Question

For the past two years, 8-year-old Harli Jordean from Stoke Newington, London, has been selling marbles(弹珠).His successful marble company, Marble King, sells all things marble-related—from affordable tubs of the glass playthings to significantly expensive items like Duke of York solitaire（独粒宝石）tables—sourced, purchased and processed by the mini-CEO himself.
“I like having my own company. I like being the boss,” Harli told The Mirror.
With profits now in the thousands, “the world's youngest CEO” has had to get his mother and older brothers to help him meet the growing demand.
Harli launched Marble King after swapping（交换）marbles at school led to schoolchildren depleting(削减) his marble collection. Yes, he literally（确切地）“lost his marbles.” Harli and his mother, Tina, turned to the Internet to find replacements.
Harli saw an empty space online: the marbles he wanted were hard to find. Within months, Harli had his own marble-selling website and orders started pouring in.
Tina says her son's obsession(迷恋) with marbles started when he was just 6.
“His obsession became so big we started calling him the Marble King, so when he wanted to set up a website it was the natural name for it，” she told The Sun.
“I never thought it would become so popular—we are struggling to cope with the number of orders at times.”
The 8-year-old boy has his sights set on expanding his business and launching his own brand of marbles.
“Sometimes his ideas are so grand we have to scale them back a bit. But his dream is still to own Britain's biggest marble shop and open stores around the world.” Tina told The Daily Mail.
“At the minute he is annoying me by asking about creating his won Marble King marbles, so that could well be the next step for him.”

1. 1.
   Why did Harli's marble company become popular as soon as he launched it?
   1. A.
      Because it was run by “the world's youngest CEO”.
   2. B.
      Because it filled the gaps of marble business.
   3. C.
      Because Harli was fascinated with marble collection.
   4. D.
      Because his mother and brothers helped him a lot.
2. 2.
   How many mass media are mentioned in the passage?
   1. A.
      One.
   2. B.
      Two.
   3. C.
      Three.
   4. D.
      Four.
3. 3.
   Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined expression “scale back”？
   1. A.
      make smaller
   2. B.
      carry out
   3. C.
      turn down
   4. D.
      frighten away
4. 4.
   What message do the last two paragraphs carry?
   1. A.
      Conflicts often occur between Harli Jordean and his family.
   2. B.
      Harli's mother and brothers are worried about Marble King's future.
   3. C.
      Marble King marbles will be more popular with marble fans around the world.
   4. D.
      The “Marble King” has great ambitions for his Marble King Company.

Answer 1

BCAD
文章解释了Harli和他的弹珠王国。
1.B 推断题。第五段第一行Harli saw an empty space online: the marbles he wanted were hard to find.可知网上很难找到弹珠，所以他的店弥补了这一空白。
2.C 细节题。第二段the Mirror.倒数第五段The Sun；倒数第二段The Daily Mail.
3.A 猜测词义题。由前面的grand盛大的，可知Harli的想法有时候过于大胆，他们不得不减小一点。所填的词与grand是反义词。
4.主旨大意题。由最后两段的内容可知。