This time there was no showboating for the cameras — or dark and long nights of the soul. Instead, on a heart-warming afternoon at the Genting Snow Park, the Winter Olympics witnessed the greatest story in its history.
For 16 years Lindsey Jacobellis has been known as the snowboarder who was miles clear of the Turin 2006 Olympics board cross final — until she fell on the last jump while showing off by taking a celebratory grab (抓取) of her board. It was an act that turned gold into silver, and led to her spending years trying to process what had happened. Yet somehow, in her fifth Olympics, the woman sprang a considerable shock by finally winning a gold medal at the age of 36.
For good measure, her gold in the snowboard cross was also her nation’s first of these Games. As Jacobellis motored towards the finish in the final, she could hear the French boarder Chloé Trespeuch closing. But this time she wasn’t going to let gold slip away. Afterwards she acknowledged that without that mistake in 2006 she may never have won gold in Beijing. “ Probably not, and I probably would have quit the sport at that point because I wasn’t really having fun with it. There was so much pressure on me to be the golden girl. I’d won so many races going into it and it’s a lot for a young athlete to have on their plate, ” she said.
But this day was mostly about Jacobellis, a five-time snowboard cross world champion, who finally secured the first prize. Afterwards she said that when she got to the start line of the final, she felt unusually calm. She said, “ They can keep talking about it all they want. Because it really shaped me into the person that I am. It kept me hungry and really helped me to keep fighting in the sport. ”
1. What does the author mainly want to convey in Paragraph 1?| A．There were dark and long nights in the winter of Beijing. |
| B．There was a champion born in the Beijing Winter Olympics. |
| C．There was a heart-warming story happening in the boating race. |
| D．There was the greatest photo taken in the competition in 2022. |
| A．She fell on her last jump as grabbing her board to celebrate. |
| B．She had a mental disorder during her board cross competition. |
| C．She had her leg broken while training before the competition. |
| D．She was forbidden to join in the competition for some reason. |
| A．Warm-hearted. | B．Strong-minded. |
| C．Well-educated. | D．Born-gifted. |
| A．To stress the power of social media. | B．To mark an experience of an athlete. |
| C．To show the importance of not giving up. | D．To share the greatest joy with others. |
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【推荐1】I love football. I started playing football when I was nine years old. It helped make me who I am today. And even though I did not reach the National Football League, I sometimes think I got more from pursuing (追求) that dream. My romance with football started when my dad dragged me, kicking and screaming, to make me join a league. I had no desire to be there. I was naturally weak and the smallest kid by far. Fear turned to awe (敬畏) when I met my coach, Jim Graham, a huge guy. And he is really strict and old-school.
Coach Graham used to train me hard. I remember one practice in particular. “You’re doing it all wrong, Pausch. Go back! Do it again!” I tried to do what he wanted. It wasn’t enough. “You owe me. Pausch! You’re doing push-ups after practice.”
When I was finally dismissed, one of the assistant coaches came up to me. “Coach Graham trained you pretty hard, didn’t he?” he said.
“Yeah.”
“That’s a good thing,” the assistant told me. “When you’re doing the bad and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you.”
That conversation has influenced me in my whole life. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s willing to tell you anymore, that’s a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics (批评者) are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better.
There’s a lot of talk these days about giving children self-esteem (自尊). It’s not something you can give; it’s something they have to build. Coach Graham knew there was really only one way to teach kids how to develop it: You give them something they can’t do, and they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process
When Coach Graham first got hold of me, I was that weak kid with no skills and no physical strength. But he made me realize that if I work hard enough, there will be things I can do tomorrow and that I can’t do today. I really felt grateful to Coach Graham for what he had done to me, though it surely didn’t feel good at that time to do so many push-ups after practice.
1. Which words can best describe Coach graham?| A．Strict and mean. | B．Big and proud |
| C．Strict and wise. | D．Careful and strong. |
| A．make fun of you | B．encourage you to do better |
| C．think ill of you | D．give up on you |
| A．made him a member of NFL |
| B．made him do lots of push-ups |
| C．taught him the importance of playing football |
| D．taught him the value of hard work |
| A．Behind bad luck comes good luck. |
| B．Never offer to teach fish to swim. |
| C．No pains, no gains. |
| D．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
【推荐2】My PhD adviser informed me I had failed my qualifying exam at my third attempt, which meant the dismissal (开除)from the program. How was it possible that one exam — one hour of my life — could define me as unfit to be a scientist?
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started my PhD program. I struggled with my classes during my first year, spending countless hours studying in the library. I ended that year with increased confidence. But soon my confidence went away when I made my first attempt at the qualifying exam. I had switched research projects 5 months earlier, after my first adviser left the university, so I wasn’t so confident of going into the exam. Besides, I had never taken an oral exam before, so the experience was terrifying.
Once it was over, my committee told me I’d conditionally passed, which meant I had to take more time to study and prepare to talk about the topic further. I was shaken but still hopeful. But when I retook the exam, I failed again. That’s when I was told I’d have one more chance.
For the next 5 months, I asked my committee chairs for guidance and practiced answering oral questions. I even stopped doing lab work to focus on my exam preparations. I was all in.
When the exam was over, I left the room feeling a mix of fear and relief. But those feelings changed to disappointment the next day after I learned I’d failed. I speak Spanish at home, but I have difficulty translating even the simplest scientific concepts into Spanish. This held back my ability to comfortably speak the expected “language of science”.
My adviser requested to reinstate(使重返岗位)me to the PhD program, and I’m now back to working on my doctorate. I still have a little voice in the back of my head that I’m not good enough. But I try to stop it by surrounding myself with professors who support me and by staying focused on developing into the great scientist I know I can be. I am much more than that one-hour exam.
1. How did the author feel by the end of the first year?| A．Confident. | B．Terrified. | C．Worn out | D．At a loss. |
| A．She found it too hard for her. |
| B．Her adviser dismissed her from it. |
| C．She failed the qualifying exam. |
| D．Her adviser no longer worked there. |
| A．Not enough preparation. | B．Decreased confidence. |
| C．Lack of language competence. | D．Too much time on lab work. |
| A．Intelligent. | B．Sensitive. |
| C．Energetic. | D．Determined. |
【推荐3】When Allison Winn was eight and her family adopted a dog named Coco, they had no idea how much the little creature would change her life. "Coco helped me feel better," says Allison, who was recovering from 14 months of treatment for a brain cancer at the time. “She would cuddle （偎依）with me when I didn't want to play." Allison loved Coco so much that she told her parents she wanted to help other sick kids find the same kind of comfort.
She started small, raising money by selling lemonade and homemade dog biscuits in front of her house. Her first customer was the mailman. By the end of that summer, she had raised nearly $1,000, enough to adopt and train two dogs and give them to children with cancer. Now, a little more than two years later, some groups gather to make dog treats for Allison's cause.
Her organization, the Stink Bug Project, named after a picture she drew in memory of the end of her treatment, is run and managed in partnership with the Morgan Adams Foundation. Stink Bug helps families adopt pets from the Trained K9 Companion Program, where the rescued dogs are taught commands. Allison's mother, Dianna Litvak, who helps run Stink Bug, hopes to extend the pet-adoption program statewide and continue donating some of the money to help fund children's cancer research.
"Allison has figured out how to help — in a way that no one else has," Litvak says. "We involve her younger sister, Emily, her friends, the adopting families, and some others. It took the love of a little girl to wrap all that together into one amazing package."
Go to stinkbugproject, org to donate or to buy Allison's dog biscuits.
1. At the beginning, Allison's family _____.| A．didn't expect a dog could change her so much |
| B．didn't know the sufferings of fighting a cancer |
| C．thought a dog's company would harm her health |
| D．wanted other sick children to get the same comfort |
| A．She helped advertise lemonade and homemade dog biscuits. |
| B．A mailman donated some money to her. |
| C．She earned some money by doing small business. |
| D．Some groups gave her a hand. |
| A．one of her drawings | B．her dog |
| C．her homemade biscuits | D．her friend |
| A．calm | B．proud |
| C．embarrassed | D．worried |
| A．Helping to make dog treats. | B．Adopting a dog for your child. |
| C．Giving dogs and love to kids with cancer. | D．Raising money to train pets. |
【推荐1】The Day Lisa Lost
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about the many professional athletes of today who have developed a me-first attitude. I am talking about high school sports, where lessons of life are still being learned. Here, athletes still compete for the love of the game and their teammates. Lisa Kincaid is one of them.
I first met Lisa on the volleyball court. If anyone had a right to be cocky (自大的) or proud of herself, it was Lisa. Besides being one of the best volleyball players in the USA, she became a track legend (传奇人物). She went sixty-four national games without losing any event.
However, she felt uncomfortable talking about her achievements and would usually change the conversation to others’ performances. She often lent her shoes to someone who’d forgotten her own, or sincerely sent best wishes to competitors from different teams.
Soon after, Lisa’s impossible failure in one game impressed me a lot. Lisa’s coach told her he needed her to run the mile. She had never done so, but agreed to do what was best for the team. Lisa easily outdistanced the competition, but on the last lap she seemed to grow tired. Jane, Lisa’s teammate, passed her. Lisa managed to stay just behind Jane and followed her across the finish line. Lisa lost an event for the first time in her track career.
Athletes in Lisa’s track program needed to earn a set amount of points to gain a varsity letter (校队标志徽章). Lisa knew that Jane needed to finish first to earn a letter for the first time. Without Lisa, Jane would make it. Lisa remembered all this as she lined up for the start of that race. It suddenly struck me why she wore a slight smile on her face after having “lost” for the first time ever. Jane finally received her first varsity letter. And Lisa? On that day, the day she lost, she earned my respect and admiration.
1. Why did the author list Lisa’s achievements?| A．To prove Lisa was proud of herself. |
| B．To present Lisa had great athleticism. |
| C．To show that athletes have a right to be cocky. |
| D．To remind athletes to have all-round development. |
| A．valued the importance of respect | B．intended to prove herself in the race |
| C．won every race she had ever entered | D．cared less about what she had achieved |
| A．Because she did a deal with Jane. |
| B．Because she lent her shoes to others. |
| C．Because she carried out her secret plan. |
| D．Because she already earned her varsity letter. |
| A．Selfless. | B．Brave. | C．Patient. | D．Independent. |
【推荐2】Born in California and representing the United States before switching to China, teenager Gu Ailing will be most likely to be one of the faces of the 2022Beijing Winter Olympics.
The 17-year-old is a freeskier (自由式滑雪运动员) and grade-A student with an American father and Chinese mother. She grew up and still lives in the United States, but in June 2019 she made the “quite difficult” decision to compete for China. She wrote on Instagram that she was “proud of my heritage and equally proud of my American upbringings (培养)”.
As for the decision to compete on behalf of China, she said it is “valuable opportunity to help inspire millions of young people in China where my mom was born.”
Gu graduated from a San Francisco high school last year and is focusing on her Beijing 2022 training. It is reported that She scored 1, 580 points out of a maximum 1,600 in the SAT (美国大学人学考试), and has been offered a place at Stanford.
Gu started on the snow at the age of 3, was competing in national competitions at 9 and won her first World Cup event at 15. She won two gold medals and a silver for China at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland. On Jan. 30th, 2021. Gu made her debut (首次亮相) at the X Games in Aspen, Colorado and won two golds and a bronze.
“My goal is to win Olympic gold.” she told the official Olympic website. “It’s the top achievement. And that would be rewarding for all the work that I’ve done to achieve greatness in the sport.”
1. What do we know about Gu Ailing?| A．She grew up in China. |
| B．She decided to compete for China. |
| C．She will graduate from a high school. |
| D．She is an average student. |
| A．Clever and ambitious. |
| B．Modest and hard-working. |
| C．Helpful and knowledgeable. |
| D．Creative and confident. |
| A．Gu Ailing won her first World Cup event at 15. |
| B．Gu Ailing’s training when she was young. |
| C．Gu Ailing’s achievements as a freeskier. |
| D．Gu Ailing learned to do snow sports in China. |
| A．Gu Ailing—An American Freeskier |
| B．Gu Ailing—A Stanford Graduate |
| C．Gu Ailing—An Olympic Champion |
| D．Gu Ailing—A talented Chinese Freeskier |
【推荐3】2.26-meter-tall Yao Ming made his NBA debut (初次登台) on October 23, 2002 and got 6 points for the Houston Rockets in the game. The next day, he got 13 points (得分) in another game.
Most people think that Yao Ming is a born basketball player. But Yao said, “When you watch it on TV, it looks very easy. But when you are playing in the NBA, it is really not so easy.” He said that joining the Houston Rockets was a new start and a new challenge. “I hope that through very hard work I can make everyone happy and help the Rockets win more games,” he said.
Yao Ming speaks some English. Both he and his teammates can understand each other. They don’t think there is a language problem. While Yao Ming faces this new challenge, the people of Houston have shown great interest in him and they hope Yao Ming will bring new energy (活力) to the Rockets. The team has started having lessons to learn more about China, and many people who work for the Rockets have learned to speak some Chinese.
1. Yao Ming got 13 points on October _____, 2002.| A．22 | B．23 | C．24 | D．26 |
| A．playing in the NBA was difficult |
| B．it was hard to watch NBA games on TV |
| C．he was an NBA star |
| D．it was boring to play basketball |
| A．an advertisement | B．a notice |
| C．a news report | D．an instruction |
