5th box -Flashcards

Multiple choice questions

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1. lesson31

Record Holders The Guinness Book of World Records is full of fascinating facts. For example, the champion commuter is Bruno Leuthardt of Germany, who traveled 370 miles each day for ten years to his teaching job and was late only once because of a flood. The record for being buried alive is held by Emma Smith of Ravenshead, England. She was confined in a coffin for 100 days. What a way to spend the idle hours! Peter Clark of London collected 1276 autographed pictures of famous men and women. Obviously not all were his idols, but he did set a record. What drives people to these unusual practices? Some are simply done in jest, some for patriotic reasons. Certainly no one would dispute the valor of the "record-makers," even if the records themselves may be no more lasting than a popular song. While one need not be a lunatic, he must have a vein of recklessness to participate in such activities as bungee-jumping, high diving, or parachute jumping. If you are tired of leading a dull, uneventful life, remember the mortais whose fertile imaginations have found novel ways to add excitement to their lives.
Roller Derby The most unruly game known to man or woman is the Roller Derby. Revived* every so often on television, it has no rival for violent, brutal action. The game commences* with two teams on roller skates circling a banked, oval track. Then one or two skaters try to break out of the pack and "lap" the opponents. When the skater leaves the pack,the brawl begins. No sport can duplicate the vicious shrieking,* pushing, elbowing, and fighting, all at high speed while the skaters are whirling around the track. And women are just as much of a menace* as the men. Often considered the underdog, the female skater can thrust a pointed fingernail into the face of a bewildered enemy.
Where Do We Go from Here? When we grow too complacent with ourselves, along come writers who, wasp-like, sting us with reminders of the many problems we face-from rehabilitating former prisoners on parole to feeding the world's hungry population. Those authors do not see civilization rising almost vertically to greater and greater heights. Though a multitude of problems beset America, they nominate the large urban centers as potentially the most dangerous and requiring the most immediate attention. They see the cities as the morgues of dead hopes and lost ideals. We are preoccupied with trifles like the upholstery in our homes or personal matters like pension and benefits, but now we are called upon to contribute to our community on every vital level-moral, political, economic. We are not being urged to give up our beloved possessions, but our civilization can be saved only if we overcome the epidemic of indifference. We must begin to live with a new openness to others and a determination to become the best of which we are capable.
The Electric Auto Is on Its Way Ignite gasoline and you have noise and smoke; turn on an electric motor and you abolish two headaches that are dreaded* by urban populations. Automobile manufacturers are frank about the way their motors pollute the air, and that is why there are frequent* hints that the big companies will soon reveal a practical electric car. So far, lack* of knowledge of storing electricity in the car prohibits wide production of electric autos, but recently* Congress called urgently for adequate research into the battery or fuel cell problem. Electric autos would be inexpensive* to run and would decrease air pollution.* It might be weird,* however, to live in the quiet surroundings of a city where autos that used to be noisily audible would be whisper-quiet.

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