Liu Xiang, a 21-year-old Chinese athlete, got the gold medal of the fascinating men’s 110m hurdles before a crowd of 70,000 at the Olympic Stadium in the 28th Olympics in Athens late Friday local time. He clocked an excellent 12.91 seconds to equal the world record set by Britain’s Collin Jackson in 1993.
It is the first gold Chinese men’s athlete has ever won from the track and field in the Olympics history. China has won over 100 gold medals from the summer Olympic Games since 1984 but its male athletes only got one medal from Olympics’ most popular sport, the track and field.
The Shanghai native, with his father a truck driver and mother an out-of-work housewife, loved sports when he was very little. Liu was selected to the Junior Sports School of Putuo District of Shanghai to practice jumping as a fourth grader in the primary school. But after a bone test showing that he will not be able to become a tall man, Liu was asked to give up sports one year later, although he had won the national champion at that level.
In 1998 when he attracted coach Sun Haiping’s attention as a 15-year-old jumper, Sun was a well-known hurdle coach and he believed a star was born at the first sight of Liu. He visited Liu’s parents several times and finally persuaded them to let Liu transfer to the 110m hurdles.
After only three years, Liu launched his career in style in the IAAF Grand Prix in Lausanne in 2001 by breaking the world youth and Asian record with a time of 13.12.
But the first warning he sent to the world was his bronze-winning feat（战绩）at the world indoor championships in Birmingham, England, last year.
In 2004, Liu won the silver in the world indoor championships in Budapest in March. Two months later, he proved the winner in a race against American great Allen Johnson in the IAAF Grand Prix in Osaka, Japan, where he clocked a new Asian record and world’s season best time of 13.06 seconds.
He went on to win two Johnson-absent races in Lille, France, on June 26 and Zagreb, Croatia, three days later. He put up an exciting show at the Golden Gala meet in Rome on July 3, when he and Johnson clocked an identical time of 13.11. Race officials had to examine a photo finish to declare Johnson the winner. Liu did a better job of clearing the hurdles than Johnson, but Johnson’s stronger start ended up making the difference. The race boosted（提高） Liu’s optimism(乐观) for the Olympics, although Johnson bettered his season best time by 0.01 second in Lausanne, Switzerland, on July 6.
The world has put the Olympics a Johnson-Liu duel but surprisingly Johnson crashed out of the Games after falling at the ninth hurdle at round 2. Johnson’s early exit paved the way for Liu’s win. He finally took the gold medal and put a Chinese man’s name on the record book.
(chinadaily.com.cn /Xinhua) Updated:2004-08-28 02:57
1. According to Paragraph One, which of the following is TRUE?
A. Liu Xiang is the fastest of the mentioned athletes.
B. Liu Xiang has set a new world record in the event of the men’s 110m hurdles.
C. Both Liu Xiang and Jackson got a gold medal at the Athens Olympics.
D. In the Olympics history, Liu Xiang is the fastest in this event.
2. Before the 28th Olympics in Athens, .
A. no Chinese athlete got a gold medal from the track and field at the Olympics
B. there was already a Chinese male medal winner in the track and field at the Olympics
C. Terrence Trammell got a gold medal from the men’s hurdles at the Sydney Olympics
D. Zhu Jianhua got a bronze medal from the men’s hurdles in the 1984 Los Angeles Games
3. In the last paragraph, the underlined word “duel” most probably means “ ”.
A. competition B. friendship C. partner D. company
4. From the passage, we can conclude that .
A. Liu Xiang had no gift for jumping when he was a little boy
B. Liu Xiang set a new world youth record when he was 17 years old
C. Liu Xiang has succeeded because of his coach Sun
D. Johnson might have won the gold medal if he had not dropped out
Welcome to the British Museum, the grandest and the most spectacular of human history. The admission is free and we open every day from 10:00 to 15:30. You can explore 10 departments including:
The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas
The collection of the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americasincludes around 350,000 objects. The scope of the collection is contemporary, and historical.It includes most of Africa, the Pacific and Australia,as well as the Americas. All of the collections were got during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and date from this time.
The Department of Asia
The Department of Asia covers the material and visual cultures of Asia – a vast geographical area of Japan, Korea, China, Central Asia, Afghanistan, South Asia and South-East Asia. The collection dates from about 4000 BC, to the present day. It representsthe cultures and ways oflife of local people and other minority groups.
The Department of Greek and Roman Empires
The Department of Greek and Roman Empires features antiquities (古董). It has one of the most comprehensive collections of antiquities from the Classical world, with over 100,000 objects. These mostly range in date from the beginning of the Greek Bronze Age (about 3200BC) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine in the fourth century AD.
69. The scope of the Department of Africa, Oceania and Americas doesn’t include______.
A. Africa B. Australia C. the South America D. Britain
70. The earliest collection is from ______.
A. The Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas
B. The Department of Asia
C. The Department of Greek and Roman Empires
D. All of the above
71. The Department of Asia represents ______.
A. the geographic features of Asia
B. the relationships between Asian countries
C. the life styles and cultural traditions of some peoples
D. the cultural fights between some native groups
Section B
Directions: Read the following four passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A,B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
In our culture, the sources of what we call a sense of “mastery” — feeling important and worthwhile — and the sources of what we call a sense of “pleasure”— finding life enjoyable — are not always the same. Women often are told “You can’t have it all.” Sometimes what the speaker really is saying is: “You choose a career, so you can’t expect to have closer relationships or a happy family life.” or “You have a wonderful husband and children — what’s all this about wanting a career?” But women need to understand and develop both aspects of well-being, if they are to feel good about themselves.
Our study shows that, for women, well-being has two aspects. One is mastery, which includes self-respect, a sense of control over your life, and low levels of anxiety and depression. Mastery is closely related to the “doing” side of life, to work and activity. Pleasure is the other aspect, and it is made up of happiness, satisfaction and optimism. It is tied more closely to the “feeling” side of life. The two are independent of each other. A woman could be high in mastery and low in pleasure, and vice versa（反之亦然）. For example, a woman who has a good job, but whose mother has just died, might be feeling very good about herself and in control of her work life, but the pleasure side could be damaged for a time.
The concepts of mastery and pleasure can help us identify the sources of well-being for women, and correct past mistakes. In the past, women were encouraged to look only at the feeling side of life as the source of all well-being. But we know that both mastery and pleasure are important. And mastery seems to be achieved largely through work. In our study, all the groups of employed women were valued significantly higher in mastery than women who were not employed.
A woman’s well-being is developed when she takes on multiple roles. At least by middle adulthood, the women who were involved in a combination of roles — marriages, motherhood, and employment — were the highest in well-being, in spite of warnings about stress and strain.
65. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that ________.
A. for women, a sense of “mastery” is more important than a sense of “pleasure”
B. for women, a sense of “pleasure” is more important than a sense of “mastery”
C. women can’t have a sense of “mastery” and a sense of “pleasure” at the same time
D. a sense of “mastery” and a sense of “pleasure” are both necessary to women
66. The author’s attitude towards women having a career is________.
A. negative B. positive C. indifferent D. realistic
67. One can conclude from the passage that if a woman takes on several social roles, ________.
A. it will be easier for her to overcome stress and strain
B. she will be more successful in her career
C. her chances of getting promoted will be greater
D. her life will be richer and more meaningful
68. Which of the following can be considered as a source of “pleasure” for women?
A. Family life B. Multiple roles in society
C. Regular employment D. Freedom from anxiety
A new study says one part of the human brain may become smaller as the result of a condition known as jet lag. Jet lag results from flying long distances in an airplane. Jet lag interferes with a person's normal times for sleeping and waking. People with jet lag may feel extremely tired for several days. They also may have problems thinking clearly and remembering.
Kwangwook Cho is a researcher at the University of Bristol in Britain. He reported the findings of his jet lag study in the publication Nature Neuroscience.
The study involved twenty young women who worked for international airlines. The women had served passengers on airplanes for five years. These flight attendants flew across many countries and at least seven time zones. In the study, the flight attendants had different amounts of time to recover from jet lag. Half the women spent five days or fewer in their home areas between long flights. The other half spent more than fourteen days in their home areas.
Mister Cho took some fluid from the women's mouths to measure levels of a hormone that increases during stress. He tested them to see if they could remember where black spots appeared on a computer screen. And he took pictures of their brains using magnetic resonance imaging. This is a way to measure the size of the brain's temporal lobes（颞叶）.
It was found that the women who had less time between flights had smaller right temporal lobes. This area of the brain deals with recognizing and remembering what is seen. The same group performed worse and had slower reaction times on the visual memory test. And their saliva samples showed higher levels of stress hormones.
Mister Cho says he believes the brain needs at least ten days to recover after a long trip. He says airline workers told him their ability to remember got worse after working on planes for about four years. Other studies have shown that increased feelings of stress can cause a loss of cells in the part of the brain that controls memory.
Scientists say more tests are needed to study the effects of jet lag on the brain. They want to find out if too much jet lag could permanently affect memory.
72. According to the text, jet lag _____.
A. can cause difficulties in speaking
B. can make people feel tired for a few weeks
C. is the illness only found in people who work on the airplanes
D. can be caused by flying over several time zones in an airplane
73. It is inferred that more tests need to be done because _____.
A. the conclusion was questioned by many scientists
B. scientists fear that his research is not done properly
C. every scientific conclusion needs the support from many tests
D. the woman who were studied in the research were not healthy
74. Which of the following statements is TRUE about the research results?
A. Women who have a longer rest at home show better memory.
B. Women who fly in short time had smaller right temporal lobes.
C. Women who have longer flights failed the memory test.
D. Women who rest more than 14 days produced less hormones.
75. What is the subject discussed in the test?
A. The cause of jet lag.
B. A story of a group of flight attendance.
C. A research about the effects of jet lag on the brain.
D. The importance of having enough rest after long flights.
The Channel is the name given to the stretch of water which separates England and France. Ferries operate all year round to carry people across the Channel, and they are busy most of the year. January is the only quiet month nowadays. As well as summer holiday-makers, there are day trippers and coach traffic, not to mention lorries and other commercial vehicles. Some ferries carry cars and their passengers, while others also connect train passengers with the Continental rail network.
The biggest hazard for the ferry is the wind. The crew listens to BBC weather reports four times a day. Or they sometimes get gale warnings from local radio station.
Crossing the Channel by ferry is a bit like trying to cross Oxford Street on a busy afternoon, according to one ferryboat captain. The ferries from Folkstone and Dover to Calais and Boulogne have to cross the main flow of traffic. This consists of ships traveling through the Channel to and from Northern Europe. There may be four hundred ships making the journey at any one time, and they all pass through a “choke point” which is only fifteen miles (twenty-five kilometers) wide. The cross-channel ferries have to sail right through the middle of all this traffic.
68. The passage is mainly concerned with _____.
A. the English Channel B. the weather on the Channel
C. cross-channel ferries D. what crossing the Channel by ferry is like
69. The word hazard is closest in meaning to ________.
A. trouble B. danger C. enemy D. problem
70. We can infer from the passage that _______.
A. if there is a gale warning from the BBC, the ferries will stop operating.
B. the traffic on the Channel is very busy only in winter
C. ferries are busiest in the afternoon
D. the crew of the ferry listens to the weather reports four times a day
71. Where does this passage most probably appear?
A. In a dictionary. B. In a novel.
C. In a transportation magazine. D. In a geography textbook.
Section B
Directions: Read the following four passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
Just before midnight, six University of Cincinnati students were watching TV in an on-campus apartment when three men burst through the door. While one of the intruders pointed a gun at the group, the other two scooped up $4,400 worth of laptops, cell phones, video games and cash. Once they had what they wanted, the trio fled into the night.
Furious, the students chased down and tackled one of the burglars -- the one with the gun. In the struggle, it went off, and a bullet grazed a student's leg. His friends piled on the gunman and held him until police showed up.
By the next day, the injured young man was back in his apartment, and the suspect was in jail, charged with burglary, felonious assault and receiving stolen property. But how did the men manage to storm into an on-campus residence that November night in the first place? Simple: Students told police the building's main doors hadn't latched properly for days.
As parents confront ballooning college costs and shrinking acceptance rates, they are finding themselves with an even bigger, more basic problem: Which campuses are safe? Colleges seem like idyllic and secure places, and for the most part, they are. But ivy-covered walls can't keep out every bad element. This country's 6,000 colleges and universities report some 40,000 burglaries, 3,700 forcible sex offenses, 7,000 aggravated assaults and 48 murders a year. Other hazards -- fires, binge-drinking, mental-health problems -- are also on the rise.
Of course, that's not what parents and students see on America's serene campuses. There's a false sense of security, says Harry Nolan, a safety consultant in New York City. "Students see guards patrolling at night or a video camera monitoring the dorm entrance and think, Nothing bad can happen to me," he explains. "People don't know that safety controls are often very lax."
65. What did the students do after the burglars fled into the night?
A. They stood there in surprise. B. They ran after the burglars at once.
C. They waited for the police. D. They phoned their teacher.
66. What does the underlined word “latched” in the third paragraph probably mean?
A. watched B. fixed C. locked D. kept
67. What worries parents most except ballooning college costs and shrinking acceptance rates?
A. Their children’s grades in the universities or colleges.
B. Their children’s safety in the universities or colleges.
C. Their children’s behavior in the universities or colleges.
D. Their children’s relationship with classmates in the universities or colleges.