After the Summer Olympics are over, when all the athletics have gone home and the television audience has switched off, another group of athletics and fans will arrive at the host city, and another competition will begin. These are the Paralympics, the games for athletes with a disability. But in Beijing in 2008, for the first time, one of the greatest Paralympics will not be taking part.
She is a British athlete by the name of Tanni Grey-Thormpson. Born with spine hifida (脊椎裂) which left her paralysed from the waist down. Tanni used a wheelchair from the age of 7. at first, she was not keen on sport, apart from horse-riding, which gave her a sense of freedom. But in her teens, she started taking sports more seriously. She tried swimming, basketball and tennis. Eventually she found athletics, and never looked back.
Indeed, Tanni's athletic career took off. In 1984, when she was 15, she pulled off a surprise victory in the 100metres at the Junior National Wheelchair Games.
In 1988, Tanni went to her first Paralympic Games in Seoul. She won bronze in the 400 metres. Even greater success followed at the 1992 Barcelona. Paralympics. Tanni won gold in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres relay, setting two world records in the process. In the same year she achieved she first of her six London Wheelchair Marathon victories.
Tanni's enduring success had been part motivation(动机), part preparation, "The training I do that enables me to be a good sprinter(短跑运动员) enables me to be good at a marathon too. I train 50 weeks of the year and that keeps me prepared for whatever distance I want to race…. I am still competing at a very high lever, but as I get older things get harder and I want to retire before I fall apart."
Indeed Tanni retired finally after the Visa Paralympic World Cup in 2007. Her wish is to coach young athletes for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
In spite of ups and downs, she never take her fate lying down. In her splendid life, she has won an amazing eleven gold medals, four silvers and one bronze in series of Paralympics- a top lever athletic career covering two decades. She has won the London Wheelchair Marathon six times, more than any other competitor, and she has set over thirty world records.
What advice does she have for young athletes? "Work hard at your studies, and then train, train and train again."
| 1． |
Which of the following sports did Tanni like before thirteen?
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| 2． |
When did Tanni win her first Olympic gold medal?
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| 3． |
The underlined word "that" in the 5th paragraph refers to.
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| 4． |
What's the right order of the events related to Tanni? a. She works as a coach. b. She took up athletics.
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| 5． |
What can we learn from Tanni's success?
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【原创】On Aug.11 shopper Jenni Ware bought 207 dollars' worth of groceries at Trader Joe's and when she was waiting to pay,she realized that she had lost her wallet.Carolee Hazard,who was in line behind her,offered to pay the bill!Jenni later sent Carolee a check for 300 dollars,and suggested that Carolee treat herself to a massage with the cash leftover.
Carolee turned to her online Facebook group for advice on what she should do with the 93 dollar gift.The idea Carolee chose was to give it to a local food bank.
Carolee not only sent in the money that Jenni had given her to Second Harvest Food Bank,but matched that amount herself.So did a Facebook friend.And another,and another.So far,over 10,000 dollars have come in from people in many countries to feed the hungry through local food banks.
Carolee has started the "93 Dollar Club" on Facebook,where people across the globe can read the story and comment on it.There are links on that page which people may use to give money to a food bank close to them.Carolee says,"It's been amazing to see this grow and how excited people are getting.I have told the story to my friends and they say it encourages them to do good immediately."
Carolee and Jenni are no longer strangers.They've become Facebook freinds and they've made a real_world connection that will likely stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Junni remembers that she was in a "bad mood" that day in the grocery store,and Carolee's help reminded her that there are good people in the world.Jenni said,"It's just a reminder that there are these amazingly kind people out there.And it also reminds me of hwo good I want to be."Why did Carolee offer to pay for the groceries?
| A．Carolee and jenni were Facebook friends. |
| B．Carolee wanted to set up the “93 Dollar club” |
| C．Jenni was Carolee’s neighbor. |
| D．Caroleewas always ready to help others. |
How much money did Carolee send in to Second Harvest Food Bank?
| A．＄93 | B．＄186 | C．＄207 | D．＄300 |
Caroleedry set up the “93 Dollar club” to_____
| A．Help people make Facebook friends |
| B．Make her story known to people across the globe |
| C．Call on people to donate money for hungry |
| D．Make herself known to the public |
It can be inferred from jenni’s words that ____
| A．She believes there are many kind people in the world |
| B．She does not believe in humanity |
| C．She doubts whether she can become a kind person |
| D．She believes Carolee will be her life-long friend |
An Australian film company has halted the preproduction of its upcoming film Deep Water because of eerie similarities the plot has to the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.
MH370 disappeared from radar screens less than an hour after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people on board on March 8.No confirmed sighting of the plane has been made since.
The action horror film, from Arclight Films, tells the story of a flight bound for China that mysteriously crashes in a remote stretch of ocean.The survivors then have to fight against hungry sharks as the plane is starting to sink.
“Out of sensitivity to the Malaysia flight situation，we’ve decided to put it on pause for now，”Arclight Films managing director Gary Hamilton told the Hollywood reporter Monday.
The news comes as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stated at a press conference that new analysis suggested the flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean，and that all those on board are now dead.
The eerily similar film plot had been promoted with the tagline (宣传词)：“Survivors of a plane crash face terror beyond imagination as the plane is starting to sink and soon discover they are surrounded by the deadliest natural born killers on earth.”
It’s not the first time Alister Grierson, the film’s director, has had a preference for film subjects of reallife disasters.Two weeks before the 2011 release of his best known film Sanctum, about an underwater cave diving expedition, Australia was hit by disastrous floods.
Grierson began preproduction on Deep Water at Village Roadshow Studios in Queensland weeks before the reallife incident of MH370.
The Queenslandbased filmmaker said he couldn’t deny the strange timing between his project and MH370.
Despite saying it was “mysterious” , he insists that his film is vastly different.
“In simple terms, Deep Water is about an accident that happens on an airplane which goes down in the ocean, and the survivors trying to stay alive afterwards.”
“It’s more complicated as there are villains (反面角色) and sharks, but it’s a fun adventure with thrills and scares. ”
It is unclear when the preproduction will restart, but it will be at least two years before the film makes it to cinemas.Why has the preproduction of Deep Water been stopped?
| A．Because MH370 mysteriously disappeared after takeoff on March 8. |
| B．Because the plot of the film is similar to the reallife incident of MH370. |
| C．Because Malaysian Prime Minister was very sensitive at a press conference. |
| D．Because the film won’t make it to cinemas until two years later. |
【改编】Which of the following statements about Alister Grierson is not wrong?
| A．He is a film director on the missing flight MH370. |
| B．He is keen on the film subjects of reallife disasters. |
| C．He is famous for his best film Deep Water. |
| D．He worked with Arclight Films to make Sanctum. |
The underlined word “eerie” in the first paragraph means “________”．
| A．strange | B．funny |
| C．deadly | D．sensitive |
Where will you most probably read this article?
| A．In a popular science magazine. |
| B．In Queensland Financial Daily. |
| C．In an entertainment special column. |
| D．In a disaster report of MH370. |
B
Many people take it for granted that black is a color of bad things while white should always mean something good. This may be because, in their opinion, black is related to darkness and white to purity. However, that is not always the case. Did you know that the same one color may mean differently in different places of the world?
In the Englishspeaking world, black is the color of mourning. People wear black clothes at the funeral. Red is concerned with danger or bloodshed (流血)．Yellow is the word for fear. If you are afraid, you are yellow. Yet none of these sayings is true outside the Englishspeaking world. In China and Korea white is the color of mourning. In Russia, China and some other countries, red stands for beauty, life and excellence. In Italy and Germany, you are yellow with anger, not with fear.
Even within the Englishspeaking area it is not difficult to find color contradictions (矛盾). A red cap in the United States is a porter in a railway station. In Britain, however, a red cap is a military policeman. Both names are logical because both men wear red caps. Similarly, the British term for an American white collar worker is sometimes called a blackcoated worker.
One does not have to cross an area to find color differences. Would you rather be redblooded or a blueblooded? If we go back to the origin, we find that both terms are logical as both names suggest. The expression “blue blood” comes from Spain, where some noble families proudly said that they had “blue blood”. Actually they meant that they had no Moorish or Jewish blood. But then why “blue” blood? Because they were fairskinned, and it is only natural that their blood vessels (血管) stood out appearing blue.Yellow is concerned with anger in ________.
| A．Russia | B．Britain |
| C．Germany | D．China |
The two meanings of the term “red cap” form a difference in ________.
| A．pronunciation | B．climate |
| C．logical relationship | D．custom |
【改编】Britain as well as America would probably agree that ________.
| A．black stands for the color of mourning |
| B．a blackcoated worker is employed in an office |
| C．red represents beauty and excellence |
| D．a red cap is a porter in a station |
The best title for this passage is “________”．
| A．The Origin of Blue Blood |
| B．The Development of the Symbolic Use of Colors |
| C．Colors That Carry Bad Meanings |
| D．The Meaning Concerned with Certain Colors |
English songs have been very popular for people around the world for many decades.Singers, from Elvis Presley to Ricky Martin, from the Beatles to Eminen and from Natalie Cole to Britney Spears, have all been sitting in everyone’s heart, even for people who don’t speak English. But will you have better English skills if you listen to English songs for a long time?
From my experiences, some people listen to English songs for 20－30 years but still haven’t accomplished any good English skills. Some people choose English songs to be the “main learning approach”， but most of them have failed.
Listening to English songs does not help you to speak English fluently. It does help you gain some vocabularies. Most of them are unusual ones that you don’t use in your everyday life. You won’t learn the sentence “It is a complicate project. We really need to meet the deadline.” in any English songs.
People like using English songs to practice English skills because it’s easy and enjoyable.They think that sitting in the car listening to English songs day by day can improve their English skills. It is not that actually.
You will not improve your listening skills because normal people don’t speak with melody (乐调). People don’t talk like Eminen’s songs (well, actually, some teenagers do). You can’t get yourself familiar with English pronunciation or accent just from listening to English songs. The words that they pronounce in the songs are not the words that you will hear in your everyday life.It often even confuses you more how English is pronounced.
I would fully encourage you to watch English movies, listen to radio news or other normal talks, but not music. Of course, you can consume it for fun but not the aim to improve your English skills.【改编】What’s the main idea of the passage?_____
| A．How English songs aid people with practicing English skills. |
| B．Where people can find good English songs to practise their English skills |
| C．Why people are not willing to develop their English by listening to English songs. |
| D．Who has made English songs popular throughout the world. |
【改编】English songs are beneficial to English learners if they hope to ________.
| A．adapt to express themselves in daily life |
| B．enlarge their vocabularies |
| C．improve their listening skills |
| D．speak English fluently |
【改编】what can we conclude from the text ? ________.
| A．English songs get people familiar with English pronunciation or accent |
| B．watching English movies or listening to radio news can be great helpful to English learners |
| C．worldfamous singers have done a lot to help people learn English |
| D．most people who listen to English songs in their car speak English very well |
【改编】A few years ago, I was on a plane with my friend, waiting for it to take off. The pilot’s voice was heard throughout the plane: “Sorry for the delay, ladies and gentlemen. Our engines don’t work. We are going to jump-start them. Once we get them going, we’ll get up in the air and see what happens.”
That was all he said. “See what happens?” Shouldn’t we have had a better plan than that? At that point. I could only laugh nervously. One woman started crying, “Oh no! We are going to crash!’’ There were sighs of hopelessness and anxiety, and we hadn’t even taken off yet.
The pilot even seemed unhappy. He told us our one engine was working double time, and his plan was to get up in the air and see what happens! Then we did. We got up in the air, and what happened? Nothing. We arrived in Norfolk, and no sooner had the wheels touched down than applause burst out as everyone on the airplane breathed a sigh of relief.
While I do prefer planning better than “see what happens” when it comes to flying, it really isn’t such a bad idea for life.All too often, people stop trying to achieve their goals just because they don’t have a guaranteed result. But success will never be guaranteed. The best thing that you can do is just get up in the air, and see what happens. If your effort is to build a business then get up in the air and see what happens! Don’t give yourself all the reasons why you can’t. Do not wait until you have everything you need. You never will!
If your goal is to start a friendship, say “Hello”, get up in the air and see what happens! The results could be very rewarding.
If your goal is to learn a new skill, get up in the air and see what happens! It might not be as difficult as your think. It could be fun!
When traveling, i hope that my pilot has a more detailed plan than “we will see what happens” . But in life, it is not a bad strategy at all.What was the pilot’s attitude toward the situation?
| A．Disappointed and panicked |
| B．Surprised and honest |
| C．Comforting and encouraging |
| D．Hesitant and weak. |
What was the passengers’ reaction when they arrived in Norfolk ?
| A．They were thankful and relieved. |
| B．They cheered for the pilot’s correct operation. |
| C．They complained that the plane was not safe enough |
| D．They just walked off the plane as if nothing had happened. |
What can we know from the passage?
| A．The plane was delayed because of its wheels. |
| B．The plane arrived at the airport safely. |
| C．It was a terrible journey for the author. |
| D．Most of the passengers remained calm on hearing the bad news |
What is the main idea of this article ?
| A．“we will see what happens” is not a good plan for pilots |
| B．Try to have everything prepared before you do something |
| C．When you want to do something, you have to actually do it . |
| D．Never stop chasing your goals even if they are certain to fail |