The Man of Many Secrets—Harry Houdini—was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater next century. He was a man famous for his escapes—from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his "magic" tricks.Of course, his secret was not magic, or supernatural powers. It was simply strength. He had the ability to move his toes as well as he moved his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in club in New York. They called themselves the Houdini Brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant. But for a long time they were not very successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape, in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspapermen to watch.It was the publicity that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success. Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs and toes trained to escape ankle chins. But his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck—and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks, pass quickly from her mouth to his.Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local prison of every town he visited. In the afternoon, the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result World-wild fame, and a name remembered today. It can be inferred from the passage that Houdini became famous ().
A. in 1894
B. before he married
C. at the age of 17
D. when he was about 24
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Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
A. He met with robbery.
B. He risked the danger of life.
C. He got his pocket lost.
D. He had his pocket stolen.
Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones, US reseachers reported on Thursday. Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s. University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans. "Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy are protecting the brain, including estrogen, which we know has many neuroprotective effects, " Kinsley said. "It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals, " he added in a telephone interview. "They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes. " Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline. "When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down, " said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida. "They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain. If you look at female animals who have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young. But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations to the brain. \ What does the phrase "litters of pups" mean in the second paragraph
A. Baby rats.
B. Animals.
C. Old rats.
D. Grown-up rats.
I had to admit that it was ________________(由于我的疏忽).
I was a single parent of four small children, working at a low paid job. Money was always tight, but we had a (1) over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs, and if not a lot, always (2) . Not knowing we were poor, my kids just thought I was (3) . I’ve always been glad about that.It was Christmas time, and although there wasn’t (4) for a lot of gifts, we planned to celebrate with a family party. But the big (5) for the kids was the fun of Christmas (6) .They planned weeks ahead of time, asking (7) what they wanted for Christmas. Fortunately, I had saved MYM120 for (8) to share by all five of us.The big (9) arrived. I gave each kid a twenty-dollar bill and (10) them to look for gifts of about four dollars each. Then everyone scattered. We had two hours to shop; then we would (11) back at the "Santa’s Workshop"Driving home, everyone was in high Christmas spirits, (12) my younger daughter, Ginger, who was unusually (13) She had only one small, flat bag with a few candies—fiftycent candies I was so angry, but I didn’t say anything (14) we got home. I called her into my bedroom and closed the door, (15) to be angry again. This is what she told me."I was looking (16) thinking of what to buy, and I (17) to read the little cards on the ’Giving Trees’. One was for a little girl, four years old, and all she (18) for Christmas was a doll. So I took the card off the tree and (19) the doll for her. We have so much and she doesn’t have anything. "I never felt so (20) as I did that day. 2()。
A. wanted
B. did
C. got
D. played