Study Buddy (Explorer): ‘Useless Edison’ denies retirement rumours
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Inventor Geng Shuai, known for his viral creations, has denied claims that he has retired. Photo: SCMP composite/YouTube/SohuContent provided by British Council
[1] An inventor in rural China known as “Useless Edison” is rumoured to have retired because he has “made too much money”. The investor has been missing from his social media platforms for five months. Shougong Geng, or Handy Geng, denied the rumour on October 21. He said he was “dissatisfied” with the things he made and promised to release videos soon.
[2] The 36-year-old was known by his real name, Geng Shuai, for the first thirty years of his life. After dropping out of school at 16, he left his village in northern China’s Hebei province. He went on to become a migrant worker in Beijing.
[3] Geng worked on construction sites, repaired houses and sold mobile phones. He even welded rails for the Beijing-Shijiazhuang high-speed railway. Welding is a process that puts metal parts together by heating the material. He learned how to weld from his blacksmith father. His father believed his children should settle down with a stable job. Shuai said he was bored with his life. He began posting his steelwork inventions online in 2018.
[4] He became famous after many of his “useless inventions” went viral. One of his most classic creations was a mobile barbecue cart/piano. The user could play the piano and make meat skewers at the same time. Another was a steel forehead flicker. Geng said it could “power up weak people’s middle fingers” when they tried to play a harmless joke with their friends. It is a bestseller among the four items on sale at his online shop. It costs 189 yuan (US$27). One buyer said it could make a watermelon explode.
[5] Another video featured Geng on a treadmill trapped in a cage. The cage would only open after a set time had passed. This forced users to complete their exercise goals. An online follower said that he enjoyed Geng’s inventions because “it is comforting to see something useless in a world where everything has to be of some use”.
[6] Rumours about his retirement began after Geng said in an August interview that he had “made too much money that his knowledge and mind cannot control”. Geng did not disclose his income in that interview. However, according to a mainland social media marketing agency, Guangeryi, he charged up to 650,000 yuan (US$91,000) for each advertisement. Geng has nearly 20 million followers on several social media platforms combined.
Source: South China Morning Post, October 28
Questions
1. What is the real name of “Useless Edison” according to paragraphs 1 and 2?
A. Shougong Geng
B. Handy Geng
C. Geng Shuai
D. Shuai Geng
2. According to paragraph 3, who taught Geng to weld?
___________________________________________________
3. What can users do with the mobile barbecue cart/piano in paragraph 4?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. In paragraph 5, the purpose of the cage around the treadmill is to …
A. protect the treadmill.
B. decorate it.
C. prevent people from using it.
D. force users to finish their workout.
5. Which sentence is grammatically correct?
A. The steel forehead flicker can make a watermelon explode.
B. The steel forehead flicker can make exploded a watermelon.
C. Steel forehead flicker can makes watermelon explodes.
D. Steel forehead flicker can make a watermelon to explode.
6. Complete the following summary using the word “invents”, “inventor” or “inventions”. (3 marks)
Geng Shuai is a talented (i) _____. He (ii) _____ all sorts of things, from musical barbecue carts to caged treadmills. Although some people might think his (iii) _____ are useless, many find them very interesting.
Answers
1. C
2. his father
3. They can play piano and make meat skewers at the same time.
4. D
5. A
6. (i) inventor; (ii) invents; (iii) inventions