1 . Race walking shares many fitness benefits with running, research shows, while most likely contributing to fewer injuries. It does, however, have its own problem.
Race walkers are conditioned athletes. The longest track and field event at the Summer Olympics is the 50-kilometer race walk, which is about five miles longer than the marathon. But the sport’s rules require that a race walker’s knees stay straight through most of the leg swing and one foot remain in contact (接触) with the ground at all times. It’s this strange form that makes race walking such an attractive activity, however, says Jaclyn Norberg, an assistant professor of exercise science at Salem State University in Salem, Mass.
Like running, race walking is physically demanding, she says, According to most calculations, race walkers moving at a pace of six miles per hour would burn about 800 calories(卡路里) per hour, which is approximately twice as many as they would burn walking, although fewer than running, which would probably burn about 1,000 or more calories per hour.
However, race walking does not pound the body as much as running does, Dr. Norberg says. According to her research, runners hit the ground with as much as four times their body weight per step, while race walkers, who do not leave the ground, create only about 1.4 times their body weight with each step.
As a result, she says, some of the injuries associated with running, such as runner’s knee, are uncommon among race walkers. But the sport’s strange form does place considerable stress on the ankles and hips, so people with a history of such injuries might want to be cautious in adopting the sport. In fact, anyone wishing to try race walking should probably first consult a coach or experienced racer to learn proper technique, she says. It takes some practice.
1. Why are race walkers conditioned athletes?| A．They must run long distances. |
| B．They are qualified for the marathon. |
| C．They have to follow special rules. |
| D．They are good at swinging their legs. |
| A．It’s more popular at the Olympics. |
| B．It’s less challenging physically. |
| C．It’s more effective in body building. |
| D．It’s less likely to cause knee injuries. |
| A．Getting experts’ opinions. |
| B．Having a medical checkup. |
| C．Hiring an experienced coach. |
| D．Doing regular exercises. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. |
| C．Tolerant. | D．Conservative. |
2 . When I was in my fourth year of teaching，I was also（and am still）a high school track and field coach（田径教练）. One year，I had a student，John，who entered my class when he was a junior. John changed to our school from Greece，and seemed to be interested in sports，so I encouraged him to join our track team. I explained to him that even though he had never taken part in it before，I did believe that he could do well in any event，and that I would be willing to coach him in whichever ones interested him. He accepted the offer，and began to work hard at every practice.
About a month later，I had found out from other sources that John was a first-class tennis player，winning various junior awards in his home country. I went to him asking，“John，I really appreciate that you came out for the track team，but why didn’t you play tennis instead？It seems that would interest you a lot more，since you’re so good at it.”John answered，“Well，I like tennis，but you told me that you believed in me，and that you thought I could do well in track，so I wanted to try it for that reason.”
From then on，I often remember my student’s reply. I told it to a friend and she suggested I write it down to share somewhere with more teachers. No matter how critical（挑剔的）students can be of themselves，I’ve found that a simple“I trust that you can do it！”can go a long way！
1. According to Paragraph 1，what did the author seem to think more about？| A．John’s PE marks. |
| B．John’s self-confidence. |
| C．John’s interest in sports. |
| D．John’s state of health. |
| A．He had been an excellent runner. |
| B．He was encouraged by his teacher. |
| C．He liked running more than tennis. |
| D．He had no tennis coach to train him. |
| A．To build a close teacher-student relationship. |
| B．To introduce a new way of sports training. |
| C．To explain the value of sports. |
| D．To show the importance of encouragement. |
| A．Teachers. | B．Parents. |
| C．Students. | D．Players. |
