Going on a road trip? The St. Louis Arch, Statue of Liberty and Golden Gate Bridge are normal tourist sites. But if you prefer offbeat destinations, check out the following road-side attractions. World's Largest Ball of Paint Alexandria, Ind. In 1977, Michael Carmichael set out to create the biggest ball of paint anywhere. Starting with a baseball as a center, he painted layer after layer of paint day after day, year after year. The ball weighs more than 1,300 pounds, with more than 20,000 coats of paint, which is recognized by Guinness world Records. Visitors can paint the ball themselves and become part of history. The Museum of Dirt Boston, Mass. The museum is the idea of Glenn Johanson. Labeled glass bottles contain such treasures as dirt from the Great Wall of China, as well as sand from a desert in Saudi Arabia and Omaha Beach in France. Best of all, the cost of seeing this museum is dirt cheap: It's free. Mount Horeb Mustard Museum Mount Horeb, Wis. It's heaven for hot dog lovers! This museum claims to have world's largest collection of prepared mustard . Its more than 4,100 bottles of spices come from 60 nations, including Turkey and Tibet. Visitors learn the history of mustard, from how it's made to how it's advertised and sold. The museum's creator, Barry Levenson, loves mustard so much, he even puts it on ice cream! Paper House Rockport, Mass. Swedish immigrant Ellis Stenman was much ahead of his time in 1922, when he started to build a two-room house almost entirely out of newspaper. At the time, people didn't give much--if any --thought to recycling paper. In fact, "recycling" wasn't even a Word yet. The house is framed with wood, but the walls are made of 215 layers of newspaper. In all ,he used about 100,000 newspapers. What can be inferred from the passage? A) Michael must have the largest ball in the world. B) Ellis could be seen as a pioneer in his time. C) Lots of hot dog lovers will travel to Alexandria. D) Glenn must have paid a visit to China.
B
What separates me from everyone else? The difference is not what clothes I wear or the music I listen to, but what I feel inside. Ever since I was young, I have loved professional wrestling.I woke up every Saturday to watch my favorite "Superstars." As I grew older, I got a lot of flak for watching this "fake" sport.My peers would laugh at me for following what was called a "man's soap opera." So, _ .Like everyone else, I wanted to be associated with the cool clique.I yearned to be invited to the parties of the in-crowd and hang out with the popular kids.I became pretty successful.Although my Friday evenings were busy with parties, I would still wake up early Saturdays to watch wrestling.It wasn't until freshman year that I realized I wasn't being myself. That year, I tried many new things and activities and made new friends.In my town, football was the sport, so I decided to play football, thinking it might give me a head start in popularity.The team started with 48 athletes.At the end, there were 14 of us left.I stuck it out not because I liked it, but because I am not a quitter.That long season taught me a lesson: I wasn't a football player.More importantly, it taught me to be myself. After that season, I went back to being a wrestling fan.I watched it religiously, no matter what insults were thrown my way.I came across a quote: "Don't Dream It, Be It." When I read this, my friend Dan had the same idea I had. "What if we build a wrestling ring?" we asked.We acquired the necessary wood and equipment for its construction.The following weekend, we met at his house.We saw our dream in a pile in his backyard.We worked from dawn to dusk to build our great establishment.By Sunday night, our mission was complete.Our hard work (combined with a little creativity) had paid off.We had a real ring.We decided to hold an "event." We practiced for hours, trying to improve every aspect of our wrestling ability.The date was May 24th.Our show had a start time of 9: 00 p.m.To our surprise, about one hundred family, friends... When the writer was a freshman, he _ . A) knew he couldn't be a good football player B) realized he was being himself C) was still sociable D) built a wrestling ring
C
In the eyes of dog lovers, the dog is man's best friend. But for much wildlife, loose dogs may be a dangerous enemy, according to a study by a biologist from Utah State University in the US. Based on much existing research and their own case studies, Julie Young of Utah State University and four other scientists conclude that loose dogs may represent a huge danger to wildlife, especially endangered species, by hunting down or worrying them and by spreading diseases. They also found that dogs, their worldwide numbers around 500 million, can cause more damage to wildlife and livestock than wolves and other enemies of these animals. Young gave examples from the US state of Idaho, where research showed the presence of dogs reducing some deer populations. On the Navajo American Indians' reservation in northeastern Arizona, packs of loose dogs are chasing livestock. They have killed populations of small animals such as rabbits and act as a disease carrier for rabies among people and other animals, she said. Loose dogs also were to blame for distemper outbreak leading to a die-off of endangered black-footed ferrets in northwestern Wyoming in the 1980s. The phenomenon is not just limited to US; it's a global problen. Julie Young once studied three endangered species in central Asia: wild sheep, gazelles and antelope. The rate of injury and death to these animals by loose dogs was very high. In another case, Young found that dogs, not wolves, as originally suspected, were responsible for a large number of livestock killings in the mountainous Basque country between Spain and France. Authors of the new study said the problem is likely to worsen as communities expand. Then how to deal with it? Indeed, in many countries, leash laws permit punishment of dog owners whose pets chase wildlife. But lawbreakers are rarely punished because the police lack both people and money. Young has low-cost solutions to the problem for dog lovers, though. They include public dog-training programs and vaccinating dogs against rabies... . What is the main point of Julie Young's study? A) Many species are endangered because they are killed by loose dogs. B) Wild dogs are immune to many diseases. C) Wolves are still the greatest enemy of livestock. D) Loose dogs pose a great danger to wildlife.
D