In 1970,Cincinnatian Will Radcliff discovered a slush machine(冷飲機) when he was at a Chicago trade show. One evening,Radcliff asked for the help of his mother and sister to brainstorm some names for his would-be slushy drink. Over a six-pack of beer,they wrote down a Landfill of possibilities on a brown paper bag and came up with the idea for Slush Puppie,which would feature a cartoon dog as their logo (標(biāo)識) . Shortly thereafter,Radcliff spent all the money he had and founded the company.

   Though other iced drinks such as ICEE already existed,Slush Puppie was different because it was a non-carbonated drink created with flavored syrups (糖漿) and water that are mixed together in a machine and then frozen.

   When Radcliff started what would become a multimillion-dollar enterprise,only four flavors were offered: cherry,grape,orange,and lemon-lime. Today,there are more than 40 flavors available,many of which contain fresh juices and vitamins. An eight-ounce Slush Puppie contains 119 calories,which would take a 31-minute walk to bum off. Yet,it has a very pleasant taste.

   Radcliff’s flavored iced drink business took off and by 1999 sales had reached $25 million a year — that's a lot of slush!An astute businessman,he eventually pushed his idea into a global phenomenon; Slush Puppies have found their way into 62 nations,including parts of Africa and Europe,via 650,000 machines.

   In 2000 Cadbury Schweppes bought Slush Puppie Corp., and in 2006 J&J Snack Foods — which also owns ICEE — purchased the company from Cadbury. By this point,Radcliff was ready to retire and had purchased more than 3,000 acres of Florida wetlands,where he built a large farm and became a fierce advocate for land conservation.

   Unfortunately,Radcliff died on September 18 ,2014 in Cincinnati. Even though Radcliff' s no longer around,his Slush Puppie will live on.

1. One evening,Radcliff's family helped him to.

   A. hold a show   B. design a bag

   C. name a drink   D. fix a machine

2. What can we learn about Slush Puppie?

   A. It is more popular than ICEE.

   B. It cannot be found in Europe.

   C. It is delicious but high in calories.

   D. It is not attractive to J&J Snack Foods.

3. The underlined word “astutej” in Paragraph 4 probably means “ ”.

   A. honest   B. clever

   C. selfish   D. stubborn

4. The purchasing of a large area of wetlands shows that Radcliff .

   A. cared a lot about nature

   B. knew how to do business

   C. planned to raise some animals

   D. liked to live in such an environment

5. What would be the best title for the text?

   A. A magical cartoon dog

   B. ICEE vs. Slush Puppie

   C. A brief history of Slush Puppie

   D. The man who purchased Slush Puppie

   The Style Invitational is a humor / wordplay contest,through which we seek to bring a variety of clever humor every week to the readers of The Washington Post. While our ultimate goal is to get you to write great stuff for us for less than peanuts,we do aim to judge the contest as fairly and carefully as we reasonably can.

   This week we’ re not following every one of the poem's many rules — there is only one rule for the contest. The poem must be about a specific person and must include at least some part of his name.

   Winner gets the Inkin,Memorial ($12) , the Lincoln statue bobblehead that is the official Style Invitational trophy (獎品) . Second place wins a souvenir snow castle ($8) from Brussels,featuring a little statue that seems to be producing a fountain of snow and donated by Continual Snow Globe Donor Cheryl Davis. Other runners-up win their choice of a Loser Mug ($6) or the greatly desired “Whole Fools” Grossery Bag ($4) .

   E-mail entries to losers@washpost.com or,if you were bom in the 19th century,fax to 202-334-4312.-Deadline is Monday,June 22; results published July 12 (online July 10) . No more than 25 entries per entrant per contest.

   Include “Week 1076” in your e-mail subject line or it might be ignored as spam(垃圾郵件) . Include your real name,postal address and phone number with your entry.

   See contest rules and guidelines at wapo.st/InvRules. You can join the lively Style Invitational Devotees group on Facebook at on.fb. me/invdev.

   The Empress’s weekly online column discusses each new contest and its results. Especially if you plan to enter,check it out at wapo.st/styleconv.

11. The poem is required to be about .

   A. a joke   B. a person

   C. a newspaper   D. a kind of food

12. You can hand in your entries .

   A. by fax only   B. by mail or fax

   C. by e-mail only   D. by e-mail or fax 

13. Along with your entries,you should also provide your .

   A. real name   B. pen name

   C. ID number   D. e-mail address 

14. Where is the text most probably taken from?

   A. A personal diary. B. A contest notice.

   C. A news report.   D. A lesson plan.

   It was 1948,and Eleanor Abbott was bored. The retired schoolteacher was stuck in a San Diego hospital surrounded by young children who,like her,were suffering from polio(小兒麻痹癥) .The kids were lonely and sad,and Abbott,with nothing else to do,decided that a cheerful board game could be the perfect entertainment. So she supposedly grabbed a piece of thick paper and started drawing up plans.

   The end result was perfect for young children. No counting. No reading. Players simply needed to know colors and follow instructions on the cards to travel around the board,stopping at various delicious-sounding locations along the. way. Abbott shared it with the children in the polio ward,and they loved it. One year later,Milton Bradley bought the game,and it became a surprise hit: Vandy Land.

   While Milton Bradley kept that origin story a secret for decades,the game's connection to the disease didn’t stop there. It's possible that polio helped make Candy Land famous. In the early 1950s,a polio epidemic(傳染�。� swept the country. The best way to stay healthy was to avoid people. Public swimming pools and playgrounds were closed. Moviegoers were encouraged to sit far from each other at the theater. Parents wouldn't even let their kids outside to play. Healthy or sick,everybody needed entertainment to help pass the time. That,coupled with the fact that postwar Americans had more money and leisure time than ever,was the ideal condition for making a child's board game popular. Plus,it was about candy!

   Today,polio has practically been removed from the globe. Candy Land has sold more than 40 million copies and was introduced into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2005. But Abbott kept low profile(低姿 態(tài)) for the rest of her life. According to Nicolas Ricketts of The Strong — a museum in Rochester,New York,devoted to the history and exploration of play — when Abbott received her first royalty check,she gave much of the money right back to the children she met in the ward. How sweet!

6. Abbott used the board game in the hospital to.

   A. teach kids about colors

   B. cheer young patients up

   C. show her teaching skills

   D. try out her new invention

7. The young children in the hospital .

   A. enjoyed the board game a lot

   B. helped to make the board game

   C. learned to read through the board game

   D. learned to count through the board game

8. What is the main idea of Paragraph 3 ?

   A. The symptoms of polio.

   B. The origin of Candy Land.

   C. Candy Land helped to cure polio.

   D. Candy Land became popular due to polio.

9. We can infer that Candy Land became famous.

   A. in 1948   B. in the early 1950s

   C. in 2005   D. in recent years

10. Which word can best describe Abbott?

   A. Careful. B. Confident.

   C. Kind-hearted. D. Strong-minded.

   It has been with me every place V ve lived since I left home at 18 in 1977.

   Dad made it: Carved out of several pieces of wood glued together,shaped and sanded so smooth,it looked as if it had always been a single,solid piece. It was eventually to be a music box; the top flips (翻) up and the inside is hollow(空的). Dad could — and

over the years did — make just about everything anyone can make out of wood.

   He gave me the little man in the bathtub a few weeks after he told me in a letter that he and my mother were divorcing. He apologized for cruel words of days past and said he would understand if I never wanted to see him again. I cried while reading that. I was much closer to my mother,but how could Dad even think that? It never occurred to me to cut my father out of my life.

   Dad was an intelligent,creative and talented man,but he was also deeply insecure,something I didn't fully appreciate until years later. We both matured,and our relationship as adults was far better than when I was younger.

   And he was a fun,loving grandfather whom my sons adored. Dad died in 2013 of cancer. While I will forever treasure it,the little man in the bathtub will never be finished; it was supposed to play “I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles."

1. What does the underlined word “It” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

   A. A present bought by the author.

   B. A present from the author's son.

   C. A present from the author's mother.

   D. A present made by the author's father.

2. The little man in the bathtub.

   A. looked fragile

   B. was very expensive

   C. was skillfully made

   D. looked quite ordinary

3. When the author read the letter from his father,he.

   A. was very angry

   B. felt sad and surprised

   C. was proud of his father

   D. felt happy and thankful

4. As time went by,the relationship between the author and his father .

   A. worsened   B. had failed

   C. had improved   D. remained the same

5. What is the author regretful for?

   A. What he has done.

   B. Cruel words he said.

   C. His parents getting divorced.

   D. The music box not being finished.

   While the first part of the news is upsetting,the end results are much more optimistic. Gavin,a teenager with Asperger's Syndrome,was beaten up just for being different. Asperger,s Syndrome is a developmental disorder that affects a person's ability to socialize. This explains why Gavin sometimes appears distant from his schoolmates.

   On Thursday night,some kids were talking about how “it's weird(怪異的) ” that he is always by himself,attending events alone and watching people,and they thought it was “creepy” that he wanted to be friends with people he didn't know.

   On Friday night,another kid that overheard that conversation decided to take matters into his own hands and become judge,and this is the result of that. He didn't ask questions,didn't get to know Gavin,never met him,and didn't give him a chance to leave. Gavin was called to meet someone,surrounded by people he didn’t know,choked,hit,and left lying on the pavement so he would “l(fā)eam his lesson”.

   A friend of Gavin's mother shared photos on Facebook of the injuries to his nose,eyes and esophagus(食道）. Luckily,Gavin is doing OK and none of the damage is permanent. Instead of pressing charges or fighting back,Gavin' s reaction speaks volumes.

   He requested the bullies’ community service be disability related,that they write a paper on Asperger's,and that they watch a 20-minute video statement he taped while their families were present so they could see the damage they did and hear the event from his perspective.

   Instead of an actual “punishment”，he wanted the kids to truly leam about Asperger's Syndrome. Hopefully this will lead to the teens being more tolerant and no one else ever going through the pain that Gavin did. After all of that,Gavin's mom's message couldn’t be more true to parents and teachers alike:

   “If you are reading this,I hope you can talk to your teens,tell them about disabilities you can't see,teach them to be tolerant of people that are different,teach them that if they continuously see someone alone,ask questions first and get to know one another. Maybe it is not their choice to be alone."

10. Gavin is always alone because .

   A. he enjoys being alone

   B. he is always upsetting

   C. he suffers from a disease

   D. he doesn’t like his schoolmates

11. Which can best replace the underlined word wcreepyw in Paragraph 2 ?

   A. Fun. B. Strange.

   C. Natural. D. Inspiring.

12. Why was Gavin beaten?

   A. He hurt some kids before.

   B. He is different from normal people.

   C. He refused to make friends with a kid.

   D. He didn't take school lessons seriously.

13. How did Gavin react to his injuries?

   A. He fought back bravely.

   B. He was too scared to react.

   C. He decided to turn to court for help.

   D. He asked the bullies to leam from the incident.

14. Gavin's way of reacting was .

   A. interesting   B. praiseworthy

   C. disappointing   D. unreasonable

   Whatever we do,let's not forget the burbot (江鱘) , a dark,mysterious,unusual creature which lives down deep in the bottom of deep lakes.

   The fish is “fat looking and a little bit soft”. With large flat heads,small eyes,downtumed mouths full of sharp teeth,they are not exactly pretty. They are also extremely slimy(粘糊糊的) and under the chin is a single long,fleshy barbel(魚的觸須) ，

giving the impression of a goatee(山羊胡子). These characteristics are important. Their teeth are essential for catching a huge variety of food. “They’ re a very greedy animal,says Steve Simpson,marine biologist and lover of burbot at Exeter University. “There are reports of them eating birds,eating snakes,eating frogs 一 they really will eat anything they can get.”

   Once upon a time,they were ice-age fish that once swam freely in a cold world,until the ice moved away 10,000 years ago leaving small populations throughout the northern hemisphere including eastern England. For several months a year burbot can be trapped under ice 一 they need cold temperatures to lay eggs and all that unpleasant thick ice provides excellent protection.

   Although still present throughout the rest of Europe and North America,the only burbot in England today can be found in the rooms of the Natural History Museum in London, preserved in jars. The Angling Times offered a reward of £100 to anyone who found one in the UK,but that money lies unclaimed.

   When it comes to animals threatened with extinction,the cute and soft ones tend to get the most attention. But what about the unattractive ones that go unnoticed when their numbers start to become gradually smaller and smaller? Someone has got to speak up for the burbot.

5. Which of the following best describes burbot's appearance?

   A. Bony. B. Ugly.

   C. Small. D. Attractive.

6. The burbot .

   A. eats a lot

   B. is a light eater

   C. is a picky eater

   D. eats many kinds of food

7. For what purpose do burbot stay under ice?

   A. To go to sleep. B. To meet friends.

   C. To produce eggs. D. To look for food.

8. What does the underlined part “that money lies unclaimed” mean?

   A. A reward of £100 is not appealing at all.

   B. The English don't care much about money.

   C. The burbot only lives in the bottom of lakes.

   D. The burbot has disappeared in British waters.

9. What is the author's attitude towards the burbot?

   A. Worried. B. Critical.

   C. Crazy. D. Proud.

   Before one man walked upon a muddy New Jersey riverbank,baseball was a deadly game.

   In 1938,Phillies third-base coach Lena Blackbume happened to step into a stream in the Delaware River,and realized he found a solution for one of baseball's biggest problems.

   Back then balls fresh from the box were slippery and hard to control. Players tried to improve their grips(緊握力) with tobacco juice or shoe polish,but as the balls got dirtier,they just got harder to see. Batting helmets hadn't been invented yet,and players were having trouble keeping their eyes on the errant (無定向的) balls. One batter was even killed.

   So when Blackbume came across the slippery mud near his hometown fishing hole,his mind went straight to the field. The mud was gritty(含砂的) ,with the look and feel of chocolate pudding. He brought some home and found that,sure enough,it coated the ball perfectly,improving the grip without damaging the leather. When Blackbume showed the result to American League umpires(裁判員) ，they gave his mud a thumbs-up. By the 1950s,every major-league team was using it.

   Now,before every major- and minor- league game (as well as many college games) , an umpire or clubhouse attendant wipes a light coat of Blackbume's magic mud on each ball used. The mud hole's location remains a closely guarded secret to this day. Only one person,Jim Bintliff,the mud's farmer,knows where to find it.

1. Before 1938,baseball was .

   A. boring   B. world-famous

   C. unpopular   D. dangerous

2. The magic mud makes baseballs.

   A. easier to control   B. easier to make

   C. look prettier   D. look bigger

3. What did American League umpires think of Blackbume's method?

   A. It was great.

   B. It might work.

   C. It didn’t work.

   D. It could be improved.

4. Which can be the best title for the text?

   A. Baseball stars   B. Baseball rules

   C. Baseball's secret   D. Baseball's origin

   Roman Krznaric used to regularly walk past a homeless man around the comer from where he lived in Oxford and took almost no notice of him. One day he stopped to speak to him.

   It turned out his name was Alan Human and he had a degree in Philosophy,Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. They afterwards developed a friendship based on their common interest in Aristotle's ethics(倫理學(xué)) .

   This unexpected meeting taught Roman that having conversations with strangers opens up our empathic(同情的) minds. We can not only meet amazing people but also challenge the prejudices that we have about others based on their appearance, accents or backgrounds.

   Furthermore,it's about recovering the curiosity everyone had as a child. Respect the advice of oral historian Studs Terkel,who always spoke to people on the bus, “Don’t be an examiner,be an interested inquirer(探究者).”

   The world's first Empathy Museum is starting in the UK in late 2015 and will then be traveling to Australia and other countries. Among the unusual exhibitions will be a human library,where instead of borrowing a book you borrow a person for conversation — maybe an unhappy investment banker or a gay father. In other words,the kind of!people you may not get to meet in everyday life.

   As the psychologist and inventor of emotional intelligence Daniel Goleman puts it,without empathy a person is “emotionally tone deafIt's clear that with a little effort nearly everyone can put more of their empathic potential to use. So try putting on your empathy shoes and make an adventure of looking at the world through the eyes of others.

11. Why did Roman and Alan become good friends?

   A. They helped each other.

   B. They felt pity for each other.

   C. They shared the same interest.

   D. They had to depend on each other.

12. What should adults learn from children?

   A. Never judge by appearances.

   B. Be curious about others.

   C. Never talk to strangers.

   D. Always be polite.

13. According to Paragraph 5 ,in a human library you can .

   A. act as a librarian

   B. borrow your favorite books

   C. meet ordinary people in life

   D. expect a talk with someone special

14. Which of the following is TRUE according to Daniel Goleman?

   A. Emotional intelligence cannot be improved.

   B. Most people don't  have empathy for others.

   C. It is important to develop empathy for others.

   D. Deaf people have little emotional intelligence.

   When I watched wild baboons(狒狒) in Africa,it seemed as if they ate everything. But did they really? They have simple stomachs. If baboons eat foods that have a lot of fiber, they get very little nutrition from that food,and then they don't have room for more nutritious foods. Baboons need foods with a lot of nutrients. Baboons should be picky eaters.

   In the 1990s,a team of primatologists(靈長類 動物學(xué)家) solved this riddle. By watching wild baboons,the team of primatologists found that the monkeys ate whatever they could find as long as the foods had a lot of protein and fat. Baboons avoided foods with lots of fiber. Many foods had high protein or high fat,and many foods had low fiber. So it looked as if baboons ate everything.

   Research on baboon foods made me wonder how baboons found their foods. I knew baboons were smart. For their size,they have big brains,and they remember a lot of things. Even though some baboon troops have more than 100 monkeys,baboons easily remember their friends and enemies. I reasoned that baboons might memorize the locations of some foods.

   For 18 months I lived in a tent in Ruaha National Park in Tanzania. I camped next to the river. I studied only m往le baboons because females have babies,and I didn't want to scare the little ones. Each morning,I picked a different male monkey. Everywhere he went,I followed. Every time he ate,I wrote down the food type and how much he ate.

   I discovered that baboons did not find baobab trees(猴面包樹) randomly. Instead,the monkeys walked quickly and directly to baobab trees. The same was not true for other foods. Baboons used more random patterns to find elephant dung (糞便) , young antelopes,and grasses. Sometimes they found these foods on their way to the baobab trees!

6. What does the underlined part “this riddle” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

   A. Where wild baboons live.

   B. How wild baboons find foods.

   C. If wild baboons eat everything.

   D. If wild baboons have simple stomachs.

7. Wild baboons enjoy foods with .

   A. lots of protein and fiber

    B. lots of protein and fat

   C. lots of fat and fiber

   D. lots of fiber only

8. What do we know about wild baboons?

   A. They have few friends.

   B. They are not very smart.

   C. They have many enemies.

   D. They have a good memory.

9. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

   A. How the author studied wild baboons.

   B. The living environment of wild baboons.

   C. How female wild baboons give birth to babies.

   D. Differences between male and female wild baboons.

10. It can be inferred that wild baboons know the locations of.

   A. grasses   B. baobab trees

   C. elephant dung   D. young antelopes

   Before she was Queen of England,Princess Elizabeth wanted to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service (A.T.S.) , a female branch of the British military. It was World War II,and women worked at jobs traditionally held by men,who were now overseas fighting.

   Elizabeth was a teenager and first had to convince her parents about her plan. Her father,King George Ⅵ.  thought it was too dangerous. But Princess Elizabeth would not take no for an answer. “I ought to do as other girls of my age do,” she said firmly. After some months,her parents finally agreed to let her join.

   Princess Elizabeth did not receive any special treatment in the A. T.S. The only thing different was that she returned to Windsor Castle each night to sleep.

   When she arrived at the A. T.S. camp depot （兵站) for her first day of training,Princess Elizabeth was greeted by a car with its wheels off. In the weeks that followed,she learned to take apart an engine and then assemble(裝配) it. The princess loved the training,admitting, “I'm a mechanic at last."

   Princess Elizabeth worked on car,truck,and even tank engines. She also learned to read maps and drive officer transport cars,ambulances,and military trucks. To complete her A. T.S. training,she was required to drive a big truck on her own.

   The king and queen thought driving a truck was too dangerous,but before they could let her know how they felt,they discovered Elizabeth driving a truck onto the palace grounds. She had driven from the A. T.S. camp through the busy London streets all by herself.

   Princess Elizabeth became Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1952. Now in her eighties,she still drives. Queen Elizabeth loves horses and still rides four times each week. She also actively manages her estate(莊園) farm at Balmoral and is often seen hiking through the countryside there.

1. What can we learn about women in England during World War II?

   A. Most of them joined the A. T.S.

   B. Most of them served in the army.

   C. They were all willing to go overseas.

   D. They were allowed to do men's jobs.

2. Hearing Princess Elizabeth's plan to join the A. T.S., King George Ⅵ. nitially .

   A. rejected her request

   B. thought highly of her

   C. gave her some special treatment

   D. advised her to do what other girls did

3. When serving in the A. T.S., Princess Elizabeth.

   A. became an auto mechanic

   B. was in charge of the A. T.S. camp

   C. preferred to drive those big trucks

   D. was required to stay there all day long

4. Which of the following can best describe young Princess Elizabeth?

   A. Cautious and friendly.

   B. Determined and brave.

   C. Ambitious and sensitive.

   D. Generous and considerate.

5. In her eighties,Queen Elizabeth .

   A. often rides in Windsor Castle

   B. can no longer do her duties

   C. is still in very good health

   D. still has a sense of humor