writing the passage?
| A．To introduce some unbelievable things online. |
| B．To call on customers to resist the products. |
| C．To attract readers to visit the related websites. |
| D．To encourage readers to buy the things online. |
Which is probably sold at the highest price according to the passage?
| A．Chewing Gum. | B．Kidney Stone. |
| C．An Imaginary Friend. | D．A Rock That Looks Like Meat. |
According to the text, _____ is most likely to have starred in a film.
| A．Britney Spears | B．William Shatner |
| C．Jon Malipieman | D．Fidel Castro |
What can be inferred from the text?
| A．Michael Amatrudo charged a high price for selling his elderly parents. |
| B．William Shatner sold the kidney stone so as to donate the money to charity. |
| C．Jon Malipieman was sold because he was not wanted any longer. |
| D．The soul of Michael Jacobsen is worth more than that of Woody Allen. |
Nothing gets the heart racing like a new roller coaster, and theme parks keep building them higher, faster and, well, just cooler than ever before. Here are five hot new coasters opening for the 2014 summer season.
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．Thunderbolt was built in New York in 1925． |
| B．Goliath will not be built as a high coaster. |
| C．Magic Kingdom provides a short musical journey. |
| D．Banshee is the first female-inspired theme park ride. |
Which roller coaster is most likely to attract people who like adventure and excitement?
| A．Banshee. |
| B．Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. |
| C．Goliath. |
| D．Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringott. |
We can learn from the passage that
| A．the five new roller coasters are made of the same materials |
| B．Banshee is the first of the roller coasters built by a woman |
| C．King Island is a branch of the company named Cedar Fair |
| D．the roller coaster in Orlando is located in the city of London |
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (KABC)一A Santa Monica High School teacher who was put on
leave after using physical force to control a student who was selling marijuana（大麻）in his classroom has received surprising support on Facebook. The incident was captured on video and has caused a sudden reaction from parents, teachers, students and even graduates. They are showing their support for Black. A Facebook page supporting "Coach Black" has over 4,700 likes. And many want him back in the classroom.
Student witnesses say Mark Black, who is also the wrestling coach, tried to confiscate（没收）a bag of marijuana and was then injured by the student with a pencil. The cellphone video shows Black locking the student's legs and pinning the student to the ground. "He just wanted him to stop and he was trying to be a teacher and help, and I don't think it was his fault." said student Kylan Townsend.
School Board member Oscar De La Tone says Mr. Black is one of his teachers at Santa Monica High School. "I know him very well. I know him to be a fair person, a good person, someone who cares deeply about his students," said De La Torre. He says that the video does not tell the whole story and that the incident brings to light the issue of drug use, something the district needs to address.
But in an email to parents, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Superintendent Sandra Lyon says the teacher's behavior is "absolutely alarming." She put Black on leave during an independent investigation.
Lyon has come under fire from parents for initially saying the kind of physical action used by the teacher was unacceptable. On Saturday, Lyon released the following statement to Eyewitness News: "I want to stress that teachers are at times confronted with difficult, even threatening situations, and they must make judgment calls to protect safety. I want to emphasize that putting the teacher who was involved in this incident on leave until completion of an independent investigation is a matter of standard policy and practice; it in no way prejudices the outcome of the investigation."
Students hope the situation will have a quick and just resolution. An online petition（请原书) pas also peen createu by one of Black's former students. The petition has already gained thousands of signatures.Black did not respond to a request for comment.What does the cellphone video on Facebook disclose?
| A．Mark Black injured a student with a pencil. |
| B．Mark Black wrestled with a student in his class. |
| C．Mark Black confiscated a bag and locked a student. |
| D．Mark Black controlled a student with physical force. |
In the fifth paragraph, the underlined word "it" refers to＿＿．
| A．making judgment calls to protect safety |
| B．putting the teacher involved on leave |
| C．completion of an independent investigation |
| D．a matter of standard policy and practice |
From the passage, we can infer that＿＿
| A．the people involved in the matter support Mark Black |
| B．Mark Black will be eventually fired by the School Board |
| C．Sandra Lyon won some support from parents initially |
| D．no decision has been made from the investigation yet |
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Teacher Put on Leave Receives Support |
| B．Thousands Come and Sign the Petition |
| C．School Teacher Wrestled with Student |
| D．Cellphone Video on the Facebook Page |
一Did you go to Taylor Swift's concert last night?
一I would rather I＿＿．But I was preparing a report for my boss.
| A．did | B．had |
| C．would | D．might |
People in several American states may be surprised to see cars on city streets without a driver. Experimental driverless vehicles now are legal in Florida, Nevada and California. They are pointing the way to a future that is not far down the road. The high-tech company Google has a number of self-driving cars, which had covered 480,000 kilometers by August. Volvo is among the companies doing road tests and says it plans to sell driverless cars by 2020.
In September, California Governor Jerry Brown signed an act to allow autonomous vehicles on the roads of his state. “Today we’re looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow’s reality—the driverless car.” The technology for these cars includes cameras, radar and motion sensors. The systems have been improved through competitions sponsored by the US government agency DARPA. Engineer Richard Mason of the Rand Corporation helped design driverless vehicles for DARPA challenge races.
“Cars have become much more fuel-efficient, and new electronic features are making Hondas safer,” said Angie Nucci of Honda America. “A camera on the passenger-side mirror actually engaged on your guiding screen so you can safely change lanes.” Other safety features include warning systems on the front and the sides of the cars. These systems help drivers, but don’t replace them. Curator Leslie Kendall of the Petersen Automotive Museum said autonomous cars will make the high ways safer．
“By taking out drivers, you also remove most risks of an accident,” Kendall said. He said consumers, however, may be unwilling to lose control. “It may take them time to come to realize that the technology is indeed reliable, but it will have to prove itself first.”
Mason said the technology already works and the biggest challenge now is getting down the cost for driverless vehicles from hundreds of thousands of dollars to something more affordable. He said this will happen as the technology is improved.What can we learn from Paragraph l?
A. Volvo will be the first to sell driverless cars.
B. Driverless cars are pointing us a faraway future.
C. Driverless vehicles are now legal in the whole USA.
D. Google’s self-driving cars have covered a long distance.We learn that Governor of California Jerry Brown_________.
| A．helped design self-driving cars |
| B．supports self-driving cars on roads |
| C．considers self-driving cars science fiction |
| D．improved the self-driving car systems |
According to Richard Mason, what is the biggest challenge for driverless cars?
| A．They are not allowed to run on the road. |
| B．Their technical problems remain to be solved. |
| C．They are now too expensive for consumers. |
| D．They are more dangerous for people on the street. |
Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．The Benefits of the Self-driving Cars |
| B．The Biggest Challenge of the Self-driving Cars |
| C．Safer or More Dangerous Self-driving Cars |
| D．Self-driving Cars—Science Fiction Future Is Near |
A Southampton University team found that people who were vegetarians by 30 had recorded five IQ points higher on average at the age of 10. Researchers said it could explain why people with a higher IQ were healthier as a vegetarian diet was linked to lower heart disease and obesity rates. The study of 8,179 people was reported in the British Medical Journal.
Twenty years after the IQ tests were carried out in 1970, 366 of the participants said they were vegetarians — although more than 100 reported eating either fish or chicken.
Men who were vegetarians had an IQ score of 106, compared with 101 for non-vegetarians; while female vegetarians averaged 104, compared with 99 for non-vegetarians. There was no difference in the IQ scores, between strict vegetarians and those who said they were vegetarians but reported eating fish or chicken.
Researchers said the findings were partly related to better education and higher class, but it remained statistically significant after adjusting for these factors.
Vegetarians were more likely to be female, to be of higher social class and to have higher academic or vocational qualifications than non-vegetarians. However, these differences were not reflected in their annual income, which was similar to that of non-vegetarians.
Lead researcher Catharine Gale said, “The findings that children with greater intelligence are more likely to report being vegetarians as adults, together with the evidence on the potential benefits of a vegetarian diet on heart health, may help to explain why a higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease in adult life.
But Dr Frankie Phillips of the British Dietetic Association said，“It is like the chicken and egg. Do people become vegetarians because they have a very high IQ or is it just that they are clever enough to be more aware of health issues？”What’ s the result of the research mentioned in the text?
| A．Children with a higher IQ are less likely to have heart disease later in life. |
| B．Intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life. |
| C．Intelligent children tend to belong to higher social class later in life. |
| D．Children with a healthier heart tend to have a higher IQ later in life. |
It was found in the research that________.
| A．most of the participants became vegetarians 20 years after the IQ tests were carried out |
| B．female vegetarians were more likely to have higher annual income than non-vegetarians |
| C．vegetarians who ate fish or chicken were of similar intelligence with strict vegetarians |
| D．vegetarians were more likely to have higher annual income than non-vegetarians |
Catharine Gale talked about “being vegetarians” in a(n)________way.
| A．doubtful | B．favorable |
| C．negative | D．objective |
What’ s the best title for the text?
| A．Get more IQ points! |
| B．Be a vegetarian, please! |
| C．A high IQ is linked to being a vegetarian |
| D．Vegetarian diet cuts heart risk |