Bright Side did some research on many places throughout the world where you can buy a house for 1 dollar or for free!

Roubaix, France

If you like France, Roubaix located in the north of France is just for you. The local authorities want it to be populated and attractive. You can buy a small house in the industrial district for just $1. The buyer is supposed to live in this house for 3 years.

Buffalo. USA

Buffalo offers whoever qualifies to buy a house for $1. All you need is to be a lawful citizen of the city and invest amount of money into its decoration. Doing this, the authorities are hoping to make the city beautiful again without spending money.

Liverpool, Great Britain

In Liverpool, most of houses were abandoned (遗弃）by the working class during the years of unemployment. The government is trying to sell the houses for just $1. If you want to buy such a house, it has to be your first deal on buying property（房产）.

Candela, Italy

If you still have any doubts about spending $1 on a house, you should know: the government will pay you some money, if you move to Candela. In order to be paid, you need to become a permanent（永久的）citizen and have an income of $7500 per year. If moving alone, you will get $800, and if you are going with your family, the pay can be four times as much as only one person.

For more information of other cities, please Click Here.

1. Why do the authorities of Buffalo provide a house for people with 1$?

A．To improve the lives of poor people.

B．To make the city attractive at no cost.

C．To solve the problems of employment.

D．To attract people to the industrial areas.

2. What is required to buy a house for 1 dollar in Liverpool?

A．You need to be an unemployed citizen.

B．You should live in the house for 3 years.

C．It must be your first house purchase.

D．You have to repair and decorate the house.

3. How much money can you get if moving to Candela with a whole family?

A．$3200	B．$9600
C．$800	D．$7500

My father was 44 and knew he wasn't going to make it to 45. He wrote me a letter and hoped that something in it would help me for the rest of my life.
Since the day I was 12 and first read his letter, some of his words have lived in my heart. One part always stands out. “Right now, you are pretending to be a time­killer . But I know that one day, you will do something great that will set you among the very best.” Knowing that my dad believed in me gave me permission to believe in myself. “You will do something great.” He didn't know what that would be, and neither did I, but at times in my life when I've felt proud of myself, I remember his words and wish he were here so I could ask, “Is this what you were talking about, Dad? Should I keep going？”
A long way from 12 now, I realize he would have been proud when I made any progress. Lately, though, I've come to believe he'd want me to move on to what comes next: to be proud of, and believe in, somebody else. It's time to start writing my own letters to my children. Our children look to us with the same unanswered question we had. Our kids don't hold back because they're afraid to fail. They're only afraid of failing us. They don't worry about being disappointed. Their fear－as mine was until my father's letter－is of being a disappointment.
Give your children permission to succeed. They're waiting for you to believe in them.
I always knew my parents loved me. But trust me: That belief will be more complete, that love will be more real, and their belief in themselves will be greater if you write the words on their hearts：“Don't worry; you'll do something great.” Not having that blessing from their parents may be the only thing holding them back.
4. We learn from the text that the author ________.

A．lost his father when he was young

B．worked hard before he read his father's letter

C．asked his father's permission to believe in himself

D．knew exactly what great thing his father wanted him to do

5. What does the author tell us in the 3rd paragraph?

A．Children need their parents' letters.

B．Children are afraid to be disappointed.

C．His children's fear of failure held them back.

D．His father's letter removed his fear of failing his parents.

6. Which of the following is TRUE of the author?

A．He got no access to success.

B．He wrote back to his father at 12.

C．He was sure his parents loved him.

D．He once asked his father about the letter.

7. The main purpose of the text is to ________.

A．describe children's thinking

B．answer some questions children have

C．stress the importance of communication

D．advise parents to encourage their children

It used to be a matter of fact when Peter Pan — a character from James Matthew Barrie’s 1911 book — said, “All children, except one, grow up.”

But this “fact” doesn’t seem to apply to today’s world any more.

According to the NPD Group, a US market research company, sales of toys to adults in the UK increased by more than 20 percent in 2016, three times the pace of the children’s toy market itself. These toys ranged from puzzles and Lego building sets to vehicle models and action figures. And more than half of the sales came from millennials — people born between the 1980s and 2000s.

“Adults of the 21st century are channeling their inner child, one toy at a time,” commented website Koreaboo. This is also why these adults are sometimes referred to as “kidults”.

According to Frederique Tutt, an analyst at NPD, the motivation of these grown­ups is to escape the stress of today’s fast­paced world. They are driven toward the more immediate pleasures brought by toys than those brought by, say, getting a promotion, which is far less easy to achieve.

“It reminds me of the playful side of life,” Rob Willner, a 25­year­old PhD student in the UK, told The Telegraph when talking about his love for Lego, which he said brings him both comfort and entertainment. Despite this, some social scientists see the trend as disturbing. To Frank Furendi, a professor at the University of Kent in the UK, the fact that so many adults are pursuing “the thrills of youth” is the evidence that “adulthood has got nothing attractive about it anymore”, he told The New York Times. “That’s actually quite sad. ”

But scientists are probably just worried too much. According to Canadian comic book artist Todd McFarlane, collecting toys could simply be a way for people to express their individuality. “It’s just pop culture stuff. It’s stuff that says, ‘I like a little of this and I like a little of that, ’” he told ABC News. “It’s no big deal.”

So now that over 100 years have passed since Peter Pan, perhaps it’s time to introduce a new “fact”, as stated in the tagline (标语) of the UK fashion brand KIDULT: “Growing old is mandatory (被迫的), but growing up is optional.”

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

A．Something old is not suitable for a new world.

B．Many adults still have some childlike features.

C．All children grow up as they become adults.

D．It’s difficult for some children to grow up in today’s world.

9. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Frederique Tutt believes that some adults enjoy playing with children’s toys to escape the stress.

B．Rob Willner believes that the pleasure brought by toys is easier to achieve.

C．Frank Furendi believes that the thrill of youth does not attract adults.

D．Todd McFarlane is worried too much about collecting toys.

10. What is the writer’s attitude towards the trend of growing kidults?

A．Supportive.

B．Doubtful.

C．Critical.

D．Indifferent.

11. What can be the best title for the passage?

A．Growing up with Peter Pan	B．Toys Sales on the Rise
C．The Rise of a Trend: Kidults	D．Kidults in Fashion Again

One day, gardeners might not just hear the buzz of bees among their flowers, but the whirr of robots, too. Scientists have managed to turn an unassuming drone (无人机) into a remote-controlled pollinator (授粉媒介) by attaching horsehairs coated with a special, sticky gel to its underbelly.

Animal pollinators are needed for the reproduction of 90% of flowering plants and one third of human food crops. Chief among those are bees — but many bee populations in the United States have been in steep decline in recent decades. Thus, the decline of bees isn't just worrisome because it could disrupt ecosystems, but also because it could disrupt agriculture and economy. People have been trying to come up with replacement techniques, but none of them are especially effective yet.

Scientists have thought about using drones, but they haven't figured out how to make free-flying robot insects that can rely on their own power source without being attached to a wire. “It’s very tough work,” said senior author Eijiro Miyako, a chemist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. His particular contribution to the field involves a gel, one he’d considered a mistake 10 years before and stuck in a storage cabinet. When it was rediscovered a decade later, it hadn’t dried up or degraded at all. “I was so surprised because it still had high viscosity,” Miyako said.

The chemist noticed that when dropped, the gel absorbed an impressive amount of dust from the floor. Miyako realized this material could be very useful for picking up pollen (花粉). He and his colleagues chose a drone and attached horsehairs to its smooth surface to mimic a bee’s fuzzy body. They coated those horsehairs in the gel, and then controlled the drones over lilies, where they would pick up the pollen from one flower and then deposit the pollen at another one, thus fertilizing it.

The scientists looked at the hairs under a scanning electron microscope and counted up the pollen grains attached to the surface and found that the drones whose horsehairs had been coated with the gel had about 10 times more pollen than those that had not been coated with the gel.

Miyako does not think such drones would replace bees altogether, but could simply help bees with their pollinating duties. There’s a lot of work to be done before that's a reality, however. Small drones will need to become more controllable and energy efficient, as well as smarter, with better GPS and artificial intelligence.

12. What does the underlined word “viscosity” in Para.3 probably mean?

A．Hardness.	B．Stickiness.
C．Flexibility.	D．Purity.

13. We can learn from the passage that ______.

A．bees disrupt both agriculture and economy

B．scientists have invented self-powered robot insects

C．bees in the United States are on the edge of extinction

D．Miyako found the special feature of the gel by chance

14. A drone works best in picking up pollen when ______.

A．its body is made like a bee’s

B．its GPS works more efficiently

C．some flowers are coated with the gel

D．horsehairs with the gel are attached to it

15. According to Eijiro Miyako, the drones ______.

A．are not yet ready for practical use

B．may eventually replace bees in the future

C．are much more efficient than bee pollinators

D．can provide a solution to economic depression