The first time I heard the actual London Bridge was in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, I thought it was a joke. A stupid joke at that. I mean, what sort of moron would take a perfectly good, perfectly famous bridge and move it halfway around the world to some no-name town in northwest Arizona? Back in 1962 when all this started, Lake Havasu City was nothing. A couple of shops, a couple of homes, and no tourism at all.

It turns out Robert McCulloch is the moron in question, and he wasn’t quite the moron I thought he was. His 2.45 million dollar investment in the 130-year-old bridge—which the British government was selling because it was about to fall into the Thames—ended up being the investment of a lifetime. You see McCulloch was a real businessman, among other things, and his money paid off big. He turned Lake Havasu into one of the most visited tourist attractions in Arizona.

It took nine long years to take down the bridge, ship it brick by brick to the middle of nowhere, and build it up again. When it finally did open up in 1971, it was a huge deal covered by the international press.

The bridge is now a popular tourist attraction, and there’s even a mini “English Village” at the foot of the bridge with souvenirs and real British food so you can have a good old time.

Nowadays Lake Havasu is a busy town with a population of about 56,000 citizens and another2.5 million visitors each year. Most of that is during spring break when the town overflows with energetic boys and girls. Even MTV and the Girls Gone Wild people get in on the action. All thanks to that little bridge.

I don’t know about you, but I’m saving my pennies. When the French get sick of that Eiffel Tower, I’ll be the first to put money on it. It’ll look great in my backyard.

1.The underlined word "moron" in the first paragraph means .

A. a brave person B. a foolish person

C. a famous person D. a strange person

2.Why did the British government put the London Bridge up for sale?

A. It polluted the Thames.

B. It was no longer popular.

C. It was going to fall down.

D. It could bring them the needed money.

3.What was Lake Havasu City like before 1962?

A. It was a good place for investment.

B. It was known for its English Village.

C. It was a small town with no tourism.

D. It had a population of 56,000 citizens.

4.In the last paragraph, the author tries to be .

A. polite B. friendly C. practical D. Humorous

On Sunday, August 24th, comic book lovers across the world held their breath to watch how much crazy collectors would pay for a rare Superman comic book. Though bids (出价) above the initial asking price of 1 million dollars had been coming in gradually since the copy was placed on the auction site (拍卖网站) eBay on July 14th, things really started to heat up during the final minutes when the price jumped from $2.5 to $2.6 and then $2.7 million, before shooting up to unbelievable 3,207,852 dollars!

This of course was no ordinary Superman comic book, but an edition of the extremely sought-after (很吃香地) No. 1 of Action Comics series — the first publication of the superhero that was born from the creative minds of teenagers Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. Though Action Comics No. 1, which depicted a diaper-clad baby Superman lifting furniture, had a print run of 200,000 copies, only about 100 are known to exist today.

While the rarity is certainly a reason for the high price, Stephen Fisher, CEO of ComicConnect.com, thinks it also has a lot to do with the fact that Superman was the world’s first superhero! Even so, none of the copies have been able to fetch (售得) as much as the most recent one, simply because they have not been as well-preserved. Graded a rare 9 out of 10 by CGC, a third party grading service for comic books, the book is the highest rated copy of Action Comics No. 1 so far. According to CGC officials, the 76-year-old comic book looks and feels as though it has just come off the newsstand (报摊).

That is not surprising given that the original owner, a Virginian man who bought the book for only 10 cents in 1938, had carefully tucked it away (藏起来) in a wooden box for four decades. Fortunately, when he passed away, the book was bought by a string of collectors who all realized it was a rare treasure that needed to be looked after.

Before this, the highest price paid for an Action Comics No. 1 had been $2 million for a copy sold by Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage in 2011. Ironically, the two teenagers responsible for creating Superman received just 130 dollars when they sold the rights to the superhero to comic book publisher Detective Comics in 1938.

1.the Superman comic book was placed on eBay on July 14th, .

A. it attracted no attention at all

B. things started to heat up immediately

C. the bid price didn’t go up very quickly at first

D. people thought it was worth millions of dollars

2.What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A. Why the comic book is well-preserved.

B. Why the comic book is well worth reading.

C. Why the comic book is worth so much money.

D. Why the comic book has drawn so much attention.

3.When the other collectors got the comic book after the Virginian man, they .

A. all took very good care of it

B. all liked reading it very much

C. didn’t believe it was worth a fortune

D. all kept it in the same way as that man

4.What do we know about the creators of Superman?

A. They didn’t want to sell the rights to a comic book publisher.

B. They knew all along Superman would be the most successful comic book.

C. They were professional comic book writers when they created Superman.

D. They didn’t make much money from creating Superman.

A lot of small business owners put themselves in an embarrassed position in their own companies.Consider this scene:the company owner who has thirty individuals working for him in the business does all the work.

Stop the actual wrong belief that you’re the only one who can do the JOB!

You are an individual.A robot or machine must rest, or be changed.The best way to replace yourself is not through someone else,but with a System! A system or program doesn’t always make reference to something high-tech.It’s more about the actual administration process flow that gets issues running smoothly.

Systemizing your business is vitally important for the success of the company.About 80%of what’s completed in your business can be systemized.Take a moment to determine all of the routine things that are done in your company.Now record the best way to achieve these duties.

However,creating systems isn’t enough.You have to ensure that the methods are simple to follow,and easy to complete.If you do not allow it to be easy,it won’t be done,or at best it won’t be consistent.

With systems and processes in position.it’s simply using a few people to operate individual systems.A great number of companies that possess established systems have made great achievements through the years.Burger King is a good actual life example.

To construct a great business,replace yourself with a good program right now!

1.What does“an embarrassed position”in Paragraph 1refer to?

A.The employees are made to do all the work.

B.Business owners get caught in the trap of doing everything.

C.Nobody would like to work for business owners.

D.There are not enough employees in the company.

2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 imply?

A.It’s necessary for the company owner to do all the work.

B.A robot or machine shall not keep working.

C.The company owner should learn to rest.

D.A system is important for the company.

3.Which of the following is true about“A system”?

A.It can deal with a11 the routines in the business.

B.It is simple to follow or complete a system.

C.Your company will be successful so long as you have a system.

D.It will help a company run smoothly.

4.What is the best advice to the business owners?

A.Doing all the work by themselves.

B.Buying advanced robots or machines.

C.Using a good system to operate a company.

D.Introducing higher technologies.

根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Cats are the most popular pets among Americans. 1. .

Some cats like to catch small birds, like canaries (金丝雀). If someone looks very proud or satisfied with himself or herself, we say he or she looks like “the cat that ate the canary”.

2. . So if you “play cat and mouse” with someone, you change between different kinds of behavior when dealing with another person. For example, a child might offer something sweet to her little brother and then take it away when he reaches for it.

One old and funny expression describes something that is the best. Americans might say that something is “the cat’s miaow (喵)”. 3. . Sometimes people sleep for a short time during the day. This is called “a cat nap”. If you tell about something that was supposed to be a secret, we say you “let the cat out of the bag”. 4. . Then someone might ask if “the cat has got your tongue”.

Have you ever watched children in a classroom when their teacher leaves for a few minutes? 5. . It means people sometimes misbehave when there is no supervision (监督). You may have heard this expression: curiosity killed the cat. This means being too concerned about things that are not your business might cause problems.

A. When the cat is away, the mice will play.

B. Sometimes you are not able to speak or answer a question.

C. Sometimes, a cat likes to play with a small animal it catches.

D. A cat will often catch a small animal and present it to its owner.

E. You may have known that cats spend most of their time sleeping.

F. So it is not surprising that there are many expressions with the word, “cat”.

G.The saying “that looks like something the cat dragged in” describes something in bad condition.

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