Several years ago ,Masaru Ibuka ,chairman of Sony ,was at a company planning a meeting. Suddenly he hdd a brilliant idea. He stopped the meeting and asked everyone present what would happen if Sony removed the recording function and 'speaker and sold headphones with a tape player instead. Almost everyone thought he was crazy. Still ,Ibuka kept thinking about his idea and worked at improving it The result, of course, turned out to be the wildly successful Sony Walkman. Good ideas often start with a seemingly silly question. Bill Bowerman was making breakfast one day. As he stood there making waffles for his son, he wondered what would happen if he poured rubber into his waffle iron. Later ,he tried it and the result looked something Like the bottom of most sports shoes we see today. Still, when he took this idea to several existing shoe companies, he was laughed at In fact, every single company turned him down. Though rather discouraged, Bowerman insisted and went on to form his own company, making NBKE athletic shoes. Sometime good ideas grow out of frustration .When Fred Smith was a student at Yale University, he had some paperwork that he needed to have delivered across the country the next day. Smith was amazed to find out that overnight delivery was impossible. He sat for a long while ,lost in thought Why couldn't there be a reliable overnight mail delivery service? He decided to design one. Smith did just that and turned his design into a class project His business professor gave him only a C for his efforts. However, Smith was not through. He improved the idea in that class project and finally turned them into one of the first and most successful overnight mail service in the world -- FedEx. We know that each of these ideas led to a very successful product or service that has changed the way many of us live. The best questions are usually open-ended and are often silly, Children aren't afraid to ask such questions ,but adults frequently are. Think how different the world might be if people never asked... The passage is mainly developed by _ . A) analyzing possible reasons B) presenting different opinions C) providing typical examples D) listing practical suggestions
C
One day, a slave owner entered a local store and threatened a young boy who was his slave. At first, the slave refused to move and ran for the door. The slave owner reached for a heavy weight. He threw it at his slave. Instead, it hit Harriet on the head. Harriet almost died. For the rest of her life, she carried the mark of a deep wound on her head. Miser Brodas felt he never needed Harriet. He decided to sell her. Harriet thought of a way to prevent this. Each time she was shown to someone who might buy her, she acted as if she were falling asleep. After a while, Mister Brodas gave up the hope of selling Harriet. He sent her back to the fields. At 24 she married a free black man, John Tubman. By then, Harriet was sure she should escape. In 1849, Mister Brodas died. His slaves probably would be sold to further South. John Tubman tried to make Harriet forget about running away. Harriet decided she must end her marriage and that she needed to tell her family that she was leaving. Harriet escaped for Pennsylvania where slavery was banned there. Once she hid under hay that had been cut from the fields. Another time, she wore men's clothing. Finally, she arrived in Pennsylvania. Now that Harriet was free, she didn't forget other slaves in Maryland. During the next ten years, she freed her parents and other family members. She traveled back and forth eighteen times, helping about 300 slaves escape. She became an expert at hiding from slave hunters. At one time, anyone finding Harriet was promised 40,000dollars for catching her--dead or alive. The people she helped called her Moses. She had rescued them from slavery just as the biblical Moses rescued the Jews. After the Civil War began, Harriet started to spy for the North. She also served as a nurse. After four years of bloody fighting, the North won the war. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in 1863. There was no longer any need for Harriet to be Moses. We know from the passage that Harriet was Mister Brodas' . A) daughter B) slave C) wife D) servant
B
Q: Flags have existed for over 3000 years. The earliest flags were wooden or metal poles topped with a carving. About 2000 years ago pies of fabric were added to some poles for decoration. Over the next 500 years the free-flying part of the flag became more important. Every country today has its own flag. Many groups and organizations also have a flag which stands for, or symbolizes, the aims of the group. The flag depicts a world map, centered on the north pole. The map is surrounded by an olive wreath symbolizing peace and co-operation. The flag is blue and white. Flags have been in existence for _ . A) 500 years B) more than 3000 years C) about 2000 years D) between 500 and 2000 years
A: B
When Colonel Harland Sanders retired at the age of 65, he had little to show for himself, except an old Caddie roadster, a $105 monthly pension check ,and a recipe for chicken. Knowing he couldn't live on his pension, he took his chicken recipe in hand, got behind the wheel of hisvan ,and set out to make his fortune. His first plan was to sell his chicken recipe to restaurant owners, who would in turn give him aresidual for every piece of chicken they sold--5 cents per chicken. The first restaurateur he called on turned him down. So did the second. So did the third. In fact, the first 1,008 sales calls Colonel Sanders made ended in rejection. Still, he continued to call on owners as he traveled across the USA, sleeping in his car to save money. Prospect number 1,009 gave him first "yes". After two years of making daily sales he had signed up a total of five restaurants. Still the Colonel pressed on , knowing that he had a great chicken recipe and that someday the idea would _ . Of course, you know how the story ends. The idea did catch on. By 1963 the Colonel had 600 restaurants across the country selling his secret recipe of Kentucky Fried Chicken (with ll herbs and spices ). In 1964 he was bought out by future Kentucky governor John Brown.Even though the sale made him a multi-millionaire, he continued to represent and promote KFC until his death in 1990. The sentence "Of course, you know how the story ends" means _ . A) you are sure to know the result of Colonel Sanders' business B) You are sure to know Colonel Sanders had finished his story C) It is certain Colonel Sanders ended his business D) It is certain Colonel Sanders knew how to end his story
A