阅读理解。
It seems that every week someone becomes "the first" or "the youngest" or even "the first married couple"
to do something that doesn't seem to be very useful to the rest of us.
Why do they do it? Don't they have better things to do with their time and money? Human beings have
already climbed the highest mountains, sailed across the oceans and flown around the world. But there's still
a lot of the universe left, and the bottom of the ocean is still a bit of a mystery, you just need a lot of technology
to explore them. So, those who feel the need for adventure can only do things that have been done before.
In May of this year a British man became the first person to walk alone from Canada to the North Pole.
Personally, if I wanted to visit the Arctic, I'd rather go as a tourist on a cruise ship, with a helicopter trip to
the North Pole included in the price. But OK, this man decided that he wanted to walk. The problem was that
he went in the spring when the ice begins to melt and break up. So he got stuck on a lonely piece of ice and
a plane had to be sent in to rescue him.
These sorts of rescues are making many Australians angry with these record breakers. People trying to
break sailing or rowing records get into trouble in the seas. So the Australian navy has to send ships to save
them and this costs the government millions of dollars. I suppose we can't just leave them to drown but we
should give the bill to the people who are rescued.
1. According to the author, the so-called record breakers _____.
A. do not benefit other people at all
B. inspire people to continue exploring
C. are boring and should be stopped
D. are usually not wealthy enough
2. We can infer from the second paragraph that _____.
A. there are no high mountains for people to climb
B. nothing is left for people to explore in the universe
C. it's beyond ordinary people to explore the unknown
D. human beings could fly around the world long ago
3. Many Australians are angry because the record breakers _____.
A. often get into trouble
B. never use a cruise ship or a helicopter
C. never pay their own costs
D. satisfy their needs at the cost of others' interest
4. What is the writer's attitude towards the record breakers?
A. Positive.
B. Negative.
C. Uninterested.
D. Neutral (中立的).
