In 1866, sailors on a German ship called Paula threw a bottle with a message into waters hundreds of miles off the western coast of Australia. One hundred and thirty-one years later, (76)the bottle was found on an Australia island. It’ s believed to be the oldest-known message in a bottle, in terms of the amount of time that has passed between when it was written and when it was found. Before this discovery, Guinness (吉尼斯) World Records said that the oldest was 108 years old, found in Germany in 2015. Australian and German researchers worked together to check whether the note is real or not. Tonya Illman was walking on the beach in January when she spotted the old bottle. “I picked it up thinking it might look nice on display in my home,“ Illman says, according to an account on her husband’ s website. (77) The bottle was partially filled with wet sand. Shortly after, Illman’ s son’ s girlfriend poured out the contents and found a tightly rolled note covered in a piece of string. Too damp to open initially, according to the account, the group waited for it to dry and were amazed to see that it was carefully handwritten in German. “The first thing that caught my eye was the year 1866,“ said Illman’ s husband Kym. “ It seemed totally unlikely to us that the note and bottle could have lasted that long. “ The pair reached out to the Western Australia Museum, which set out to study the document. “Extraordinary finds need extraordinary evidence to support them, so we contacted colleagues in Germany for help to find more information,“ Ross Anderson, who is in charge of works of art in the museum, said in a statement. But this message is no SOS or love letter.

A handwritten note from Albert Einstein sold for more than $1.5 million at an auction (拍卖会). He gave the note to a hotel porter in Japan in 1922. Einstein was not carrying money when the porter came to his room. (78)He was unable to give a cash tip, as a guest normally would. Instead he gave a tip on how to live life. “ A calm and modest life brings more happiness than pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness,“ Einstein wrote. The note was written in German. It was written on notepaper from the Imperial Hotel in Ginza, Tokyo, where Einstein was delivering a series of lectures. He was traveling to Asia when news that he had won the Nobel Prize for Physics reached him via telegraph. Einstein was unable to attend the prize-giving ceremony in Stockholm. Gal Wiener is head of the auction house in Jerusalem, Israel, where the note was sold. He said Einstein told the hotel porter to keep the note since it “ will probably be worth more than a regular tip“. Bidding(拍卖中的出价) on the note began at $2,000. It was expected to sell for no more than $8,000. But 25 minutes later, the auction house made the major sale. (79) A second Einstein note was also sold at the auction. It went for more than $ 200,000. “Where there’ s a will, there’ s a way,“ the note says. The identity of the person or group that sold the notes has not been made public. Nor has that of the buyer or buyers.

In 1950, Helena Rubinstein was one of the richest women in the world. She started with nothing. She had no money, no education, and no one to help her. All she had were 12 jars of face cream and a lot of energy and ambition. She turned them into a multimillion-dollar cosmetics (化妆品) empire. Helena Rubinstein was born in 1870 in Krakow, Poland. She was the oldest of eight girls. Helena’ s mother thought that beauty was very important. She used a special skin cream that a foreign chemist made for her. Helena’ s mother made all of her daughters use it too. Helena’ s father wanted her to be a doctor. But she hated medicine and left school. Her father was very angry. Then he wanted her to get married, but she refused. In 1992, she went to Melbourne, Australia, to live with a cousin and an uncle. She took only her clothes and 12 jars of face cream. Helena didn’t speak English. She had no money and no plans. After she arrived, everyone noticed her beautiful skin. In Australia, the hot and dry weather is very bad for the skin. When she told some of the women about the face cream, they all wanted some. Helena sold them her cream and then ordered more. Helena borrowed $ 1,500 and opened a shop to sell the cream. (80) She worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week. She lived simply and saved all of her profits. She also learned how to make different kinds of creams and showed women how to take care of their skin. It was the first shop of this kind in the world. In less than two years, Rubinstein had paid her loan and saved $ 50,000. She made more and more money every year. All this time, she thought only of work and success. A newspaper reporter named Edward Titus was in love with her. But she was not interested in him. She left Australia and went to Europe to learn more about the science of beauty.

Please don’t come here today. I would rather you______tomorrow. came will come come are coming

Tom and John seldom go to the library in the evening, ______? do they don’t they are they aren’t they

The key______success is hard work and persistence. on to for of

The train starts______6:20, so you’ d better get there before 6. on at in of

Beijing, as the capital of______People’ s Republic of China, enjoys______diverse range of people and cultures. the; the a; a the; a a; the

David left______raincoat in the room and went out. his him theirs them

This is by far______of the games I have ever watched. the exciting the more exciting the most exciting as exciting

Even if parents no longer live together, they each continue to be______for their children in the eye of the law. reluctant tough responsible modest

Hardly Athey had got Bto the bus stop Cwhen the bus suddenly Dpulled away.

The mountain Awas really very Bhigh, Cbut I Dtried hardly to climb it.

Dr. Bell Agave some lectures, Bvisited the Great Wall Cand going shopping downtown Din Beijing.

He was unable to give a cash tip, as a guest normally would.

She is more beautiful than______in the class. any girl any other girl all the girls any girls

______ it is very late now, the researchers are still working in the lab. As When If Although

Though Thomas is very busy, he______one evening a week to play with his kids. sets aside goes after sees through makes out

He does morning exercises every day______make himself strong. in order that in order to so that such that

The girl was not happy at the new school because she had______friends there. few a few little a little

Generally, snakes won’t attack humans______they are threatened with danger. if since unless while

According to Guinness World Records, the second oldest message was found______.

Which of the following is TRUE?

From the passage, we learn that______.

The word damp in Paragraph 4 is closet in meaning to______.

Which of the following is probably the best title for this passage?