One day last September, as Britney Spears was about to board a flight to Los Angeles from

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, Rite Aid, 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

51-55 BDCAC

51. 答案B。细节信息题。从第1段的大写部分“…POP PRINCESS SPOTTED AT AIRPORT WITH POT OF SLIMMING TABLETS.”可以知道B选项是正确答案。

52. 答案D。细节信息题。根据第1段的 “Zantrex-3 is also sold at CVS, Rite Aid, Wal-Mart, and other chains,”以及第2段的“…so do the people who sell Stacker 2 and Anorex along with those who sell Carb Eliminator and Fat Eliminator.”可以知道D选项是正确答案。

53. 答案C。理解句子结构及推测词义题。从It hit the U.S. market last March and has had a success that would be hard to overstate. 的前半部分可以知道Zantrex-3是美国市场很畅销的减肥类商品；根据构词法可以知道后半部分的overstate有“夸张、夸大事实”的意思，而would be hard to overstate可以理解为“难以夸张、夸大”的意思，因此划线部分的意思可以直译为“难以夸大/夸张的成功”或理解为“怎么夸张都不过份的成功”，C选项所含有的句型can not…too亦是此意。

54. 答案A。从第2段的1、2、3句可以知道A选项是正确答案，其他选项均与文章的信息不一致。

55. 答案C。A选项只包含了文章的部分信息；B选项侧重Zantrex-3获得成功的方式，而文章并没有这方面的信息；D选项与文章中的信息相反；从整体来看，文章是以Zantrex-3为引子，引出减肥或瘦身类商品当今在美国很流行的话题，即第1段是引入，第2段开始切入主题，第2段的第2句可以看做是主题句。C选项与主题句的意思一致，因此应该是该题的答案。