Abandon any notion of surviving the apocalypse by doing anything as boringly obvious as running for the highest hill, or eating cockroaches. The American firm Vivos is now offering you the chance to meet global catastrophe (caused by terrorism, tsunami, earthquake, volcano, pole shift, Iran, "social anarchy", solar flare - a staggering list of potential world-murderers are considered) in style.
Vivos is building 20 underground "assurance of life" resorts across the US, capable of sustaining up to 4,000 people for a year when the earth no longer can. The cost? A little over £32,000 a head, plus a demeaning-sounding screening test that determines whether you are able to offer meaningful contribution to the continuation of the human race. Company literature posits, gently, that "Vivos may prove to be the next Genesis", and they are understandably reluctant to flub the responsibility.
Should you have the credentials and the cash, the rewards of a berth in a Vivos shelter seem high. Each staffed complex has a decontamination shower and a jogging machine; a refrigerated vault for human DNA and a conference room with wheely chairs. There are TVs and radios, flat-screen computers, a hospital ward, even a dentist's surgery ready to serve those who forgot to pack a toothbrush in the hurry. "Virtually any meal" can be cooked from a stockpile of ingredients that includes "baked potato soup" but, strangely, no fish, tinned or otherwise. Framed pictures of mountain ranges should help ease the loss of a world left behind.
Vivos says it has already received 1,000 applications.
How long do the rest of us have to decide? "Nobody knows" when disaster will strike but Vivos takes a shot at guessing, sourcing clues from Nostradamus, the Bible and Native American lore to suggest 2019, 2029 and 2036 as danger years. But the real fear is for 21 December 2012, a date forecast for doom by the Mayans and towards which a countdown clock on Vivos's website ticks.
We ought not to get too comfy over the next couple of years either: President Obama's recent warnings about nuclear terrorism proved "timely", a Vivos spokesperson told the Observer. "Doomsday may be closer than many would otherwise like to believe..."
It's warning enough. £32,000? Check. Carpentry skills? Check. Jogging bottoms? Check. Good luck in the hills.
以上就是今天的托福閱讀材料，讀著這些有趣的小文章來鞏固練習閱讀能力，是不是學起來格外有勁呢？
更多出國考試資訊可，或者撥打咨詢熱線0592-2971660
指導老師
- 姓 名：洪美陽
- 所在地點： 廈門市鷺江道100號輪渡財富中心3層01-03室
- 擅長課程： 雅思，托福，SAT
- 聯(lián)系電話：0592-2971660電子郵箱：bettyhong@shinyway
名師簡介
背景：托福/雅思口語/閱讀專家、高級教師資格、專業(yè)八級。從事出國語言考試培訓4年，對托福雅思考試有著自己成熟且獨特的教學方法。解題思路清晰，方法獨到，講解透徹，準確把握考試動態(tài)，善于引導學生總結學習方法和解題技巧，在短時間內迅速提高學生的英語成績。
教授科目：托福雅思閱讀/寫作
授課風格：做事認真、富有親和力、受到廣大學生的歡迎
學員評價：授課耐心，有條理、亦師亦友
