Today’s amazing newspaper headline!

First family of four to walk to the South Pole wearing Mickey Mouse ears and clown’s shoes.

    No, not really. It isn’t true. I invented it. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see it one day soon. It seems that every week someone becomes ‘the first’ or ‘the youngest’ or ‘the oldest’ or even ‘the first married couple’ to do something that doesn’t seem to be very useful to the rest of humanity.

This year I've seen headlines saying ‘The youngest person to sail the Atlantic alone’, ‘The youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest’, and ‘The first people to fly around the world in a hot air balloon’. Why do they do it? Don’t they have better things to do with their time and money? And why should I be interested anyway? Human beings have already climbed the highest mountains, sailed across the oceans and flown around the world. People have already reached the most remote parts of our planet. Many of these things were done a long, long time ago. There just isn’t anything left to explore nowadays. I suppose there’s still a lot of the universe left, and the bottom of the oceans is still a bit of a mystery, but you need a lot of technology to explore areas like that. So, those people who feel the need for adventure can only do things that have been done before. So they have to try and do it in a new way, or be ‘the fastest’ or ‘the youngest’ or ‘the oldest’ to do something that isn’t really new at all.

What is so great about climbing Mount Everest these days anyway? It’s become a popular tourist trip.

People pay thousands of dollars to be taken up the mountain by the local Sherpas, who lead the way and carry the bags. At any one time there are about a thousand people either climbing up or on their way back down. As a result, Everest is covered with rubbish and the Sherpas have to make special trips up the mountain to pick it up. The climbers are often inexperienced and when they get into trouble other people have to risk their lives to bring them down to safety. Helicopter crews have been killed trying to reach people who were stuck on the mountain.

In January 2003 a helicopter carrying two British men crashed into the sea near Antarctica. I'm not quite sure what they were trying to be ‘the first’ or ‘the youngest’ to do. The Chilean navy picked them up after a nine-hour rescue mission that cost tens of thousands of pounds, all paid for by the Chilean and British taxpayers.

Talking of taxpayers, many Australians are getting a bit fed up with record breakers. A lot of people trying to break sailing or rowing records get into trouble in the seas around Australia, so the Australian navy has to send ships to save them. There have been a lot of difficult, time-consuming rescue missions in recent years costing the Australian government millions of dollars. I suppose we can’t just leave them to drown, but personally, I think we should give the bill to the people who are rescued. Perhaps they would think twice about doing it if they had to pay for expensive insurance premiums（保费）. Then I wouldn’t have to read about them in the newspapers either.

50.        The writer invents the newspaper headline in Paragraphs 1&2 to _________.

     A. persuade readers of a new theory              B. remind readers of an important event

     C. get readers interested in the topic        D. entertain readers with his humor

51.  By saying “It’s become a popular tourist trip”, the writer actually means that ___________.

     A. it's impossible to climb up Mountain Everest without help

B. Mount Everest is now covered with a lot of rubbish

C. climbing Mount Everest has already lost its true meaning

     D. people without experience may get in trouble or even danger

52.        Which of the following is the reason why many Australians dislike the record breakers?

     A. A great number of people try to break records in the seas around Australia.

     B. They have to pay for the costs of rescuing the record breakers.

     C. The Australian navy was not something intended for rescue work.

     D. The record breakers should pay for their insurance premiums themselves.

53.        The writer’s purpose of writing this article is to______________.

     A. explain the reasons why modern people prefer to adventure

     B. criticize the newspaper headlines that get readers shocked

     C. complain about all the high taxes people have to pay

     D. question the necessity of what record breakers are doing

54.        Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

     A. It’s All Been Done Before             B. Adventures Around the World

     C. What’s Record Breakers’ Life Like    D. Rescue Costs and Insurance