MONTREAL--He may be the world’s richest man, but that didn’t prevent Bill Gates from falling for an April Fool’s day joke by two Quebec radio comics (喜剧演员) pretending to be Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

Montreal French-language station CKMF--FM said last Wednesday that staffers (工作人员) Marcantoine Audet and Sebastien Trudel had a 10-minute telephone chat with Microsoft Corp boss Gates on April 1.

The broadcast was aired on their nightly show last Tuesday and repeated last Wednesday.

“We were happy. We had been calling Microsoft persistently (坚持不懈地) for four weeks,” Trudel said.

Trudel said he and his colleague had already fooled Canadian pop singer Celine Dion and Formula One (一级方程赛车) driver Jacques Villeneuve on their show.

“This time, we wanted to give ourselves a challenge with somebody more difficult to reach,” Ttudel said.

He said he was surprised that Gates’s assistants did not check to see if it was really the prime minister’s office on the line.

Trudel said they imitated (模仿) Chretien’s heavily accented English, talking about the economy, asking about Microsoft’s Windows operating system and inviting the multibillionaire to visit a well-known Montreal strip joint (运动服合资企业).

The radio host said that Gates was not amused by the fake interview.

“He did not seem angry but he did not find it so funny,” the comic said.

Bill Gates was fooled mainly because ______.

 A. his assistants were not careful enough          

B. the Canadian Prime Minister helped the two comics

C. the two comics imitated the Canadian Prime Minister so well        

D. it was April Fool’s Day

We can conclude from the passage that the two comics ______.

A. liked to fool famous people on their show   

B. thought that Gates was not a great challenge to them

C. had a good knowledge of Bill Gates and his Windows operating system

D. were not quite satisfied with their tricks

Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

A. Gates ‘April Fooled’                             B. Two Comics and Their Tricks

C. Two comics and Their Show      D. A Fake Interview

In most situations, light helps us see. But when it comes to looking at the night sky, light is actually a kind of pollution. It prevents our view of some of life’s most striking sights: stars, planets, and even galaxies.

“When I was a little boy, I loved the night sky. I remember looking up and the sky was filled with stars. I became an astronomer because I was amazed by their beauty,” says Robert gent, “Now in most big cities kids can’t see the stars like I did.”

Normally, about 2,500 individual stars are visible to the naked eye without using any special equipment. But because of light pollution, you actually see just 200 to 300 and fewer than a dozen from some cities. Only one in three Americans can see our own galaxy (星系) with the naked eye. Those people live far away from the lights of big cities, office building, and shopping malls.

Fortunately, there’s an inexpensive and useful way. If we shine lights down at the ground instead of up into the sky, and use lower brightness levels, we can save big amounts of energy and keep the beauty of the night skies. Many cities and towns have passed laws limiting lights at night, making sure enough shine for safety without creating much light pollution.

Light pollution affects more than our view of the heavens and can harm wildlife. Migrating (迁移) birds sometimes fly over cities and become confused by the brightness, flying in circles until they drop from exhaustion. Sea turtles need dark beaches for nesting and won’t approach bright lights. Too much light at night may even affect human health. For all these reasons, researchers are working on ways to use light only when and where they are truly needed. Everyone deserves to look up at the sky.

According to the text, using our naked eyes, ______________.

A. people in remote areas can see more stars than those in big cities

B. over one third Americans can see our own galaxy

C. about one in three Americans in big cities can see our own galaxy

D. Americans can only see 200 to 300 stars

Many cities and towns have passed laws limiting lights at night mainly to _________.

A. save the electricity                       B. make sure of cities’ safety

C. let you count the number of stars            D. avoid much light pollution

In how many ways will the light pollution do harm?

A. One         B. Two          C. Three          D. Four

The underlined word “exhaustion” in the last paragraph means “_________”.

A. air pollution     B. tiredness      C. breath        D. brightness

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