四、閱讀測驗【請依照段落上下文意,選出最適當的答案】
There have been a lot of silly lawsuits in the past, but Anton Purisima’s definitely takes the cake. After he was bitten by a
dog on a bus and had his photo taken without permission during treatment for that bite, Anton, 62, decided to sue New York
City for two undecillion dollars. Written out, it looks like this: US$2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That’s
more money than that held by every person and nation on the planet combined. Anton wrote the 22-page lawsuit out by hand
and said that no amount of money could meet his listed demands and settle his grievances. Well, apparantly two undecillion
dollars is a good enough start. Anton has jumped right to the top of the ridiculous lawsuit rankings with his legal action. The one that started it all was
Stella Liebeck’s lawsuit against McDonald’s. She accidentally spilled a cup of coffee in her lap, and suffered third-degree burns.
She ended up being awarded around US$500,000. Another amusing lawsuit is the case brought against the Warner Bros.studio
by the mayor of a Turkish city called Batman. The mayor said there is only one Batman in the world, and it’s his city. Warner
Bros., of course, owns the rights to the popular Batman movies that star Christian Bale. There is one more to marvel at. In 2004,
a woman decided to sue a shopping center because she was attacked by a squirrel in the parking lot outside. According to the
woman, the shopping center encouraged the squirrel and didn’t warn customers properly that “squirrels live outside sometimes.”
Crazy lawsuits such as these are both funny and sad. As for Anton Purisima’s case, even if he wins, all one can say is good
luck for collecting.
【題組】49. What did a Turkish mayor accuse the Warner Bros. studio of doing?
(A) Modeling the character Batman on him.
(B) Letting Christian Bale play the role of Batman.
(C) Producing Batman movies without giving him credit.
(D) Using his city’s name without permission.