Millions of people across the world everyday hold up their cameras to snap selfies to share with their friends. But according to new data, more people have died taking selfies than have been killed by sharks this year.

So far in 2015, a total of 12 people are known to have suffered selfie-related deaths after either falling or being struck by a moving vehicle when taking a picture of themselves. However, according to data provided by Mashable, only eight people are known to have been killed by a shark.

Experts believe the rise in selfie-related deaths could be down to the fact that people are more willing to put themselves in dangerous situations, such as with animals or posing from great heights, to impress friends on social media. This has forced wildlife parks to close as officials were concerned about people wanting to take selfies with wild bears.

Australian tourist Kristi Kafcaloudious fell 200 metres to her death while trying to take pictures near a rock face in Norway. A Singaporean tourist was drowned while attempting to take a selfie off the coast of Bali and another tourist was also killed in a Spanish town as he tried to take a picture during a bull run. In May, a teenager in the Ryazan region died while attempting to take a selfie as he climbed on a railway bridge and accidentally came into contact with live wires.

This led to the Russian interior ministry to issue a road sign-style leaflet and video warning that taking a “cool selfie could cost you your life.” Among the advice is not taking a self portrait with a gun or posing alone in front of a lion. 

Yelena Alexeyeva, an aide to the interior minister, said: “Unfortunately we have noted recently that the number of accidents caused by lovers of self-photography is constantly increasing. Since the beginning of the year we are talking about some hundred cases of injuries for sure.” 

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1.What is mainly talked about in the passage?

A A number of people have been killed by sharks so far.

B People like to take selfies in spite of danger.

C Officials want to ban people from taking self portraits.

D The number of selfie-related deaths is increasing.

解析：选D。D 主旨大意题。根据文章第一段可知，文章主要介绍了因为自拍丧生的人数在增加的情况。

2.What can we infer from the passage?

A Social media has become a place to show one’s confidence.

B People love animals very much and want to be close to them.

C Many people love taking pictures in dangerous situations.

D The number of people taking selfies will come down in Russia.

解析：选A。A 推理判断题。根据文章第三段第一句... people are more willing to put themselves in dangerous situations...可知，人们在危险的背景下自拍，然后传到社交网站，以此获得网友的点赞，获得好的印象。由此判断，很多人把社交网站当作展示自信的地方。

3.What did people want to impress their friends with the selfie?

A They were not afraid of getting drowned.

B They were courageous to climb the railway bridge.

C They didn’t fear falling 200 meters from the rock.

D They were brave enough to touch the live wires.

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据文章第四段可知，人们为了在社交网站上炫耀自己勇敢，甘愿冒很大的危险，爬上铁路大桥堪称壮举，这个自拍肯定给网友留下深刻的印象，而溺水（A项），坠下山崖（C项），触电线（D项）都是在作死，而不是勇敢。

4.What is the author’s real purpose of writing this passage?

A To tell people that taking a selfie can cost you your life.

B To prevent selfie lovers from taking impressive pictures.

C To warn selfie lovers not to take risks when taking pictures.

D To prove that people are strongly influenced by social media.

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。根据文章中的unfortunately, suffered, killed, increasing, cost you your life等词汇或短语可知，文章介绍了自拍有时要付出代价，由此判断，作者警告自拍爱好者，不要为了在社交网站上炫耀勇气而去冒险。