In 1992, I had just launched a new business called Video News International. It was the world's first video journalist network. The idea was to cover news and sell the service to news organizations. One day, a young intern who was working for us named Anthony Lappe pulled me aside. "There is something you have to see," he told me. "Comcast is doing this really cool thing." "What?" "The Internet," he said. "It's going to be really big." Anthony later introduced me to the head of the Internet project. "We are looking for content to put on our network here," the guy said to me. Well, I said I had lots of content to offer. The guy's eyes lit up. "Cool," he said. "We would like to put it on our network." Well, I was always looking for new clients. "What are you going to pay?" I asked. He said that they could not pay anything for the content, but they would set up a URL for me. "What's that?" I asked. "It's kind of like your address on the web." "What would I do with this URL thing?" "Well, it could be your business." "I don't see how it is a business, and there's not even any advertising," I cleverly replied. "Not yet," he said. "But one day there might be." I thought about it for two seconds. "Naah..." I said. " _ . I've got to be going now. Maybe we can cooperate next time." And I walked out. Idiot! Well, that Internet thing turned out to be so much bigger than I had thought. I wish I had never made such a mistake. Sorry Anthony. You were right. The guy's offer was rejected because the author _ A) didn't think it a good deal B) was unwilling to trust a stranger C) was too occupied to start a new business D) was worried about the safety of e-business
A
Most magazines, whether online or print, will include book reviews. However, most editors and staff writers are usually too busy to read books and review them themselves. Therefore, writing book reviews can be a great way to get started with a writing career. How do you write a great book review that will be sure to be noticed? Follow these tips to write a really interesting and unique book review. Start with a description of the book. Many people that are reading your review may not know anything about the book you're reviewing. Instead of making readers go find information on their own by searching for the book title, start out with a little description of the book. Make sure you avoid too long of a summary. Start with a short paragraph or so that hits all the major points but doesn't give too much away. You don't want to tell your readers everything about the book, because then they won't have to read it at all. Just give enough information so your readers are interested in reading the book. Be objective. Some magazines like to publish book reviews that are completely impersonal. This means that they want a review of the book that doesn't share your opinion and that in which your opinion isn't obvious from reading what you wrote. If you hated a book, it might not be a great book to review. You probably want to review books that you enjoyed. Avoid talking about how much you liked the book, however. You should not include your personal reaction to the book until the very end, where you include a sentence or two about whether or not you would recommend a book and to whom you would recommend it. Look through a lens . A great way to get your review noticed is to look at a book through a specific lens. Read the book as a feminist would, for example, and talk about what a feminist might say to applaud or criticize the book. You can choose any number of lenses, and feminism is just one choice. An economic lens, a family lens, the lens of a different nationality, or the lens of a child could all be interesting ways... Compared with ordinary readers, a skilled writer does better in _ . A) giving an objective description of a book B) looking at a book through a specific angle C) finding a book and understanding its story easily D) paying close attention to another writer's style
D
Q: The seventh-inning stretch is one baseball tradition that helps make the game one of America's favorite pastimes. In the middle of the seventh inning fans ritualistically stand and stretch before the home team comes to bat. No one really knows the origin of the custom, but there are theories on how it started. Baseball historian Dan Daniel provided this explanation: "It probably began as an expression of fatigue. That would explain why the stretch comes late in the game instead of at the halfway point." A more popular story involves President William Howard Taft and the birth of two baseball traditions. According to the account, Taft attended the first game of the 1910 baseball season. On the spur of the moment, plate umpire Billy Evans gave Taft the ball. He asked him to throw it over the plate. Taft did so, and the custom of having the president launch the baseball season with the first pitch was born. The story continues that later that same day, President Taft, who weighed well over 300 pounds, became uncomfortable in his small chair. In the middle of the seventh inning, he stood up to stretch his legs. The crowd thought that the president was leaving, so they stood up out of respect. A few moments later, Taft sat down again. The fans followed, and the seventh-inning stretch was born. What a day for traditions! No matter how the tradition began, fans have since added to the fun. Now, as they stand to stretch during the seventh inning, they can sing along to Jack Norworth's 1927 version of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" after the visiting team has batted. How did the custom of following the "seventh-inning stretch" begin? A) No one knows for sure where or when the custom began. B) Jack Norworth started the tradition with the song in 1927. C) Fans used it as a time to stand and stretch their legs after sitting for the first six innings. D) William Howard Taft stood up and the rest of the fans stood in honor of the president.
A: A
*Question*
Do you often feel lonely? What do you do when you feel that way? Hide yourself away and spend your time reading, watching TV or walking around? You might think that feeling lonely is just like feeling happy, sad or scared -- that it's just one of your various moods. That is true. However, if you let yourself be lonely for too long without dealing with it, you could be making a serious mistake. Doctors have known for some time that feeling lonely is bad for the mind. It can lead to mental health problems such as depression, stress and reduce confidence. "Being lonely means not feeling connected or cared for, but it's not about being mentally alone," Lisa Jaremka, scientist from Ohio State University, US, told Live Science in January. And there's growing evidence that not having friends is connected with physical illness as well. In 2006, for example, scientists studied 2,800 women who had cancer. They found that those who had few friends or family were five times more likely to die of their disease than women with many social contacts. Also, even healthy people had a better chance of falling ill if they felt left out by others, according to the BBC. The results have scientists thinking that loneliness might hurt the immune system , which protects the body from diseases. Hoping to prove this theory, Jaremka and her research team put volunteers through a stress test. During the test, volunteers were asked to make an unprepared speech in front of a group of stony-faced people. The researchers found that volunteers who said they were lonely in their daily lives felt more stress during the test. And their blood samples showed that all the stress had managed to cause harmful changes to their immune system. "Loneliness has been thought of in many ways as a chronic stressor -- a socially painful situation that can last for quite a long time, " explained Jaremka, who led the study. The number of people suffering from loneliness is increasing all over the world. However, solving the problem is easier said than done.... If people feel lonely for a long time, _ . A) they won't feel happy anymore B) they are more mentally harmed than physically C) they will find the feeling goes away by itself D) they are more likely to fall ill
**Answer**
D