1 . During the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, there was a lot of talk about the environmental efforts taken. Athletes slept on beds made from recycled cardboard. The medals were produced out of old appliances such as smartphones and laptops. Over 90% of Japanese cities, towns and villages participated in the two-year effort to collect recycled materials to produce 5000 medals. Eighty tons of small electrical devices were collected to make this project successful.
With the 2024 Olympics Games underway in Paris, new environmental efforts are coming into play. Observers will sit on chairs made of plastic recycled from local bins. This decision was made due to a lack of unused raw materials to make new seats, so the eco-construction firm Le Pave turned to make the seats out of waste. Around 11,000 seats will be made from recycled materials.
The plastic collection for Paris 2024 has been carried out in the region’s schools, and over five million coloured bottle caps have been recovered Moreover, 80% of the 100 tons of recycled plastic needed to make the seats come from the yellow bins collections. This is all part of the Paris 2024 “zero waste” strategy to limit single-use plastic usage and encourage a circular economy.
The Olympic Games organizers are planning to make the Paris 2024 Games the greenest Olympic Games yet. They seek to apply a carbon-neutral approach that will lessen the climate impact of the Games by predicting, avoiding, reducing and balancing emissions (排放) and encouraging others to get involved. The Summer Games have released 3.6 million tons of carbon emissions in previous years. The Paris 2024 Games has set a carbon budget of 1.5 million tons which includes the emissions from construction, transportation and operations of the Games.
These plans are ambitious but are achievable. If Paris 2024 successfully reduces emissions and promotes a circular economy, it might set the standard for future Olympic and Paralympic Games, despite where they are held.
1. What were the 2020 Olympics medals made from?| A．Raw metal. | B．Reused plastic. |
| C．Used electronic devices. | D．Recycled cardboard. |
| A．To stop carbon emissions. |
| B．To make seats for athletes. |
| C．To restrict single-use plastic usage. |
| D．To collect coloured bottle caps. |
| A．Decrease of carbon emissions. |
| B．Limitation to single-use plastics. |
| C．Promotion of recycling in school. |
| D．Encouragement of a circular economy. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Negative. | C．Unclear. | D．Favorable. |
2 . Common Mistakes New Runners Make
Running is a great way to get in shape and just about everyone can do it. However, many make a number of common mistakes, which can interfere (妨碍) with training or lead to injury.
·Doing too much too soon
One of the biggest mistakes new runners make is doing too much too soon. Slowly easing into a training program will help reduce the risk of injury, so you can continue on with your new running routine
·
Beginners might think they need to run every day (or nearly every day) to meet their fitness or weight-loss goals, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Running is a high-impact activity which can be really hard on your body. So it’s important to give your body a rest between workouts.
·Not wearing the right equipment
•Running through pain
| A．Not taking rest days |
| B．If you’re just starting out |
| C．Comparing yourself to others |
| D．Running can be uncomfortable at times |
| E．It’s important not to use the same muscles |
| F．While it may be true that you don’t need expensive equipment to take up running |
| G．Experts suggest increasing your running distance by no more than 10% each week |
3 . A pacer is someone who runs in races or marathons to help set the pace for runners. There are different types of pacers. A race pacer usually carries a sign highlighting a specific competition time for a race. He helps runners reach their goals without relying on technology, such as a smart watch or GPS. Professional pacers are used in long-distance races. They run at different sections of the race to inspire runners. A record pacer helps a professional runner set a new record, who often leads the race for a predetermined distance at a predetermined pace.
A runner being paced runs directly following a pacer. Having a pacer can be helpful for a long-distance runner because researches show that it takes more energy to lead in a race all through the race than to follow another runner. The pacer takes on the responsibility of timing and establishing the pace so the runner only has to focus on his own running. Having a pacer as a guide in a long race can take some of the stress and pressure off by keeping an even pace. The pacer may also provide encouragement along the way to work towards the goal.
There are times, though, when running with a pacer can be more stressful than beneficial for a runner — especially for amateur runners. Not having taken professional training, you set a goal to run a particular pace, but then you realize this may not be the best speed for you. In some cases, the pacer is running too quickly for what you can stand. Other times, you could misjudge your abilities and run a slower pace than what your body can bear.
It is important to note that you don’t have to stay with a pacer just because you started with him. If you feel strong at the end and want to finish faster, you can run ahead. Or if he is too fast, you could slow down and maybe even join the slower pace group behind you.
1. What does a record pacer do?| A．He provides technical support. |
| B．He helps a runner keep the record. |
| C．He offers medical help to a runner. |
| D．He leads a professional runner at a speed set beforehand. |
| A．Injured. | B．Legendary. | C．Unprofessional. | D．Graceful. |
| A．Changing pacers from time to time. |
| B．Following the pacer strictly all through the race. |
| C．Giving up something and preparing for a breakthrough. |
| D．Listening to your body and doing what feels right for you. |
| A．Sport and fitness. | B．Science and technology. |
| C．History and culture. | D．Health and lifestyle. |
4 . The first time I realized that I had a love for sports competitions was during the Field Day in elementary school. Small for my age, and more of a bookworm than a sports lover, I had suffered that special humiliation of being picked last for various gym teams. The Field Day, which focused on individual skills, was different. In the Softball Throw event, I got my first taste of sporting victory. Credit goes to the example of my first coach, my father. He lifted weights every morning at home. He bought us all baseball gloves and hats, and in the warm months, we spent hours playing catch.
Once I got to sixth grade and switched to private school, our entire student body was assigned to either the Red or the White team. Throughout the year, we competed against each other in various games and exercises for points. I eventually became president of The Committee of Games. I also played on the field hockey team and the basketball team. And at home, playing tennis, skating, skiing and biking were simply normal things we did. During the break time, magazines were also quite popular for us teens. These regularly featured articles on physical exercise. Somehow, my college roommate and I took up the habit of completing Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) exercises every day, a practice that continued into my marriage, when we had no spare money to use to join a gym.
So, though it shocks some of our friends, that early foundation continued in adulthood into a sports and fitness focus, considered important even on vacation. I still love reading and the arts, too. As far as I’m concerned, life is the richest with my feet in both worlds.
1. What does the underlined word “humiliation” mean in Paragraph 1?| A．Stress. | B．Threat. | C．Shame. | D．Glory. |
| A．Her confidence in her sports skills. | B．The efforts she put into exercising. |
| C．Her advanced sports gloves and hats. | D．The strong influence of her father. |
| A．She changed the focus into reading. | B．She stuck to working out. |
| C．She regularly exercised on weekends. | D．She joined Royal Canadian Air Force. |
| A．To express her love for sports. | B．To show her father’s guidance on sports. |
| C．To stress the advantages of physical exercise. | D．To share her childhood memories about sports. |
5 . Many know the importance of properly warming up and preparing to exercise, but experts say that including a cool down routine is just as important. According to the Mayo Clinic, cooling down allows for your body to recover and return to its normal, pre-exercise state.
Though cooling down isn’t proven to reduce muscle stiffness (僵硬) or pain, it can prevent dizziness and allow your heart rate and breathing to ease back to a normal rate, Harvard Medical School reports. Phyllis Mammarelli, a personal trainer at the Shenango Valley YMCA in Sharon, Pennsylvania, works with each of her clients on a cool down routine as she says it’s a beneficial part of exercising.
“Cooling down allows your body to gradually return to a low-intensity activity level, slowly reducing your respiratory (呼吸的) and heart rate until it’s equalized and back to normal,” she says.
Skipping the recovery phase of a workout isn’t proven to be harmful to your body, but Mammarelli warns that without cooling down, the body will take longer to return back to the low-intensity activity level you began your workout with.
There are also non-threatening side effects that could occur as a result of forgoing a cool down. Mammarelli warns that blood can gather or pool in your lower extremities (四肢) and lead to dizziness and fainting. Other side effects include your muscle pain and stiffness, which can occur 24-28 hours after your workout. These side effects are mostly seen in the elderly or those with cardiovascular (心血管的) disease and can be eased by warming up and cooling down.
Allow five to 10 minutes at the conclusion of your workout for a cool-down routine. During this period, continue your workout session, but at a much-reduced rate. If you’re pressed for time during your works or unsure how to allow your body to recover, Mammarelli suggests stretching muscles in a pain-free range of motion.
Adding a few additional minutes to your workout for cooling down may seem like an inconvenience, but the benefits outweigh the cost of finding extra time in your schedule.
1. What is the proven benefit of cooling down?| A．Easing muscle pain. | B．Protecting your heart. |
| C．Guarding against dizziness. | D．Decreasing muscle stiffness. |
| A．abandoning. | B．improving. | C．employing. | D．forgetting. |
| A．Stop working out to avoid injury. | B．Skip cooling down to save time. |
| C．Practice cooling down after exercising. | D．Stretch your muscles when convenient. |
| A．Potential clients of fitness centers. | B．Personal trainers working at the gym. |
| C．Readers who are interested in working out. | D．People suffering from muscle stiffness and pain. |
6 . It’s common nowadays for people to schedule a fitness plan. Whatever the drive behind it, whether health-related, performance-related or just plain vainglory (虚荣心), it is not uncommon for people to take regular exercise.
But if you’ve never done it before, what’s the best way to go about it? Well, many people make use of a PT — that’s a personal trainer. This might be because they’re wet behind the ears or maybe they just don’t want the trouble of designing their own workout plan. A PT will create a plan based on the aim of an individual. They will tailor it to your current abilities and, better still, they will teach you how to move in a proper way.
However, the trade-off with a PT is the price. Each hourly session can be steep considering the double whammy of having to pay both the PT and membership of the gym. If you are at all strapped for cash then regular sessions might be out of your budget.
So what’s left? Well, if you have the grit for it, you can make your own plan. It’s relatively easy to do if you have the know-how. But before you do, here are some basic pointers.
First, keep your fitness goal in mind. Are you looking to slim down, bulk up, or get shredded? Whatever it is, make sure you choose to be in pursuit of that goal. Next, do your research. Social media is full of fitness videos and advice. Watch as many as possible, but make sure to be critical of them — everyone has a different body. Finally, keep your feet on the ground. Be patient with yourself and set realistic goals — it takes at least three months to see realistic body changes. A good workout is difficult and challenging, but never painful. Pain means you are damaging yourself.
1. What drives people to go to the gym?| A．To keep a fit figure. | B．To make friends. |
| C．To avoid vainglory. | D．To become a celebrity. |
| A．A student short of budget. | B．A busy workaholic. |
| C．A green hand in exercise. | D．A professional athlete. |
| A．Bear in mind our fitness goals. | B．Be a member of the gym. |
| C．Set a training timeline. | D．Watch latest fitness videos. |
| A．The necessity of exercise. | B．How to make a fitness plan. |
| C．The practical skills of workout. | D．How to be a personal trainer. |
7 . Good health is the most valuable thing a person can have, but one cannot take good health for granted.
Proper nutrition (营养) is important for good health. Your body cannot work well unless it receives the proper kind of “fuel” (燃料).
Finally, get plenty of exercise.
If everybody were to eat the right food, get plenty of sleep and exercise regularly, the world would be a happier and healthier place.
| A．Drink cold drinks on a cold day. |
| B．We would all live to be much older and wiser. |
| C．Don’t eat too much food with lots of sugar and fat. |
| D．Getting the proper amount of sleep is also important. |
| E．Secondhand smoke is harmful to children as they develop. |
| F．It is important to remember that the body needs proper care in order to be healthy. |
| G．Exercise firms the body, strengthens the muscles, and prevents you from gaining weight. |
8 . Living a healthy lifestyle contains making choices about the foods we eat as well as exercise and other daily activities. The term “healthy lifestyle” can be defined as “to improve and protect one’s health and well-being”. For this purpose, a healthy lifestyle can include good eating habits, regular physical activity and anti-alcoholism (抗酒精中毒).
First of all, good eating habits are the main way of living a healthy lifestyle. For instance, rushed morning routines, trying to lose weight, and lack of appetite (食欲) early in the morning are all reasons why people skip breakfast (不吃早餐). However, most experts think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Another example is fast food; a hamburger from McDonald’s with special sauce and cheese is not exactly considered as a healthy meal. Our society today is developing fast and people are on the go at all times. It is much easier to stop and get fast food. As a result, humans become fatter. However, eating low-fat meals that include 5 to 9 serving of fruits and vegetables every day is an ideal healthy life plan. Therefore, good eating habits are the main way of living a healthy lifestyle.
Secondly, another way of living a healthy lifestyle is physical activity. Exercise is indeed part of life because it keeps the body and mind in good shape. Exercise reduces stress and contributes to (有助于) a good sleep. It can keep a person looking and feeling younger throughout his entire life, and it also helps build one’s energy and strength. So, physical activity is another way of living a healthy lifestyle.
Finally, another way is anti-alcoholism. Addiction to alcohol may cause serious social and public problems. It is accepted that driving after drinking is dangerous. Alcohol is a main factor of traffic deaths. Alcoholism can also lead to diseases, such as heart attack or liver trouble. Thus, anti-alcoholism is another way for a healthy lifestyle.
In conclusion, a healthy lifestyle can be maintained in three ways: the first way is good eating habits, the second way is regular physical activity and the final way is anti-alcoholism.
1. When it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, which of the following is not mentioned in the passage?| A．Good eating habits. | B．Anti-alcoholism. |
| C．Physical activity. | D．Losing weight. |
| A．Busy. | B．Boring. | C．Hard. | D．Happy. |
| A．By avoiding fast food. | B．By being happy every day. |
| C．By taking regular exercise. | D．By wearing some special clothes. |
| A．Life. | B．Sports. | C．Economy. | D．Advertisement. |
9 . There’s a reason why so many people love running early in the morning.
●Find a friend, and be gentle with yourself
Finding a partner to run with will give you someone to be responsible for, and make it much harder to blow off the run. It’s also important to remember that this is a process, and you can’t expect to do it perfectly from the beginning.
●Embrace the movement
“The first few steps or blocks will be tough in the morning. They always are,” says Dr. Jordan Metzl, who has over 32 marathon finishes under his belt. With a practice of more than 20, 000 patients, Metzl’s days are jam-packed, so early morning runs are a must.
●Stay warm
●
“I view waking up early like tearing off a Band-Aid,” says Michele Gonzalez, a running coach. “It’s gonna hurt for a bit.” Her advice is relatively simple. “You just have to set the alarm early and start doing it,” she says. “After a few days, you’ll be tired earlier at night and will start going to bed earlier. This makes the early alarm feel a bit more manageable.”
| A．It has major benefits. |
| B．Have a training plan. |
| C．Make peace with the pain. |
| D．It’s just like warming up a car in the winter. |
| E．Even if you have a setback or two, keep at it. |
| F．Still, he knows how hard it can be to get motivated. |
| G．The worst part is getting changed in the cold air especially in winter. |
10 . It is reported that 6 percent of the early deaths are caused by lack of physical activity, making it the fourth largest risk for death in the world after high blood pressure, smoking and high blood sugar.
Now good news is that there are about 17 million road runners in the US, and the roads are lined with people running slowly or fast. It is a good idea to join them.
| A．So exercise is necessary in everyday life. |
| B．There are various indoor sports. |
| C．Are you interested in taking exercise? |
| D．Running, however, is not the only method to keep fit. |
| E．Runners live an average of many years longer than non-runners. |
| F．Then you will enjoy the same joy of exercise as they do. |
| G．It could also reduce the deaths related to heart disease. |
