Little Tom down the street calls our dog "The keep dog". Zip is a sheep dog. But when Tom tries to say " Sheep", it comes out "keep". And in a way Tom is right. Zip is always bringing things home for us to keep! I'll tell you about some of them. Zip's first present was a shoe. It was made of green silk. We didn't know how Zip found the shoe. But after a moment, Mary, my big sister, told me the shoe had a strange smell. I nodded(点头) and held my nose. "What do you think it is?" "It smells like something for cleaning. I think someone tried to clean a spot (污点) off the shoe. Then he put it at the door to dry." Along came Zip. And good-bye shoe!" I said. "We should take it back." "We can't".said my sister. "Maybe little Tom is right," Mary said. "Maybe Zip is a keep dog!"

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

The idea of being able to walk on water has long interested humans greatly. Sadly, biological facts prevent us ever accomplishing such a thing without artificial aid—we simply weigh too much, and all our mass pushes down through our relatively small feet, resulting in a lot of pressure that makes us sink.

    However, several types of animals can walk on water. One of the most interesting is the common basilisk Basilicus basilicus, a lizard (蜥蜴)native to Central and South America. It can run across water for a distance of several meters, avoiding getting wet by rapidly hitting the water's surface with its feet. The lizard will take as many as 20 steps per second to keep moving forward. For humans to do this, we，d need huge feet that we could bring up to our ears in order to create adequate w hitting.

    But fortunately there is an alternative : cornflour. By adding enough of this common thickening agent to water (and it does take a lot), you can create a “non-Newtonian” liquid that doesn't behave like normal water. Now, if the surface of the water is hit hard enough, particles(粒子）in the water group together for a moment to make the surface hard. Move quickly enough and put enough force into each step, and you really can walk across the surface of an adequately thick Liquid of cornflour.

    Fun though all this may sound, it's still rather messy and better read about in theory than carried out in practice. If you must do it, then keep the water wings handy in case you start to sink--and take a shower afterward!

    Look and feel better in 30 days, guaranteed!

    Our proven workout system helps you reach your goals fast.

    Many Americans are overweight for lack of physical activities. Many are struggling to lose weight, but most give up just within days. If you've struggled with diets and workout routines, only to feel like you aren't getting anywhere, our gym is for you! Take a moment to read this page to find out what we can do for you.

    Let us help you:

    reach your fitness goals quickly and safely

    work out in a comfortable environment

    look and feel great

    Get the results you've been looking for

    Have you tried dieting and working out, only to be let down? Do you have trouble pulling yourself to the gym every day? Our program is designed for the “average Joe or Jane” to be able to lose weight and keep it off, with a combination of nutrition, motivation and fitness.

    Our fitness method

    Our workout system will ensure that you lose weight and build muscles quickly and safely. We have developed a workout that targets all the right muscle groups, while at the same time burning unwanted fat. Our experienced trainers can help you with nutrition in between workouts to allow you to reach your goals faster.

    If working out on your own hasn't produced the type of results you want, that's why we're here. Join today! We charge $500 for each membership, but people who join our gym today can get a 20 percent discount. Those who join in the following week can get a 10 percent discount. For more information, please click here.

    It may not come as a surprise but the world as a whole is getting richer. Some people have more disposable income to spend on luxuries such as holidays, cars, TVs and smartphones. Recent data has shown that the number of people living in extreme poverty has halved in recent decades. So should we celebrate the fact that more of us now have a better standard of living?

    Maybe not. While the gap between rich and poor in some countries is narrowing, there is still a lot of inequality in other places-some people have a lot of money and opportunities and others don't. A recent report by Oxfam and Credit Suisse revealed how divided many of us are when it comes to wealth. A lot of the money in the world is in the hands of very few people. In fact, 48% of global wealth is owned by the richest 1% of the population.

    But some countries are attempting to reduce this inequality and make the poor less poor. According to David Bryer from Oxfam, Brazil has been taking “some really sensible measures-measures around having more progressive tax, around investing in a higher minimum wage and investing in central public services.” Having a higher minimum wage(提高最低工资标准), can help people eat better and seek a better education. And more people with more money buy more things-and factories can produce more. In turn, a factory which produces more will need more workers. So, more jobs are created.

    Other wealthy individuals are doing their bit to help reduce inequality. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, earned a lot of money from his company but when he retired, he and his wife Melinda, created a foundation to help the poor. He thinks that rich people should, of course, pay their taxes but he also advises that they should all “look at taking their wealth and being philanthropic, both in their own country and to help the global poorest.”

    Bill Gates feels that giving money to help poor people is “fulfilling”. But if other super-rich people don't want to experience this fulfilment then, according to Oxfam, very soon the wealthiest 1% will soon own more money than the rest of the world's population. Do you think that is fair?

    On May 29, 1973, Thomas Bradley, a black man, was elected mayor of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is the third largest city in the United States, with a population of three million. About sixteen percent of the city's population are black.

    News of this election appeared on the front pages of newspapers everywhere in the United States. Here is how one major newspaper reported the event.

    LOS ANGELES ELECTS BRADLEY MAYOR UNSEATING YORTY

    BLACK WINS 56% OF VOTES

    Bradley called his victory over Yorty "the fulfillment of a dream". During his childhood and youth, people had kept telling him, "You can't do this, you can't go there, because you are a Negro." Nevertheless he had won a decisive victory over a man who had been won 43.7 percent.

    Los Angeles voters have had many opportunities to judge. Thomas Bradley had to form an opinion of him. The son of a poor farmer Texas, he joined the Los Angeles police force in 1940. During his twenty-one years on the police force he earned a law degree by attending school at night. He was elected to the city council years ago.

    At the time of the Los Angeles election, three other American cities already had black mayors, but none of these cities had as large a population as Los Angeles. Besides, the percentage of blacks in those other cities was much larger. Cleveland, Ohio, had thirty-six percent black when Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967. In the same year Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Cary. In Newark, New Jersey, sixty percent of the population were black when Kenneth Gibson was elected in 1970. Thus election of a black mayor in those cities was not very surprising.

    In Los Angeles, thousands of white citizens voted for Thomas Bradley because they believed he would be a better mayor than the white candidate. Bradley had spent forty-eight of his fifty-five years in Los Angeles. Four years ago, Bradley lost mayoral election to Yorty. This time Bradley won.

    Imagine yourself on a boat looking out at the horizon and all you can see is the water meeting the sky with no land in sight and you are sailing straight ahead to meet the world. Jesse Martin does not have to imagine: he is living in it.

    On Dec. 7, 1998, at 17 years old, Jesse set sail from Melbourne, Australia on his boat, attempting to become the youngest person to sail alone and nonstop around the world. He sailed south of New Zealand, through the South Pacific, around South America, north on the Atlantic, back south past Africa, through the Indian Ocean and back to Melbourne. Even as a young child, Jesse had been an adventurer who traveled all over Europe and Asia with his parents. Born in Munich, Germany in 1981, he moved to Australia with his family when he was only two years old. They moved close to a rainforest in Cow Bay, about 3, 500kms north of Melbourne, where they built a small house with no electricity or running water. Jesse grew up at the beach enjoying the outdoors to its fullest. At 14, he sailed for the first time with his father and brother, Beau. It was after this trip that he began to dream about sailing around the world.

    Jesse's family played an important role. "I was made to believe I could do anything, although there were others that were not so encouraging or supportive" he says. "People that I looked up to, respected and trusted told me I couldn't. Thankfully, I trusted myself. There were people that said that the boat couldn't be ready by the time I had to leave." However, through perseverance (坚持不懈) and belief in himself, he was able to do what many told him was impossible.

    On Oct.31, 1999, more than 10 months after he set sail, Jesse Martin went down in history as the youngest person to sail around the world alone, nonstop and unassisted.