One day last September, as Britney Spears was about to board a flight to Los Angeles from London, a blue bottle fell out of her purse. She quickly put it back in, but not before the camera recorded the event. Neither Spears nor her spokesman was willing to comment on the contents of the bottle, but the next morning London’s Daily Express published a page of pictures under the headline “EXCLUSIVE: POP PRINCESS SPOTTED AT AIRPORT WITH POT OF SLIMMING TABLETS.” Spears was apparently carrying Zantrex-3, one of the most popular weight-loss pills now sold in the United States. The pill, which is sold at about fifty dollars for a month’s supply, contains a huge amount of caffeine, some green tea, and three common South American herbs that also act as stimulants (兴奋剂). It hit the U.S. market last March and has had a success that would be hard to overstate. Millions of bottles have been sold, and during the Christmas season it was displayed in the windows of the nation’s largest chain of vitamin shops, G.N.C. (It is so highly sought after that many of the stores keep it in locked counters.) Zantrex-3 is also sold at CVS, RiteAid, Wal-Mart, and other chains, and over the telephone and on the Internet. If you type “Zantrex” into Google, more than a hundred thousand pieces of information about it will appear. At any moment, there are scores of people sell it on eBay.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the success story of Zantrex-3, however, is that it is far from unique. There are hundreds of similar products on the market today, and they are bought by millions of Americans. And though Zantrex’s producer makes some exciting statements (“the most advanced weight control compound (化合物)period”), so do the people who sell Stacker 2 and Anorex along with those who sell Carb Eliminator and Fat Eliminator. Almost all of these compounds suggest that they can help people lose weight and regain lost energy, and often without diet, exercise, or any other effort.
51. Britney Spears is a / an______.
A. dancer B. singer C. athlete D. chemist
52. Which of the following is also a kind of weight-loss pill?
A. CVS B. Rite Aid C. Wal-Mart D. Anorex
53. The underlined part of the sentence in the first paragraph is most likely similar in meaning to ______.
A. it is difficult to say how successful Zantrex-3 is
B. you can’t overstate the success of Zantrex-3
C. you can’t think too highly of the success of Zantrex-3
D. Zantrex-3 is not very successful
54. From the second paragraph we know that ______ .
A. Zantrex-3 is one of the successful weight-loss pills on the US market
B. Zantrex-3 is the most successful weight-loss pills on the US market
C. Zantrex-3 is the only weight-loss pill on the US market
D. there are five kinds of weight-loss pills on the US market
55. The text mainly tells us ______.
A. when Britney Spears was found taking weight-loss pills with her
B. how Zantrex-3 became successful in the USA
C. weight-loss pills are very popular in the USA
D. Zantrex-3 is forbidden to be sold on the US market
