It goes through the laundry with your clothes. It gets hidden in mattresses （床垫）and buried like pirates' gold. It is sometimes torn. burned and defaced. Yet it remains as valuable after all this damage.
It's money…US currency in the form of printed dollar bills. As you might expect, when millions of printed pieces of paper are distributed among millions of people, a lot of it gets damaged. Normal wear and tear claims most of it, but some bills really get damaged by chance.
The US Department of Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D. C. replaces badly damaged currency as a public service. Around 30,000 customers submit an average of 530 million every year for replacement with fresh, new money. We're not only talking about bills that have been torn in half or defaced with mustaches added to the presidents' faces. We're talking about serious damage!
The bureau has dealt with the ashes of bundles of bills that were hidden in a mattress that caught fire when its owner tried smoking in bed. In another instance, a farmer sent in the stomach of a cow that had consumed hundreds of dollars in cash.
Money has been burned in a wood-burning stove. It has turned rotten while buried underground. It has been damaged by water, chemicals, and explosives. Currency has been damaged by insects. As long as examiners can piece together at least 51% of a bill, it can still be traded for its full face value in new cash.
“Even if it's just white ash, ” says Gracie Scruggs, a supervisor at the bureau, "you can still see the scrollwork （漩涡形装饰）on the paper. US currency is made out of paper that is never destroyed; I don't care what you do to it?'
In fact quite a lot of money is destroyed every day by the federal government, not only the badly damaged currency, but also the faded, dirty and torn dollar bills that are just too worn-out to remain in use. The 12 Federal Reserve Banks get rid of the old currency. Bills that are unacceptable due to printing errors are also destroyed. Just how much currency does the government destroy? A stack of one year's worth of destroyed one-dollar bills alone would be a pile 200 miles high!
1. is a way NOT listed in the passage to cause damage to bills.| A．Swallowing by a cow |
| B．Using by quite a lot of people |
| C．Burning in an wood-burning oven |
| D．Chewing by a dog |
| A．separate into smaller parts |
| B．fasten it to the bill |
| C．put several parts together |
| D．print the paper money |
| A．It is not mentioned in the passage |
| B．By burying them underground |
| C．By burning them in a stove |
| D．By using them to make new bills. |
| A．bills are made of something that cannot be destroyed. |
| B．damaged bills are mostly produced by chance. |
| C．not many people deal with their damaged notes by replacing them, |
| D．bills destroyed one year would be a pile of 200 miles high. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Cosplayers can invest considerable time, money and effort into making best head-to-toe presentations that are one-of-a-kind. But what inspires cosplayers to present themselves with so many detailed artistic designs? Psychologists try to reveal the facts through research.
When a cosplayer selects a particular costume, he/she is often getting inside a specific character—or combination of characters—because something about that role speaks to them personally, according to Robin S. Rosenberg, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco.
Batman, for example, can be an especially meaningful cosplay choice for someone coping with trauma. The dark superhero faced destructive trauma when he was a child—witnessing the cruel and violent murder of his parents—which he overcame to become a hero. “When people are dressed as Batman, many talk about having experienced their own traumatic experiences,” Rosenberg said. “He survived and found meaning and purpose from his experience, and that is inspiring to them.”
Rosenberg noted that Wonder Woman is another popular choice which calls up many women’s feelings, partly because she holds her own in the male-dominated world of costumed comics superheroes. “For those cosplayers, dressing as Wonder Woman is a way of celebrating and embracing her power,” Rosenberg said.
Cosplay is a type of performance, which frequently moves strangers to approach the character for conversation and photos. So it surprised Rosenberg to discover that many cosplayers were identified as introverts. “When they wore a costume, they became much more socially outgoing,” Rosenberg said. She explained that, sometimes, wearing a costume allows a person to obtain confidence they didn't know they had, and helps them overcome shyness in real life.
“When you do any kind of costuming—but particularly cosplay—on the one hand, it gives you permission to step outside yourself,” Rosenberg said. “But on the other hand, it can bring out something in you that doesn’t usually come out.”
1. What does Rosenberg try to convey in Paragraph 2?| A．Cosplayers have a special liking for costumes. |
| B．Cosplayers play different roles within one day. |
| C．Cosplayers have nothing to do but talk to themselves. |
| D．Cosplayers express themselves through costumes. |
| A．childhood abuse | B．need to repair personal difficulties |
| C．gender inequality | D．eagerness to defeat other people |
| A．Cosplayers changed their personality once in costumes. |
| B．Cosplayers couldn’t wait to socialize when costumed. |
| C．Many cosplayers attracted strangers to talk with them. |
| D．So many cosplayers were considered as pessimistic people. |
| A．Devotion to cosplay | B．People in costumes |
| C．Batman or Wonder Woman | D．Psychology behind cosplay |
A study suggests that, by giving you access to emails at all times, the all-singing, all-dancing mobilephone adds as much as two hours to your working day. Researchers found that Britons work an additional 460 hours a year on average as they are able to respond to emails on their mobiles.
The study by technology retailer Pixmania reveals the average UK working day is between 9 and 10 hours, but a further two hours is spent responding to or sending work emails, or making work calls. More than 90 percent of office workers have email-enabled phones, with a third accessing them more than 20 times a day. Almost one in ten admits spending up to three hours outside their normal working day checking work emails. Some workers confess they are on call almost 24 hours a day, with nine out of ten saying they make work emails and calls outside their normal working hours. The average time for first checking emails is between 6 am and 7 am, with more than a third checking their first emails in this period, and a quarter checking them between 11 pm and midnight.
Ghadi Hobeika, marketing director of Pixmania, said, “The ability to access literally millions of apps, keep in contact via social networks and take photos and video as well as text and call has made smartphones invaluable for many people. However, there are drawbacks. Many companies expect their employees to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and smartphones mean that people literally cannot get away from work. The more constantly in contact we become, the more is expected of us in a work capacity. “
1. Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．The average UK working time is between nine and twelve hours. |
| B．Nine-tenths spend over three hours checking work emails. |
| C．One-fourth check their first mail between 11 pm and midnight. |
| D．The average time for first checking emails is between 6 am and 8 am. |
| A．calling | B．using | C．reaching | D．getting |
| A．Every coin has two sides |
| B．It never rains but pours. |
| C．All that glitters is not gold.. |
| D．It’s no good crying over spilt milk. |
| A．Workaholics like smartphones. |
| B．Employers don’t like smartphones. |
| C．Smartphones make our life easier. |
| D．Smartphones bring about extra work. |
【推荐3】Next time you throw away rotten lettuce or smelly berries you should think about this. Globally, we waste more than a third of the food we produce. That is according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
A group of Swedish graduate students is working to fight that fact. They are in the Food Innovation and Product Design program and have come up with a way to use produce that is about to go to waste. They turn the food into non-perishable (不易腐烂的) powder. It may help people who have limited access to food.
They are calling it FoPo Food Powder. It is exactly what it sounds like. It is dried, powdered, shelf-stable fruits and vegetables. The powder can be dropped into relief efforts after natural disasters. Or it can be given out in low-resource areas where fresh food and refrigeration are hard to come by.
Ngo, one of the students who developed it, says they are not making something ground breaking. Powdered food has been around since the early days of astronauts. But they are rethinking the waste and delivery channels. Their development team reached out to farmers and retailers to source fruit.
“Today a relief bag for humanitarian disasters contains various foods such as strawberry jam, peanut butter and peas in tomato sauce. We think that an easily transported pack of cheap dried food powder with high nutritional value would fit in perfectly,” Ngo says. The team has been trying to keep its prices down, too. That would aid low-budget humanitarian groups and non-governmental groups.
Freeze-dried food keeps most of the nutritional benefits of raw food. It loses some vitamins and minerals in the drying process. But it is still a good way to get fiber and nutrients.
The group are about to start working with the U.N.’s Initiative on Food Loss and Waste. They want to try and reach more people and countries that could benefit.
1. Why did the group of Swedish graduates develop the FoPo Food Powder?| A．To reduce food waste. |
| B．To cut the cost of food. |
| C．To replace the traditional food. |
| D．To improve the flavor of the food. |
| A．Additional. | B．Reasonable. |
| C．Creative. | D．Worthwhile. |
| A．It is very popular in some poor areas. |
| B．It is an effective way to lower food prices. |
| C．It keeps the nutritional benefits of raw food. |
| D．It provides aids for people in low-resource areas. |
| A．They are about to cooperate with the U.N. |
| B．They are about to write an Initiative for the U.N. |
| C．They will visit and help more people worldwide. |
| D．They will make great profits from their product. |
【推荐1】My twin sister is in therapy (治疗). The other day, she missed an important appointment for no good reason. My therapist said it was “time blindness”.
I’m living in New York, 3,000 miles away from my twin. We video chat every day, but I haven’t seen her in person since Christmas.
Time blindness is a term invented by doctors who treat people with ADHD (注意缺陷多动障碍). Psychologist Ari Tuckman says adults typically develop an awareness of time and an ability to track its passing. Some people have what he calls “harder” or “sharper” time awareness: they know when they’ve been out for lunch for too long, or when something hasn’t been in the oven for long enough. The others have much “softer” time awareness: they can miss appointments and trains. Time blindness can greatly impact someone's life if they can't ever meet deadlines. People with ADHD are often more time-blind than others.
Besides our own time awareness, Tuckman says, context plays a role: sleep loss, anxiety, being drunk and anything that might impact how we process the world can make us feel more time-blind. Without the usual time-marker cues we might use to divide up our days — the school bus arriving, the line at the coffee shop, or weekend nights spent at restaurants with friends — we’re swimming in a sea of sameness.
Sorrow is one of the biggest causes of time blindness, according to Tuckman. Holding onto time is a skill of your mind, like doing math, and sadness reduces its computing strength. It's why time goes faster when I talk to my twin sister, when I’m not so sad.
Tuckman says it might be nice for more people to understand time blindness.
1. What do we know about the author and her sister?| A．She is not optimistic about her sister’s health. |
| B．It has been years since they chatted in person. |
| C．She has learned her sister’s illness is less serious. |
| D．She chats with her sister every day. |
| A．They are often productive in a limited time. |
| B．They tend to spend less time in having lunch. |
| C．They are good at keeping track of time passing. |
| D．They usually need stronger time management. |
| A．Troubles we are suffering from. |
| B．Ordinary activities in our daily life. |
| C．Activities in our home. |
| D．The same things we share regularly. |
| A．Sadness. | B．Deep thought. |
| C．Surprise. | D．Hard-work. |
| A．It can greatly impact someone's life if they can’t meet deadlines occasionally. |
| B．Without time-marker cues, we may feel time-blind. |
| C．Time blindness is due to contextual factors like sleep loss, anxiety and so on. |
| D．Time blindness is a genetic disease that needs to be treated. |
【推荐2】There is an “environmental silver lining” as a result of the corona virus (冠状病毒) —carbon emissions have been reduced by more than 4%, many wildlife markets around the world have been closed and air quality in some places has slightly improved, Dave Ford, founder of the environmental literacy organization Soul Buffalo, says.
However, because of an increase in pandemic-related, non-recyclable materials such as take-out plastic containers and masks, 30% more waste has entered our oceans, he notes. “There's 129 billion facemasks being made every month—enough that you could cover the entire country of Switzerland with facemasks at the end of this year if trends continue,” he says. “And a lot of these masks are ending up in the water.” The masks look like jellyfish—in other words, food—to turtles and other wildlife creatures, thus, attractive to those animals and then endangering them, he says.
Very little of the plastic we use is actually recyclable. Sharon Lerner of The Intercept told Here & Now last year that "the vast majority of plastic that has ever been produced—79%—has actually ended up in landfills or burned, but not remade into new products." Even if the plastics we have can be reused, Ford says recycling programs across the globe are facing severe budget cuts.
“We're starting to see recycling programs stopped, waste picking communities operating at 50% or actually shutting down. They are the last line of defense between plastic and the environment,” he says.
Last year, Unilever planned to cut its use of non-recycled plastics in half by 2025. In an interview with Here & Now, Richard Slater, Unilever's chief research and development officer, drew on the industry argument that plastic packaging is lighter, which means less shipping and therefore fewer dangerous emissions that cause climate change.
Yes, plastics are lightweight and can cut down on fuel spending. But on the other hand, plastic waste is being found in every aspect of life—even in the deepest ocean.
1. What does “environmental silver lining” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．An environmental organization. |
| B．The closure of some wildlife markets. |
| C．Benefits on environment from the corona virus. |
| D．The decrease of carbon dioxide emissions. |
| A．There is a continuous shortage of food in the ocean. |
| B．They contain certain unique chemicals. |
| C．Many sea creatures like to chase plastic by nature. |
| D．They look like the sea creatures' food. |
| A．The majority of it is buried or burned. |
| B．Most of it is recycled into new products. |
| C．129 billion facemasks end up in the ocean. |
| D．There is enough budget for plastic recycling. |
| A．Plastic can cut down fuel spending |
| B．The corona virus has caused more ocean plastic |
| C．Recycling programs are shutting down |
| D．Solutions to ocean plastic pollution are being explored |
【推荐3】German physicist Albert Einstein is one of the most famous scientists of all time, the personification of genius and the subject of a whole industry of scholarship. In The Einsteinian Revolution, two experts on Einstein’s life and his theory of relativity―Israeli physicst Hanoch Gutfreund and German historian of science Jurgen Renn—offer an original and penetrating(厚利的) analysis of Einstein’s revolutionary contributions to physics and our view of the physical world.
By setting Einstein’s work in the long course of the evolution of scientific knowledge, Gutfreund and Renn discover the popular misconception of Einstein as an unconventional scientific genius who single-handedly created modern physics—and by pure thought alone.
As a large part of the book explains, Einstein typically argued that science progresses through steady evolution, not through revolutionary breaks with the past. He saw his theory of relativity not as something from scratch, but a natural extension of the classical physics developed by pioneers such as Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei and English physicist Isaac Newton in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as nineteenth-century physicists.
The authors highlight how classical physics cannot be separated cleanly from modem Einsteinian physics. The book also includes substantial sections on Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo whose methods inspired Einstein. When Einstein considered himself as standing on their shoulders, he meant that, without their contributions, he would not have formulated(阐述) the theory of relativity.
The Einsteinian Revolution is an important and thought-provoking contribution to the scholarly literature on Einstein and his surprising scientific creativity between 1905 and 1925. Gutfreund and Renn might not have given the final answer as to why Einstein, of all people, revolutionized physics in the way that he did. But they argue in fascinating detail that, to understand his genius, one must take into account not just the earlier history of physics but also the history of knowledge more broadly. Although not always an easy read, the book will interest physicists and historians alike.
1. Where is the text most probably taken from?| A．An essay on Albert Einstein. | B．An introduction to a book |
| C．A guidebook to a course. | D．A review of physics development |
| A．Unclear. | B．Favorable. | C．Dismissive | D．Opposing. |
| A．Up to standard | B．From nothing. |
| C．By learning from others. | D．With previous knowledge. |
| A．Their ideas were rejected by Einstein， |
| B．Their devotion to physics impressed Einstein |
| C．Their researches contributed to Einstein’s success. |
| D．Their hard work deserved the worldwide respect. |
【推荐1】Holidays in Spain not only mean visiting the tourist attractions or enjoying the thrills of bullfight, but also are charming because of the various options for entertainment in Spain.
Getting in
Reaching Spain by air from London to Barcelona takes 2 hours; London to Madrid is 2 hours and 20 minutes and to Malaga is 2 hours and 45minutes. The journey from New York to Madrid is 8 hours and 35 minutes.
Things to do
If you want affordable entertainment and leisure in Spain, go to the streets. In Spain, walking across the streets is known as the “paseo”, in which the entire Spanish families move forward clapping out flamenco rhythms. This is the best occasion to know Spanish culture better.
If you want some indoor options for fun, come to the movie houses, which are luxurious and provide the bar service. Here, you can watch films translated into Spanish and be prepared to watch horror films, cowboy films, etc. If you have a taste for drama and play, you can enjoy performances in theaters, where you can watch plays of Spanish authors as well as translations of foreign plays. There are typical nightclubs which are open till 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m., and you need to be formally dressed up.
There are circuses of very high quality and also a lot of options for sports lovers. Soccer has attained even more popularity than bullfight in Spain. Then, there are other sports like boxing, bicycle races, horse races, and in the Basque region, handball.
Tips
Though you may think that this country is warm, it can be very cold in winter, so you need proper clothing when you come here. Further, direct exposure to sunlight for long duration should be avoided to prevent sunburn and heatstroke.
1. How long does it probably take a tourist to fly to Madrid from London?| A．120 minutes. | B．140 minutes. |
| C．165 minutes. | D．515 minutes. |
| A．The streets. | B．The nightclubs. |
| C．The movie houses. | D．The Basque region |
| A．Enjoy the thrills of bullfight. |
| B．Dance clapping out flamenco rhythms. |
| C．Experience the bar service and watch various films. |
| D．Watch plays written by Spanish or foreign authors. |
Here are some advertisements about English language training from newspapers. You may find the information you need.
1. What is special about the 2lst Century English Training Centre?
| A．Its teaching quality is better. |
| B．It is the nearest to the city center. |
| C．Its courses are more advanced. |
| D．It requires an entrance examination. |
| A．Global English Center and Modern Language School. |
| B．Global English Center and the International House of English. |
| C．Modern Language School and the 2lst Century English Training Centre. |
| D．The 2lst Century English Training Centre and the International House of English. |
| A．67353019. | B．67705272. |
| C．67801642. | D．67432308. |
【推荐3】Though many people think of summer as a time to slow down and enjoy a vacation, it can also be the perfect time to make money or get experience. Here are some good summer jobs for you.
Survey-taking
Survey-taking is a way to make money during your summer holiday, especially if you live in an area that doesn’t have many chances. With a computer or smartphone, you can sit on your sofa and search for survey sites such as Surveys On The Go, InboxDollars or Swagbucks. Without much effort, you can start making money for your opinions. However, the ease of use comes with a low earning potential.
Food Delivery(递送)
If you enjoy driving, you can use your car to deliver food. You can sign up to deliver food from restaurants with services such as Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub. Another choice is delivering daily used goods with services such as Postmates, Shipt and Instacart. The earning potential for delivery can be higher than for other jobs because customers often give tips. The disadvantage is that these jobs require you to put in more time.
Photo Applications
If you go to the mall, you can use an app such as Field Agent or Gigwalk to make money by taking pictures of products in stores. See any help-wanted signs in the store windows? Take a picture and get paid for each one you find.
House Sitting and Pet Care
Summer is a time when people take vacations and may need someone to look after their homes or pets. Services such as HouseSitter and MindMyHouse connect homeowners with proper house sitters(看房人). For animal lovers who would rather care for someone’s pet while they are away, you can turn to services like Rover.
1. What do we know about making money through Survey-Taking?| A．It’s interesting. | B．It requires little effort. |
| C．It takes much time. | D．It requires special knowledge. |
| A．You can get some extra reward. |
| B．You work longer hours. |
| C．You need to drive your own car. |
| D．You deliver food for many people. |
| A．Swagbucks. | B．Uber Eats. | C．HouseSitter. | D．Rover. |
【推荐1】“The main surprise is how widespread the effects were,” says senior author Martin Genner, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Bristol. “We found the same trend across all groups of marine life we looked at, from small forms of plants and animals to marine invertebrates (无脊椎动物), and from fish to seabirds.”
The new study builds on early evidence of the impact of climate changes on the distribution, diversity and seasonality of marine species. Based on those findings, Genner’s team reasoned that marine species should be doing well at the leading (pole-ward) edge of their ranges but poorly at their trailing (equator-ward) side. They also realized that existing global species distribution databases could be used to test this idea.
Based on a thorough search of available data in the literature, the researchers now report on a global analysis of diversity trends for 304 widely distributed marine species over the last century. The results show that — just as predicted — diversity increases have been most obvious where sampling has taken place at the pole-ward side of species ranges, while diversity declines have been greatest where sampling has taken place at the equator-ward side of species ranges.
The findings show that large-scale changes in the diversity of species are well underway. They also suggest that marine species haven’t managed to adapt to warmer conditions. The researchers therefore suggest that projected sea temperature increases of up to 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels by 2050 will continue to lead to shifts in the diversity of marine species, including those of importance for coastal livelihoods.
“This matters because it means that climate changes are not only leading to diversity changes, but naturally affecting the performance of species locally,” Genner says. “We’re seeing fewer and fewer species like emperor penguins as water becomes too warm at their equator-ward edge, and we see some fish such as European seabass growing well at their pole-ward edge where historically they were uncommon.”
The results show that the effects of climate changes on marine species are highly uniform and not a little. “While some marine life may benefit as the ocean warms, the findings point toward a future in which we will also see continued loss of marine life,” Genner says.
1. According to the passage, what did Genner’s team conclude?| A．Climate changes have a great effect on the growth of fish. |
| B．Species data can be used to test the study. |
| C．Arctic marine species grow better than those at the equator. |
| D．Marine species can adapt to the warm environment. |
| A．Some sea creatures may benefit from warming oceans. |
| B．Climate Changes have little to do with the richness of species. |
| C．The effect of climate changes on marine life has improved. |
| D．Marine life will benefit from ocean warming in the future. |
| A．similar and slight | B．nowhere and a little bit |
| C．everywhere and enormous | D．nothing and uneventful |
| A．Study of the Disappearance of Marine life. |
| B．Impact of Climate Changes on Marine Species. |
| C．Analysis of Species Distribution Database. |
| D．Comparative Analysis of Ocean Temperatures. |
【推荐2】When you eat out in a restaurant, it is not unusual to hear people yelling, “Let me get this one!” and sometimes see them pushing or arm wrestling to fight for the privilege of paying the bill.
These fights are often very loud and active. Each person involved shows an honest desire to pick up the bill, and in the end, all the people at the table give the winner praise and gratitude.
In fact, figuring out who will get the bill is always a headache for Chinese people at formal meals. Although the people hosting the meal are very likely to pay the check, it is a common practice to make an effort to pay the bill, but you will embarrass them if you do end up actually chipping in (凑) some cash.
In recent years, going Dutch has been accepted by many young people. But older generations who fear “losing face” still find it embarrassing and mean to calculate each person’s share of the bill. As the world’s largest travel guide brand Lonely Planet noted, it is considered “the height of unsophistication (不懂人情世故)”.
But these days, thanks to digital payment apps, splitting the bill electronically is becoming a widely-accepted idea. Even people from older generations would like to do so.
By scanning a QR code and paying their share via social networking tool WeChat and e-commerce app Alipay on their smart phones in one easy click, urban Chinese are finding it easier to save them the embarrassment of figuring out each person’s payment when they order a meal.
“This function has made going Dutch less trouble and more fun in China”, CNN noted.
“Because of their convenience, many of us are never without our phones. And person-to-person mobile payment services are incredibly easy to use and save the trouble of dealing with change,” said an 18-year-old student in China.
1. Splitting the bill at formal meals was considered to be a(an) ______ task.| A．easy | B．hard |
| C．exciting | D．funny |
| A．they don’t want to be considered unsophisticated |
| B．they want praise and gratitude from their friends |
| C．they consider it an honor to host the meal and pay the bill |
| D．they find it hard to work out how much each person needs to pay |
| A．figuring out the total payment |
| B．taking turns to pay the bill |
| C．fighting for the privilege of paying the bill |
| D．each person paying their own expenses |
| A．They’re easier to use and more interesting. |
| B．They save the trouble of dealing with change. |
| C．They make it embarrassing to figure out how much money each person has to pay. |
| D．They make people less embarrassed to split the bill. |
| A．The Chinese tradition of dining out with friends. |
| B．A new trend of splitting the bill in China. |
| C．How social networking tools have influenced our daily lives. |
| D．Why people in China argue over who pays the bill when dining out. |
【推荐3】It all started in 2007 when James Bowen, a thirty-something drug addict who survived by playing guitar on the street, found an orange cat sitting in front of the door of his apartment.
Bowen noticed the cat was wounded. Without hesitation, the young man took him to the Humane Society and spent the little money he had on medicine to heal him.
Shortly thereafter, the cat, who was healing and feeling much better, began to follow the musician when he left the house. Then one day the cat got on the bus that Bowen took to the place where he worked.
That's how the cat, who had recently been named Bob, began to accompany his human friend to his musical performances. Bob?s mere presence attracted the attention of passers-by. He and Bowen would finish off each song with a high five. Pretty soon, the images of Bob wearing a scarf while sitting on the musician's shoulder, or keeping him company while he played the guitar, began to go viral all over the world.
Eventually, the news found out about the pair and did a story for the magazine Islington Tribune. It was not long after that when a book agent appeared in their lives and gave them a chance to tell their story.
By then, Bowen, who had managed to get away from drugs, wrote a novel called A Street Cat Named Bob. He related in great detail how meeting the cat changed him.
The book soon sold more than six million copies and even spread beyond the borders of the United Kingdom. In fact, it was translated into thirty languages.
Through all of these changing circumstances, Bob has always been with Bowen—on his shoulder.
You can't make up a story like this. But life always gives opportunities to those who know how to get hold of them. So if you are ever in a position where a cat has chosen you, don't ignore it. You can't imagine all the good that life may have in store if you decide to accept the proposal.
1. Why did James Bowen decide to keep the cat?| A．The cat could attract more audience. | B．The cat could keep him company. |
| C．The cat was a lovely performer. | D．The cat needed to be taken care of. |
| A．look funny | B．create viruses | C．spread quickly | D．change greatly |
| A．He has a strong sense of business. | B．He knows how to catch audience's attention. |
| C．He seized the chance to change himself. | D．He is no longer a good street performer. |
