NBA commissioner David Stern was in Orlando on Thursday night, getting ready for Sunday's All-Star Game. Of course, all he could talk about was the only player anyone wants to talk about these days: New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin. Hours before Lin took the court against the Heat, a few hundred miles South down I-95 in Miami, Stern told reporters that Lin's instant popularity hasn't ever been matched in sports history, not even by Sunday's biggest names, LeBron James or Kobe Bryant. The Associated Press had the details. "I haven't done a calculation, but it's fair to say that no player has created the interest and the craze in this short period of time, in any sport, that I'm aware of like Jeremy Lin has," Stern said Thursday. Lin, an undrafted guard from Harvard, has become the NBA's biggest story since coming off the Knicks' bench earlier this month to lead them to nine wins in 11 games heading into their matchup with Miami on Thursday night. With Lin's popularity in Asia as the league's first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent, and with the religious community because of his strong Christian faith, Stern says he's "never quite seen anything like" the attention on Lin. "It's fascinating," Stern said after the All-Star Jam Session opening ceremonies. The top five videos on NBA.com since Feb. 4, when Lin joined the circulation, are all Lin or Knicks related. Lin went from 190,000 followers on Sina, China's version of Twitter, on Feb. 2 to more than 1 million as of Feb. 16. Indeed, Lin's popularity is so _ that the NBA made a late list switch to ensure his participation in the Rising Stars Challenge on All-Star Saturday, a game that includes the NBA's best rookies and sophomores. Lin is in such high demand that all of the game's other participants will meet with the media following a team practice on Friday while Lin will have his own, separate press conference later in the night. This is Jeremy's world, folks. We're all just living in it. Even David Stern and the rest of the league's... The following statements about Jeremy Lin's instant popularity are true EXCEPT that _ . A) Jeremy Lin led New York Knicks to win all the recent games this month B) David Stern said Lin was the only instant popular player in NBA's history C) Lin has become the NBA's greatest story though he was an undrafted guard D) no player has created the interest and the enthusiasm in such a short period of time
A
THANK-you cards--heartfelt expressions of gratitude for gifts, services and general kindness--seem to be rare in an age when the Internet continues to reduce human interaction. Although our society has changed greatly over the past century, the _ of thank-you notes has not. While most people would agree that thank-you notes under these circumstances are a necessity, there are still those who forever postpone or are forgetful for unknown reasons. And at no time of the year are thank-you notes more visible (or lacking) than June, the month of graduations, and the beginning of summer parties. "It's a must-do thing. A real thank you does not come by e-mail. It comes in the mail in an envelope. And what comes out of an envelope is a beautiful thing to touch and to handle and to pass around for everyone to read," said etiquette expert Letitia Baldrige. Don't think for a second that Baldrige is old-fashioned. Handwritten thank-you notes--any handwritten correspondence, for that matter- have taken on an air of extra importance and dignity in this e-hyper world. Baldrige remains hopeful that the art may be enjoying a renaissance (,). More than simply obeying rules of etiquette, thank-you cards are a sign of caring. "They're more important now than ever," expert Peter Post says. "You are building a relationship. And part of building that relationship is that you acknowledge when someone has done something nice for you. " "The payoff," Post says, "can be huge. The more we do it, the more it comes back to us, and it's a benefit to us all. It makes our world a little bit nicer place to live in. " The author implies in this article that _ . A) old-fashioned people take a negative attitude to e-mails B) the changing society is making people impolite and lazy C) modern technology is driving people apart D) the e-hyper world is not a nice place to live in
C
Q: At the beginning of the 20th century there was a big farm called Hollywood Ranch. It was near Los Angeles in California. A few years later Hollywood was one of the famous places in the world. From the 1910s to the 1950s Hollywood was the film center of the world. Every family knew the names of its film stars--Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman and hundreds more. The reason why people went to Hollywood to make films was the sun. At first,people made films in New York on the east coast of the United States. But then they heard about Los Angeles where there are 350 days of sun every year. As they made all the films by sunlight,the west coast was a much better place to make films. Also near Hollywood you can find mountains,sea and desert. They did not have to travel far to make any kind of film. When TV became popular, Hollywood started making films for television. Then in the 1970s they discovered people still went to the cinema to see big expensive films. After about thirty years they are still making films in Hollywood and people watch them all over the world. People went to Hollywood to make films because _ . A) it was a beautiful place B) you could find many film stars C) there was a lot of sunlight D) it was a famous place
A: C
Q: Apple is to open a research lab in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, according to Tim Cook, its chief executive, as it seeks to boost sales in the country and improve ties with the authorities. Beijing has been encouraging foreign technology companies to carry out more high-end work on the mainland as part of efforts to revitalize local industry. It will be Apple's second facility in China. It already has a new research and development facility in Beijing. The two R&D centers were "aimed at strengthening relationships with local partners and universities as we work to support talent development across the country", Apple said in a statement. A closer relationship with the Chinese authorities has been a priority following setbacks for the US technology company this year. The iPhone has been losing market share to high-end handsets made by local competitors including Huawei, Vivo and Oppo, which topped the rankings in the second quarter, while Apple languished in fifth place, according to Canalys data. Analysts said the announcement of the R&D centre was Mr. Cook's latest attempt to gain favour with Beijing, following the US group's $1billion investment in Didi Chuxing, the Chinese car-hailing company, in May. Apple has had to change its approach in China as it faces rising nationalism and high-quality local competition, according to Ge Jia, a tech blogger, who wrote yesterday: "It's time for Apple to cast aside their pride." "Their previous strategy of only selling devices to China without leaving anything behind is not working any more and they are starting their process of localisation in China through the Shenzhen lab." Apple is going to open a research lab in Shenzhen to _ . A) promote Shenzhen's economy B) promote its sales in China C) get help of Chinese experts D) join in local competition
A: B