1 . A lifetime of active exercise will let you keep the body of a 20-year-old well into your 70s, scientists have found.
The physical decline (衰退) thought to be an unavoidable part of ageing is actually the result of not exercising enough, according to the research, which found that regular cyclists kept the muscles, lungs, and even the immune system (免疫系统) of people years younger. Besides, many serious health problems could be prevented if people became more active, researchers insist.
Janet Lord, a leading researcher, said, “Our findings prove the false belief that ageing automatically(自动地) makes us weaker. We now have strong evidence that encouraging people to do regular exercise throughout their lives can solve the problem that we are living longer but not healthier.”
She looked at 125 cyclists aged 55 to 79 who had been exercising regularly for 25 years and compared them with 75 ordinary people of a similar age and 55 people aged 20 to 36. On a series of physical measures, the cyclists showed no difference from people much younger in their immune systems and making T cells.
Now Professor Lord aims to discover how much exercise people need to do to stay young. “You needn’t work out a lot. It may be intensity (强度) that helps—like going up and down the stairs ten times a day.”
While there is no magic method of staying mentally and physically fit in later life, the benefits of keeping active can never be ignored, whatever your age or state of health.
1. According to the research, what is the reason for physical decline?| A．The failure of lungs. | B．The lack of regular exercise. |
| C．The poor state of health. | D．The increase of physical activity. |
| A．The intensity of exercise matters in slowing down ageing. |
| B．People need a large amount of exercise to stay young. |
| C．Ageing automatically makes people increasingly weaker. |
| D．What people need to stay fit in later life is a magic method. |
| A．To discuss the benefits of regular cycling. |
| B．To explain the effects of the immune system. |
| C．To introduce the ways to stay healthy. |
| D．To stress the importance of being physically active. |
2 . The UK has many strange traditions. One is Pancake Day. This tradition comes from Shrove Tuesday. It is a Christian tradition before the star of Lent. On that day, people across the UK make and eat pancakes in order to use up the food they have in their houses before the start of Pancakes are large and thin and can be topped with either salty or sweet ingredients. People make pancakes in their homes but you might also find that some schools or businesses hold special Pancake Day events, one of which is pancake race.
In a typical pancake race, competitors have to run holding a frying pan with a pancake in it. As competitors run, they have to throw the pancake in the air so that it flips and lands back in the pan on the other side. The winner is the first to reach the finish line, although they should also be careful to make sure that the pancake is complete and that it hasn't broken along the way.
One of the most famous pancake races is the Rehab Parliamentary Pancake Race. The race is a competition between two teams—one team of Members of Parliament (MPs), and one team of journalists—most of whom take part in the race wearing their work suits! The race is shown on the news and covered on TV all around the world. And as well as a bit of fun, the race is also held for a good cause. It draws people's attention to the charity Rehab, which works with people with disabilities and others who suffer from social exclusion.
Another important part of the race is the official starter chosen to announce the start of the race. This is seen as a prestigious role and is usually given to a British news presenter. But whoever is chosen usually has a hard time trying to control the race-the MPs are known for cheating every year!
1. Why do the British people eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?| A．To make a wish for the coming new year. | B．To prepare food for the coming Lent. |
| C．To eat up all the food they have. | D．To share food with others. |
| A．people compete to win the biggest pancake |
| B．people try to make pancakes as fast as possible |
| C．people compete to make the most delicious pancake |
| D．people try to run fast while keeping pancakes complete |
| A．It has raised lots of money for the charity Rehab |
| B．Only people in London could watch it on TV. |
| C．It usually attracts lots of attention worldwide. |
| D．Many disabled people have taken part in it. |
| A．Respectable. | B．Competitive. | C．Traditional. | D．Serious. |
3 . My dad, Greg Newman, had wanted to be a race car driver, but things didn’t work out for him. So I guess having a son who could become a race car driver was the next best thing. Don’t get me wrong — Dad didn’t push me into racing. In fact, when I was about 10 years old, my dad was afraid that driving a car wasn’t my dream. So he took the racing away from me. I wasn’t very happy with that decision. It wasn’t long before Dad realized that racing was what I loved.
At four, Dad bought me my first Quarter Midget (袖珍赛车) and that’s really where it started for us. Back then, Dad coached me. He would stick out (伸出) his foot in the path of the race car, and then tell me to exactly hit his foot. By repeating this again and again, Dad believed that I would be faster and sharper on the race track.
Dad worked really long hours at his car repair business to make money so that I could race each weekend. I can remember that every night before he turned off the lights in the garage, Dad would tell me: “Don’t forget to kiss your race car good night.” He was trying to teach me that if I show respect, it’s returned. He wanted me to show thankfulness and respect for my race car and for all the hard work that we and many others had put into the dream.
My dad, my mom and my sister gave up a lot of things to help me race. For us, there was no better moment than winning the 50th running of the Daytona 500 in 2018. That evening in February 2018, I knew I had gotten a good push. I could hear the excitement. My father couldn’t speak a word, and when he got to Victory Lane (车道), he nearly knocked me over and gave me such a big hug.
1. Why did Greg Newman stop his son to race when his son was 10 years old?| A．Because he thought racing was dangerous. |
| B．Because he worried that his son didn’t like racing. |
| C．Because he didn’t want his son to fail like he did. |
| D．Because he couldn’t afford the money. |
| A．training his son to race |
| B．working hard to make money |
| C．buying his son a mini racing car |
| D．changing his job as a race car driver |
| A．To improve his son’s skill. | B．To help his son to be braver. |
| C．To have fun with his son. | D．To make his son more careful. |
| A．get help from his family |
| B．treat the race car as his son |
| C．feel grateful that he could follow his dream |
| D．develop a close relationship with his race car |
| A．disappointed | B．surprised | C．sad | D．excited |
1. 你喜欢的运动项目及原因, 如有益于身心健康，增强自信等。
2. 何时喜欢上这项运动, 现在参加该运动的情况如何。
3. 询问对方的体育爱好。
注意：1. 词数：100左右。（信的开头和结尾已经给出，不计入总词数。）
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Harry,
I am glad to receive your letter.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
5 . Over the years, cheerleading has taken two primary forms: game-time cheerleading and competitive cheerleading. Game-time cheerleader’ main goal is to entertain the crowd and lead them with team cheers, which should not be considered a sport. However, competitive cheerleading is more than a form of entertainment. It is really a competitive sport.
Competitive cheerleading includes lots of physical activity. The majority of the teams require a certain level of tumbling (翻腾运动) ability. It’s a very common thing for gymnasts, so it’s easy for them to go into competitive cheerleading. Usually these cheerleaders integrate lots of their gymnastics experience including their jumps, tumbling, and overall energy. They also perform lifts and throws. This is where the “fliers” are thrown in the air, held by “bases” in different positions that require strength and working with other teammates.
Competitive cheerleading is also an activity that is governed by rules under which a winner can be declared. It is awarded points for technique, creativity and sharpness. Usually the more difficult the action is, the better the score is. That’s why cheerleaders are trying to experience great difficulty in their performance. Besides, there is also a strict rule of time. Any performance beyond the limit of time is invalid (无效的).
Another reason for the fact that competitive cheerleading is one of the hardest sports is that it has more reported injuries. According to some research, competitive cheerleading is the number one cause of serious sports injuries to women. Emergency room visits for it are five times the number than for any other sport, partially because cheerleaders don’t use protective equipment. Smiling cheerleaders are thrown into the air and move down into the arms of the teammates, which may easily cause injuries. Generally, these injuries affect all areas of the body, including wrists, shoulders, ankles, head, and neck.
There can be no doubt that competitive cheerleading is a sport with professional skills. Hopefully, it will appear in the Olympics since cheerleaders are just as athletic and physically fit as those involved in the more accepted sports. It should be noted that it is a team sport and even the smallest mistake made by one teammate can bring the score of the entire team down. So without working together to achieve the goal, first place is out of reach.
1. What is the main purpose of competitive cheerleading?| A．To compare skills of participants. |
| B．To make the audience feel amused. |
| C．To attract more people to watch events. |
| D．To cheer up the competitors on the court. |
| A．examine | B．combine | C．identify | D．replace |
| A．lacks necessary guidelines to follow |
| B．enjoys greater popularity than other sports |
| C．requires more designed actions than gymnastics |
| D．has a relatively high rate of damage to the body |
6 . A fresh and gentle wind on your face, soft sand under your feet and blue waters as far as the eye can see. Is there any other Olympic sport that is played in such pleasant conditions as beach volleyball？
“I’ve gone to a lot of beautiful places, and met a lot of beautiful people. That wouldn’t have happened if I had been playing another sport.” said Randy Stoklos, America’s most famous beach volleyball player.
The sport began as a four-a-side game on beaches in Southern California in the 1920s. The first recorded two-man game took place there in 1930, and the first tournament (锦标赛) was held in Los Angeles 18 years later. The winners were awarded a case of Pepsi. In the 1950s, women started playing and the sport soon spread to Europe and South America. Yet at that time, beach volleyball was more an entertainment show than a sport, with beauty contests included. The Association of Volleyball Professionals was founded in 1983 and beach volleyball developed into a fast, athletic sport. Its world-wide popularity won beach volleyball a place at the 1996 Olympics in Atalanta, where 24 male teams and 16 female teams took part. At present, the US and Brazil are the best in the world at beach volleyball.
The game came to China in the early 1990s and there have been national tournaments since 1994. It became an official event at the Eighth National Games in 1997. China’s You Wenhui and Wang Lu finished ninth in the women’s beach volleyball world championships in Brazil.
1. The passage is mainly about ______.| A．the history of beach volleyball |
| B．how to play beach volleyball |
| C．the importance of beach volleyball |
| D．women’s beach volleyball in China |
| A．Beach volleyball was first played like other Olympic: sports. |
| B．Beach volleyball has always been an entertainment show rather than a sport. |
| C．Beach volleyball began on beaches in Souther California. |
| D．Women started playing beach volleyball in South America in 1945. |
| A．In 1948, | B．In 1996. | C．In 1950. | D．In 1997. |
| A．in 1996, beach volleyball became an official event in China |
| B．China’s beach volleyball team is the best in the world |
| C．China’s beach volleyball players won the first place in Brazil |
| D．beach volleyball came to China in the early 1990s |
7 .
The documentary displays Lang’s inspiring journey from her gold medal victory as a volleyball player in the 1984 Olympics to her amazing career as a successful coach for both Team USA from 2005 to 2008 and China since 2013. She was the first person to win Olympic volleyball gold as a player and coach. Lang Ping revealed the secret to such remarkable achievements in the documentary. As she said, “
But illness is certainly not the only difficulty Lang has faced. In 2005, she struggled with balancing raising her daughter Lydia Bai Lang, who lived in the US, and her coaching career. She eventually decided to work for USA Volleyball that year.
There is no doubt that Lang is one of the greatest players and coaches in history. As an American athlete commented in the documentary,
| A．Who is Lang Ping? |
| B．Lang is the hardest to defeat. |
| C．I believe volleyball was my life. |
| D．What makes one a great person? |
| E．Glory and challenges go hand in hand. |
| F．Lang Ping is like Michael Jordan in our minds. |
| G．This decision aroused a lot of negative comments in China. |
According to a review of evidence in a medical journal, runners live three years
While running
The best exercise is one that you enjoy and will do. But otherwise... it's probably running .To avoid knee pain, you can run on soft surfaces, do exercises to
9 . When Tony took up running as a hobby he was 42 years old. Now 42 years later he’s a national champion and a world record holder.
He never imagined at the age of 84 this is where he’d be, but then he doesn’t meet many people in their 80s who are out training four times a week.
“I can see it’s a bit unusual, yes. But it’s been my life,” he told the reporter. The retired officer runs at a track near his home in Leeds.
At an event in Italy last month he set a world record in the 80 metres hurdles（跨栏）with a time of under 17 seconds. But he sees no reason to slow down and his ambition（雄心）is still to be competing when he passes a hundred.
“I probably won’t be doing a crouch start（蹲式起跑）, but it’s only 16 years away,” he joked. Like anyone his age, he’s had health problems. He’s had a string of severe heart attacks, but doctors have told him as long as it makes him feel good, he should carry on running.
“I can’t let my heart get in the way of my training. When I am sprinting I have to give it my absolute all. My heart is the last thing on my mind. ” he said.
He trains every other day, dances and plays hockey and he recently cuts down on alcohol （酒精）and chocolate. He said “ I’ve heard alcohol can lead to dementia and I don’t want that. I’ve cut down to one glass of wine every other day. I now have to stay as fit as I can be to keep up my lifestyle.”
Tony’s next birthday is next September. And the first thing he wants to do is become the world’s fastest 85-year-old.
1. What will Tony do after the competition in Italy?| A．He decides to slow down. |
| B．He decides to retire as an officer. |
| C．He plans on running until he’s 100. |
| D．He plans to compete in the 100 metres hurdles. |
| A．Continuing to run if he feels good. |
| B．Stopping running to treat his heart disease. |
| C．Trying to run as fast as he can. |
| D．Cutting down on alcohol and chocolate. |
| A．Imaginative. | B．Positive. | C．Caring. | D．Helpful. |
| A．The Fastest Man in the World. |
| B．The World’s Fastest 100-year-old. |
| C．A National Champion and a World Record Holder. |
| D．Granddad Crowned Fastest 84-year-old in the World. |
10 . One afternoon last week, I saw three tearful children from my son's school being comforted by teachers. That morning, my 11-year-old had stomach pains, retching （干呕）into a bowl. Talking to other mothers later. I heard about other children with stomachache or difficult sleeping the night before.
What caused so much pain? Sports day. Sports day might be necessary at a highly-competilive independent school, but not at a village primary school. For the children who can fly like the wind, sports day causes no problem. For those who are overweight or just not good at sport, it is a nightmare （噩梦）.Even for those who enjoy running but fall halfway down the track in front of the entire school and their parents, it can prove a disease.
Why do we put our children through this annual suffering? Some may say competition is character building; or it’s taking part, not winning, that’s important; or that’s a tradition of school life. I just felt great pity for those children in tears or in pain.
Team games at the end of sports day produced some close races, wild enthusiasm, lots of shouting —and were fun to watch More importantly, the children who were not so fast or quick at passing the ball were hidden a little from everyone's eyes. Some of them also had the thrill of being on the winning side.
I wish that sports day could be abandoned and replaced with some other less competitive event. Perhaps an afternoon of team games, with a few races for those who want them, would be less stressful for the children and a lot more fun to watch.
1. What can we learn about the author's son from Paragraph 1?| A．He talked with some mothers. |
| B．He comforted his classmates. |
| C．He had difficulty in sleeping. |
| D．He suffered from stomachache. |
| A．this is an independent school |
| B．it is a tradition of the school |
| C．it helps children lose weight |
| D．children enjoy watching sports |
| A．They should include more stressful races. |
| B．They are acceptable to different children. |
| C．They should be abandoned at primary school. |
| D．They are less fun for those who love running. |
| A．Critical. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Satisfied. |
