There is a cry of anger, and a tennis racket crashes to the ground. Jake, age 7, has just lost another match and is now in tears beside the court. His sister Sally, just one year older, looks at her mother and rolls her eyes: it is hard to enjoy winning when this keeps happening. It is not an unusual situation, and it is one reason why many people argue that competition is bad for children. However, the truth is that competitive games are a valuable preparation for adult life.
Games with winners and losers give children the chance to experience life’s ups and downs. Take Jake, for example. Even though he is unhappy now, he will probably be smiling and laughing with his sister in a few minutes, just like the last time this happened. Gradually, he will learn that the world does not end when you lose a game. Eventually, he may even be able to lose with a smile on his face. This is an important lesson. Not everything in life goes the way you would like, and it is important to know how to handle disappointment when it occurs.
Children who participate in competitive games develop qualities that allow them to succeed in the complex world of adult life. For example, one of the missions of the Youth Olympic Games is to inspire young people to adopt the Olympic values, which include striving, determination and optimism. Competition creates a desire to do better. Children have to learn to succeed in a competitive atmosphere in order to take advantage of opportunities in the future. Although it is possible to win by chance occasionally, people who win and keep winning work very hard to achieve their success.
On the negative side, there are those who will say that competition actually encourages some values, which does happen. It is common to see sports competition in which the desire to win has replaced the desire to have fun. You may even see very young children playing violently----like the superstars they see on TV. While the bad behavior of young athletes is troubling, the problem is not the competition itself. In reality, the blame lies with the professional players who are bad role models for these children. In fact, a recent study of young athletes by the school of Physical Health Education at the University of Wyoming showed an improvement in mood after exercise, athletes were less depressed or tense.
Of course, there are parents who argue that children of Jake’s age are too young to handle the pain of losing. But whether we like it or not, adult life is very competitive, and keeping children away from competition does them more harm than good. If children do not learn how to compete, they will be defeated by people who can. It is an unfortunate fact of life: whether ten or a hundred people want the same job, there can be only one winner. Wouldn’t you want your child to be that person?
1. Competitive games prepare children for their adult life by_______A.enabling them to know to handle life’s ups and downs |
B.allowing them to succeed in the complex world of adult life |
C.Ending their feeling about the world when they lose |
D.Helping them to smile even when they are disappointed |
A.Competitions develop children’s qualities to succeed in their future life |
B.the Olympic Values should be promoted among young people |
C.Taking advantages of future opportunities makes one desire to do better |
D.Only by working hard to keep winning can one achieve true success |
A.The desire to win | B.The desire to have fun |
C.Good role models | D.An improvement in mood |
A.They should learn how to handle pain of losing |
B.Children should know earlier the competitive adult life |
C.They shouldn’t keep children away from competition |
D.They should encourage their children to get the job |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Everybody, at some point in their lives, has experienced failure. It could be something as simple as not getting the job you wanted, or getting fewer marks even after hard work. But what makes you is not your failure, but how you get back up after being hit.
Once, a young school boy was caught in a fire accident in his school and was assumed that he would not live. His mother was told that he was sure to die, for the terrible fire had destroyed the lower half of his body. Even if he were to survive, he would be lame throughout his life.
But the brave boy did not want to die nor did he want to be lame. Much to the amazement of the doctor, he did survive. But unfortunately from his waist down, he had no motor ability. His thin legs just hung there, lifeless. Eventually he left the hospital. But his determination to walk was unshakable. At home, when he was not in bed, he had to stay in a wheelchair. One day, he threw himself from the chair and pulled himself across the grass, dragging his legs behind him. He reached the fence, raised himself up and then began dragging himself along the fence, firmly determined. He did this every day, with faith in himself that he would be able to walk unaided. With his iron determination, he did develop the ability to stand up, then to walk on and off, then to walk by himself and then to run.
He began to walk to school, and then run to school, to run for the joy of running. Later in college he was on the track team.
In February 1934, in New York City's Madison Square Garden, this young man who was not expected to survive, who would surely never walk, who could never hope to run - this determined young man, Dr. Glenn Cunningham, ran the world's fastest mile.
A good example of the power of positive thinking and faith in oneself, Glenn Cunningham continues to be an inspiration for many, and his story, a brilliant evidence to how one can bounce back even when all difficulties are piled against one, to the degree that death seemed the preferable option.
1. The first paragraph is intended to ________A.present an argument |
B.make preparations for statement |
C.arouse readers' interest |
D.function as a brief introduction |
A.Glenn was able to walk with his own great effort. |
B.Great determination could make a difference to Glenn. |
C.There was a slim chance that Glenn could survive. |
D.Glenn could live a normal life with the upper halt" of his body. |
A.Glenn took recovery exercise in hospital. |
B.Glenn inspired people with his moving story. |
C.Glenn won the first place in Marathon. |
D.Glenn organized a track team in college. |
A.Strengthen determination |
B.Stand up after failure |
C.Go after dreams |
D.Face difficulty bravely |
【推荐2】PAUL HEMINGTON, 57, is the Assistant Operations Manager at Cheddar Gorge(切达峡谷) and Caves cheddargorge.co.uk
I moved to SOMERSET mainly for my family. My daughter was getting married and I didn’t want to live six hours away, so we made the move. Once we moved, we were made unneeded and it was a mad race to get work. I ended up at here at Cheddar Gorge and Caves.
Cheddar Gorge is like nothing else in the UK. It’s a unique phenomenon, because although there are other caves in the country, you don’t have the gorge elsewhere. This is a major geological feature, it’s three miles long and there’s just this natural, raw beauty. I can sit at my desk in guest services and look out at part of the gorge. It’s amazing.
The Cheddar Gorge spirit is strong. You know, not having worked here or heard about the area, you come here and it gets under your skin in the right way. You become part of it, it becomes part of you. I’m very passionate about it. And there’s the amazing wildlife, the geology, the prehistory — Cheddar Man is still one of the greatest finds in the UK.
Every day at Cheddar Gorge and Caves is different. You’ve got the rock sports side of things, the climbing, the caving. We take people through the caves on tours and we have pre-history, which we do with the museum, whereby we have schools come in and do demonstrations with them. We will dress up as genuinely as we can to reproduce the time period of the Cheddar Man, which is the Mesolithic period, so 10,000 years ago. We do fire lighting, for example, and hopefully it’s inspiring to the young people! It’s really cool to be in the museum garden and have part of the gorge as the background while you’re doing it, so you can really submerge yourself in that moment.
My favourite spot is when you go past the peak on the walk and you can look back down into the gorge or across to the reservoir. The view is amazing. Yes, you can see pictures of it, but honestly you have to be there to fully appreciate it. You might hear some buzzards or see some sheep or goats while you’re up there, just to enhance the experience!
1. PAUL HEMINGTON originally moved to Cheddar Gorge to __________.A.settle down in the countryside | B.be closer to his daughter |
C.land a job as a tour guide | D.take part in a competitive race |
A.affects you deeply | B.bothers you greatly |
C.increases your strength | D.improves your skin condition |
A.He goes to the school to give lectures on pre-history. |
B.He demonstrates to young people how to climb rocks. |
C.He participates in recreating the scenes in the Mesolithic period. |
D.He decorates the museum garden to make it look like the gorge. |
A.How he adapts to the local way of life. |
B.What major local attractions are worth seeing. |
C.Why Cheddar Gorge ranks first as a natural wonder. |
D.What makes Cheddar Gorge so special to him. |
【推荐3】It was a sunny winter day. I had gone up and down the tower when, outside the little door at the foot, a blind man came toward me. He was a pale, thin man with dark glasses. He kept close to the inner wall of the courtyard. On reaching the door, he touched it and sharply turned inside. In a moment, he disappeared up the staircase. I stood still, looking at the little sign that said “To the Tower… ” I felt obliged to follow.
I didn’t follow closely. I caught up with him in the ticket office. There I was surprised to see the attendant selling him a ticket as though he were any other visitor. With the ticket in one hand and touching the wall with the other, he reached the staircase leading to the hallway.
“That man is blind,” I said to the attendant, but he showed no concern. “He’s blind,” I repeated. He didn’t answer, looking at me vacantly.
“Perhans he wants to jump,” I said. But his chair was too comfortable. He didn’t stir. He still looked down at a crossword puzzle he had begun. I turned toward the staircase.
“The ticket,” the attendant said, rising from his chair. It seemed the only thing that could move him. After purchasing my ticket, I hurried up the staircase.
The man hadn’t gone as far as I imagined. After ten minutes, I approached him. “Excuse me,” I said as politely as I could, “but I am very curious to know why you came up.”
“You’d never guess,” he said.
“Not the view, I take it, or the fresh air on this winter day,” I said.
He smiled. “Coming up the stairs, one can feel the change-the coo staircase suddenly becomes quite warm, —and how up here behind the wall there is shade, but as soon as one goes opposite a narrow window one finds the sun. In all of Siena there is no place so good as here.”
He moved into the sunlight. Then he stepped into the shade. “Light, shade, light, shade,” he said, and seemed as pleased as a child who, in a game of hopscotch, jumps from square to square.
We went down the tower together. I left him, gladdened as one can only be by the sunlight.
1. Why did the author follow the blind man?A.To offer timely help. | B.To satisfy his curiosity. |
C.To teach him a lesson. | D.To prevent him from climbing up. |
A.Enthusiastic. | B.Concerned. | C.Indifferent. | D.Skeptical. |
A.The fresh air on the top. | B.The pleasant childhood memories. |
C.The fantastic view from the tower. | D.The striking contrast between light and shade. |
A.Nature is the best gift for humanity. |
B.When one door shuts, another opens in life. |
C.Every individual can appreciate beauty in life. |
D.The disadvantaged deserve care from the society. |
【推荐1】Nowadays, the food that you buy comes from many different countries. Have a look in your fridge, cupboard, and fruit bowl and check the origins (来源) of the food. Perhaps there are apples from California, lamb from New Zealand, or potatoes from Egypt? You will probably be surprised how far food travels to get to your plate. This journey, from “field to plate”, is called “food miles”. A food mile is the distance that food travels from the farmer’s field to the person who buys the food. Nowadays, food often travels thousands of miles to get to the consumer. Why is this, and what are the effects of these long distances?
Traditionally, farmers sold their food in the local market so the food didn’t have to travel very far. The consumers also did not travel very far, because they went to their local market to buy the food. This was a good system for farmers and consumers. However, there were some disadvantages. For example, consumers could only buy food that farmers produced locally. In addition, they could only get food that was in season. Now, because of modern technology, food comes from all over the world. We do not have to wait for spring or summer to buy strawberries or tomatoes. They are available in winter if we want.
Some countries have to import most of their food. This is because they have difficult climates. The United Arab Emirates(UAE), for example, gets 85% of its food from other countries. Even food made in the UAE often uses imported materials.
What’s wrong with “food miles”? Is this not a good way of increasing international trade? I believe these miles are worrying for a number of reasons. First of all, because food travels such long distances. We need more planes, lorries, and ships to move the food. This means we use more oil or petrol, so there is more pollution and more global warming. In addition, food that travels a long way is not fresh and usually not very tasty. Tomatoes, for example, are picked early and stored for their long journey. For this reason, they are usually tasteless when they get to the consumer. Local food has a better taste, and it also reduces the amount of global pollution. We need to buy more local food.
1. What is called “food miles” according to this passage?A.The origins of the food. | B.The effects of long distances. |
C.The journey from field to plate. | D.The disadvantages of imported food. |
A.easy to get | B.not busy |
C.willing to talk | D.impossible to get |
A.long distances | B.difficult climates |
C.fresh and tasty food | D.modern technology |
A.how local food travels from field to plate |
B.what “food miles” is and its effects |
C.how some countries import their food |
D.where different kinds of food come from |
【推荐2】Will the AI chatbots eat search engines’ lunch? For more than 20 years, search engines have been the Internet’s front door. Google has dominated the field in most of the world. But nothing lasts forever, particularly in technology.
Just ask IBM, which once ruled business computing or Nokia, once the leader in mobile phones. Both fell behind because they didn’t follow big technological transitions. Now another tech innovation might announce a similar shift and a similar opportunity. ChatGPT has put itself on center stage, by letting people chat with an AI directly. ChatGPT can write essays in various styles, explain complex concepts, summarize texts and answer questions. And it can collect, process and combine knowledge from the web: for example, listing holiday spots that match certain criteria, or suggesting menus or schedules. If asked, it can explain its reasoning and provide details. Many things that people use search engines for today, in short, can be done better withchatbots.
Will ChatGPT help students cheat better? Yes, but as with many other technology developments, it’s not a simple black and white situation. Decades ago, students could copy encyclopedia entries, and more recently, they’ve been able to search the Internet and explore into Wikipedia entries. ChatGPT offers new abilities for everything from helping with research to doing their homework for them. Many ChatGPT answers already sound like student essays. Ask the new artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT to write an essay about the cause of the American Civil War and you can watch it produce a persuasive term paper in a matter of seconds.
It can even pass a number of exams. It scored 60% on the United States Medical Licensing Examination, 70% on an exam for lawyers, 78% on New York state’s high school chemistry exam’s multiple-choice section, and ranked the 40th on the Law School Admission Test.
A high school teacher concluded ChatGPT already writes better than most students today. He’s torn between admiring ChatGPT’s potential usefulness and fearing its harm to human learning: “Is this moment more like the invention of the calculator, saving me from the boredom of long division, or more like the invention of the player piano, robbing us of what can be communicated only through human emotion?”
1. What is the reason why some tech companies fail to develop?A.The sharp rising market cost. | B.The negative impact of local economy. |
C.Their shift to other business fields. | D.Their failure to keep pace with tech changes. |
A.Write various articles. | B.Schedule a holiday trip. |
C.Play the piano. | D.Explain complex concepts. |
A.To explain a rule. | B.To illustrate a fact. |
C.To make a prediction. | D.To clarify a concept. |
A.Neutral. | B.Positive. | C.Critical. | D.Ambiguous. |
【推荐3】As we all know, English is an important subject in middle school. Everyone knows that they must learn English well, but some people don't know how to learn it well. Here are some suggestions which may help you with your English.
The biggest problem is people's own fear. They worry that they won't say things correctly or that they will look foolish so that they don't speak English at all. Don't be afraid of being laughed at. Only if we aren't afraid of making mistakes can we learn English well.
The fastest way to learn something is to do it again and again until you get it right.
Learning English needs practice. Don't let a little fear stop you from getting what you want.
The best way to learn English is to have a good environment. Take notes in English, put English books around your room, listen to English radios, watch English news, movies and TV programs. Speak English with your friends whenever you can. The more English materials that you have around you, the faster you will learn it.
Many people think that exercises and tests aren't much fun. However, by doing exercises and taking tests you can really improve your English. If you never test yourself, you will never know how much you are making progress.
1. The biggest problem of learning English is ________.A.not knowing how to learn | B.being afraid of being laughed at |
C.looking foolish | D.making a mistake |
A.practicing over and over again | B.listening to it every day |
C.going over the fear | D.going to a foreign country |
A.putting English books around your room |
B.listening to English radios |
C.watching English news and movie |
D.speaking English with your friends only in class |
A.very necessary | B.not helpful at all |
C.very boring | D.not important |
A.Two | B.Three |
C.Four | D.Five |