African-American talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is the world’s most powerful celebrity (名人), according to Forbes (福布斯) magazine. It placed Winfrey at the top of the annual ranking of the 100 people with the biggest pull (影响力).

      Winfrey, 51, draw 30 million viewers weekly in the United States. Her talk show reaches 112 countries. She earned US $225 million over the past 12 months to rank second in celebrity riches. The annual Forbes list gives most weight to annual earnings. But it also looks at the celebrity’s presence on the Internet and in the media. “After 21 years, her exciting chat show still rules the airwaves,” the magazine said.

      Winfrey is most popular with her popular talk show “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. She can always attract the superstars and let them open up to her intimate interviewing style. Winfrey’s approach appears to be simple. She is in a pursuit (追求)of self-improvement and self-empowerment. This has proved to be just what people, especially women, want.

  Winfrey often talks about her personal secrets on her show. That pulls in viewers. For example, she made it known that she had been sexually abused as a child, and has spoken freely of her struggle with her weight.

      Her success has not just been on the screen. Her media group includes a women’s TV network and websites for women. Her work has extended to social change. In 1991, she did a lot of work for the National Child Protection Act. She testified before the US Senate to establish a national database (数据库)of dangerous child abusers. The then President Bill Clinton later signed the “Oprah Bill” into law.

The annual Forbes list selects its celebrities according to ____.

  A. their names                              B. their annual earnings

  C. their presence on the Internet and in the media

  D. their annual earnings and presence in the public

Which of the following statements is WRONG?

  A. Oprah Winfrey was the first of the 100 celebrities according to Forbes magazine.

  B. Oprah’s success has been only on the screen.

  C. Oprah can attract superstars and get them to open up to her interview.

  D. Oprah ranked second in celebrity riches that year.

The underlined phrase “rules the airwaves” in the passage means ____.

  A. attracts many readers’ attention              B. causes many people to take planes

  C. has a large number of viewers               D. measures the airwaves

What’s the best title of the passage?

  A. Oprah Winfrey Conquering the Americans.     B. Oprah Winfrey—the No 1 Celebrity.

  C. Forbes Ranking First.                      D. The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Among the dead in South Asia’s tsunami were many tourists at Sri Lanka’s national wildlife park at Yala. But very few of the park’s animals — elephants, buffaloes, monkeys and wild cats — appear to have died. There are theories that animals can sense natural disasters and flee to safety.

First, it’s possible that the animals may have heard the quake before the tsunami hit. The underwater rupture likely produced sound waves known as infrasound or infrasonic sound. Humans can’t hear infrasound, but many animals including dogs, elephants, tigers and pigeons can.

A second early warning sign the animals might have sensed is ground vibration. The massive quake would have produced vibrational waves known as Rayleigh waves. These vibrations move through the ground like waves move on the surface of the ocean but faster. They travel at ten times the speed of sound. The Rayleigh waves would have reached SriLanka hours before the water hit. Mammals, birds, insects and spiders can sense Rayleigh waves. So the animals at Yale might have felt the Rayleigh waves and then run to higher ground.

But what about humans? While we can’t hear infrasound, we can feel it, although we don’t necessarily know we’re feeling it. We also experience Rayleigh waves by special sensors in our joints, which exist just for that purpose. Sadly, it seems we don’t pay attention to the information when we get it. Maybe we screen it out because there’s so much going on before our eyes and in our ears. Humans have a lot of things on our minds and usually that works out OK.

Notes:

tsunami  n. 海啸

infrasound  n. 次声

vibration  n. 振动,颤动

Choose the best answers according to the above:

Why did few animals at Yala die when the tsunamis that caused a huge number of human deaths hit?

A. Because the animals were staying at a higher place in the park.

B. Because the animals were able to run much faster than human beings.

C. Because human beings cannot hear the infrasonic sound.

D. Because the animals might have picked up the danger signals and ran away.

Which of the statements about “Ravleigh waves” is true?

A. Rayleigh waves are massive vibrational waves that usually cause quakes or tsunamis.

B. Rayleigh waves move on the ocean surface at a speed ten times that of sound waves.

C. Rayleigh waves can be felt both by animals and human beings.

D. Rayleigh waves, just like infrasonic sound, can only be felt by animals.

When a tsunami hits, it is possible that ____.

A. we can’t feel the infrasound so we can’t be informed of the danger

B. we can feel Rayleigh waves as well as infrasound so we are able to escape the danger like animals

C. we were so busy with things on our minds that we feel neither infrasound nor Rayleigh waves

      D. we think nothing of the information of its coming even though we can also get it

What does the underlined word “that” in the last sentence refer to?

A. Screening out the information.

B. There being so much going on before our eyes and in our ears.

C. Having a lot of things on our minds.

D. Paying attention to the information.

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