Bum rate is the speed at which a startup business consumes money. My rate would be $ 50,000 a month when my new media company started. So, I began looking around for individuals who would be my first investors. "Angel money" it was called. But when I reviewed my list of acquaintances to find those who might be able to help, I found the number got small. With no other choices, I began meeting with the venture-capital companies. But I was warned they took a huge share of your company for the money they put in. And if you struggled, they could drop you cold. As I was searching for "angel money", I started to build a team who trusted me even though I didn't have money for paychecks yet. Bill Becker was an expert in computer programming and image processing at a very famous Media Lab at M. I.T. With his arrival, my company suddenly had a major technology "guy" in-house. Katherine Henderson, a filmmaker and a former real-estate dealer, joined us as our director of market research. Steve White came on as operating officer. He had worked for the developer of a home-finance software, Quicken. We grabbed him. We had some really good people, but we still didn't have enough money. One night, my neighbor, Louise Johnson, came for a visit. She and I were only nodding acquaintances, but her boys and ours were constant companions. She ran a very good business at the time. Louise was brilliant and missed nothing. She had been watching my progress closely. She knew I was dying for money and I had prospects but could offer no guarantees of success. She told me that her attorney had talked to mine and the terms had been agreed upon. She handed me an envelope. Inside was a check for $ 500,000. I almost fell down. I heard her voice as if from heaven. "I have confidence in your plan," she said. "You' 11 do well. You're going to work hard for it, but it' s satisfying when you build your own company." Who would have thought I'd find an angel so close to home? There were no words sufficient for the moment. We just said good night. She... By "Angel money", the author refers to _ . A) the money borrowed from banks B) the money spent to promote sales C) the money raised from close friends D) the money needed to start a business
D
(Question)
Almost no young people today know who the cartoon character Oswald the Rabbit is, but they certainly recognize his successor, Bugs Bunny. Oswald, Bugs, and hundreds of other characters were created by Walt Disney, perhaps the most famous cartoonist in history. Born in prefix = st1 /Chicagoin 1901, Walt Disney always wanted to be an artist. After returning from World War I, in which he drove an ambulance, Disney worked as a commercial artist. He enjoyed drawing cartoons more than anything else, and decided to try his hand at a technology that was new at the time, moving pictures. In the 1920's, he produced several films where he made cartoon characters move as if by magic. The technique Disney used was painstaking. He made hundreds or even thousands of repeated drawings of the same character. In each drawing, the character was changed just a bit. A film was taken of the series of drawings, and when it was shown, the characters appeared to move. The process, called animation, is still used today, although computers have made the process much easier. In 1928, Disney created his most famous character, Mortimer Mouse, who we know today as Mickey. The mouse starred in a cartoon called Steamboat Willie, which was unusual because it involved the use of a sound track. Within the next few years, Disney invented many of his other characters. The list of Disney's animation successes is long and memorable. It includes Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, and Peter Pan. Perhaps his most remarkable animated film is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Created in 1937, it was an immediate success. Today, more than fifty years later, it is still one of the most popular films for children. The secret of animation is to _ . A) make drawings that are exactly the same, then film them B) choose names for characters that make people remember them C) combine music, voices, and sound effects with pictures D) make a film of many drawings that change just a little
(Answer)
D
Almost everyone suffers from a headache occasionally. But some people suffer from repeated, frequent headaches. What is headache? What causes it? What can be done about a headache? What research is being done on headaches? The dictionary defines headache simply as "a pain in the head." What most people mean by headache is a pain which lasts several minutes or hours. It covers the whole head, or one side of it, or perhaps the front or the back of the head. To add to the confusion about a definition, some people call tight feeling in the head a headache. A headache is important because it can be the first warning of a serious condition which probably could be controlled if discovered early. If a person removes the warning, day after day, with a pain-killer, he may pass the point of easy control. The professional name for covering up a symptom is "masking" (,). A headache specialist once said, "Masking symptoms is not the best way of treatment." He compared taking a pain-killer for a headache before a cause is known with taking iron pills for anemia while bleeding continues undiscovered. He added, "Sometimes it is wiser to stand still than to advance in darkness. A headache is important also because it interferes needlessly with normal, happy living. The employee with a headache does less work. In a flash of temper he may upset his fellow workers or customers, causing a direct of indirect loss to his organization. The mother with a headache suffers and disturbs the family. She upsets her husband and children. What's the main idea of the passage? A) Specialists know what a headache is. B) What's a headache and its effect. C) Everyone suffers from a headache occasionally. D) A headache can warn you of something serious.
B