1 . A month before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only two weeks to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead.
I remembered back to my 7th year in school. In my first P. E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and then hit a softball. I didn’t do either well. He later informed me that I was “not athletic”.
The idea that I was “not athletic” stuck with me for years. When I started running in my 30s, I realized running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of wills!
The night before my marathon, I dreamt that I couldn’t even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but ready to prove something to myself.
Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces (鞋带) became untied. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted!
At mile 3, I passed a sign: “GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!”
By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt badly. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.
By mile 21, I was starving!
As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign She is my biggest fan.
She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 a. m. or questioned my expenses on running.
I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. In fact, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.
Determined to be myself, move forward, free of shame and worldly labels (世俗标签), I can now call myself a “marathon winner”.
1. A month before the marathon, though injured, the author __________.A.lost hope | B.felt scared | C.was well trained | D.made up his mind to run |
A.To share a special memory. | B.To thank his teacher for his support. |
C.To show he was not talented in sports. | D.To amuse the readers with a funny story. |
A.He made it. | B.He gave up halfway. | C.He walked to the end. | D.He got the first prize. |
A.One is never too old to learn. | B.Failure is the mother of success. |
C.A winner is one with great effort of will. | D.A man owes his success to his family support. |
A.Not athletic | B.Go for it, runner | C.A marathon winner | D.My first marathon |
2 . A 32-year-old Australian runner has set a new world record for continuous daily marathons as a woman.
Erchana Murray-Bartlett set out from Cape York, the tip of Australia, in August 2022. She then ra n a marathon every day for 150 days— a 3,900-mile journey that ended in Melbourne on Monday, January 16,2023.
By running the entire north-south distance of Australia, Murray-Bartlett beat the record held by British runner Kate Jayden, who ran a marathon for 106 continuous days last year. In addition to the new Guinness World Record, Murray-Bartlett was running to raise money for a conservation charity, the Wilderness Society. She raised $70,000 during her journey across Australia.
“Yesterday was everything,” she said. “When I stood on the start line on August 20 I could never have imagined what the next 22 weeks would bring... I can’t put into words how good crossing that finish line felt, and to be honest, I think I’ll be processing for a few weeks, months, and even years to come.”
Murray-Bartlett has been running professionally for many years. When she missed out on qualifying. for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she decided on a new goal: running the length of Australia and setting a new female record for continuous marathons.
To state the obvious: it wasn’t always easy. Murray-Bartlett experienced three injuries during the first 3 weeks of the journey. But she didn’t give up, and her body adapted as she ran along her country’s coasts, rainforests, dirt roads and highways. She ran through heavy rain and intense heat.
The journey also served to raise awareness of Australia’s extinction(灭绝) crisis. Many of the island nation’s plants and animals are found nowhere else — yet 500 of them are threatened with extinction. Throughout the trip, Murray-Bartlett highlighted her country’s biodiversity on social media. When she finally crossed the finish line on Monday evening, she learned she’d raised nearly double her fundraising(募捐) goal.
1. What’s one goal of Murray-Bartlett’s running?A.To enter the next Olympics. | B.To go on running professionally. |
C.To collect money for protecting wildlife. | D.To help bring back lost plants and animals. |
A.Pleased. | B.Faint. | C.Confident. | D.Horrible. |
A.Murray-Bartlett finished the journey uninjured. |
B.The good weather continued during her journey. |
C.There were many challenges during the journey. |
D.The journey raised awareness of extinction crisis. |
A.Energetic and frank. | B.Tough and determined. |
C.Positive and adventurous. | D.Considerate and generous. |
3 . It’s time for people to pick up their boom boxes and dust off their sneakers. Breaking, or competitive break dancing, is going for the gold.
On Dec 7, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)announced that breaking would be an Olympic sport at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. It will be the latest modern sport to be added to the Games. IOC President Thomas Bach said that the new addition of breaking could help the Olympics event be “more youthful”. “We had a clear priority, and this was to introduce sports particularly popular among the younger generation,” Bach said. “And also to take into consideration the urbanization of sport.”
Breaking was originally part of early hip-hop culture in New York in the 1970s. In the decades since, it has spread globally, enjoying huge popularity beyond the US and particularly across Europe and Asia. Though breaking is often categorized as a style of street dance, it more easily lends itself to the field of sports than other styles for the competitive nature.
“Back in the Bronx in New York, when it first started, it was always neighborhoods of kids just battling each other,” 26-year-old break-dancer Victor Montalvo told USA Today. “That’s how they did it back in the day.” “Breaking competitions typically consist of one-on-one battles in which one competitor challenges his or her rival with different moves and the other responds. It’s a sport/art just as physically demanding as high-intensity dancing and acrobatics (杂技)”, Montalvo added.
But as an art, breaking also features coordination and creativity. Some combinations of moves can be practiced, but much of a round is improvised. Combining vitality and creativity, breaking is accepted by young dancers across the world who are motivated by the prospect of representing their countries at the world’s biggest sporting event.
1. What does the underlined words “the gold” in Paragraph 1 refer to?A.golden color. | B.the gold medal. |
C.big wealth. | D.great importance. |
A.It has a short history. | B.It reflects the urbanization of sport. |
C.It is a new addition to the Olympics. | D.It is popular with the younger generation. |
A.To show breaking is loved by neighborhoods’ kids |
B.To explain why breaking is more like a sport. |
C.To prove breaking has a long history. |
D.To show Bronx is the birthplace of breaking |
A.To stress the importance of breaking. | B.To introduce a new Olympic event-breaking. |
C.To throw light on the rules of breaking. | D.To make a brief historical review of breaking. |
4 . The family of a gifted chess player living in London has been given the right to stay in Britain because of his “world-class talent”.
Nine-year-old Shreyas Royal had to leave the country with his parents when his father’s work visa (签证) couldn’t be used next month, the UK Press Association (PA) reported.
In a post (帖子) on his Facebook page Friday, Shreyas celebrated the news that they could now stay, saying it was a “deep pleasure for all of us”. “I would like to say a big thank-you to each and everyone from the bottom of my heart!” he wrote.
Shreyas, who plays for Battersea Chess Club, was born in India but moved to Britain when he was three years old after his father, an IT project manager, was offered a job there, according to PA.
The Home Office said the boy’s father, Jitendra Singh, had been given permission to ask for another five-year work visa without leaving the United Kingdom due to Shreyas’ talent, according to PA.
“After much research, I have taken the personal decision to allow Shreyas and his family to stay in the UK,” Home Secretary Sajid Javid said. “The UK is a country that brings up world-class talent and Shreyas is one of the most gifted chess players in his generation (代).”
Battersea Chess Club, which was established in 1885, welcomed the Home Office’s decision in a statement on its website.
“Shreyas is a very nice, down-to-earth young man who has a big future ahead of him on the world stage hopefully representing England,” said club secretary Leon Watson. “We strongly believe he will make us proud. We wish him every success going forward. In 10 years’ time we hope he’ll be a famous name as England’s first world champion.”
In a Facebook post on Monday, Shreyas announced that following his performance at the British Chess Championship he was now ranked second in the world for his age group.
1. What led to the special treatment of Shreyas Royal’s family?A.Sajid Javid’s help. | B.Leon Watson’s support. |
C.Jitendra Singh’s requirement. | D.Shreyas Royal’s special talent. |
A.Thankful. | B.Surprised. | C.Confused. | D.Regretful. |
A.For about three years. | B.For about six years. |
C.For about nine years. | D.For about ten years. |
A.Very interested. | B.A little worried. |
C.Very confident. | D.A little doubtful. |
A.He has moved to India now. |
B.He does well at school too. |
C.He has achieved fame in playing chess internationally. |
D.He moved to England to learn to play chess. |
5 . 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 and one foot remain in contact 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 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 related to 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 talk with a coach or experienced racer to learn proper technique, she says. It takes some practice.
1. Why are race walkers conditioned athletes?A.They have to follow special rules. | B.They are suitable for the marathon. |
C.They must run long distances. | D.They are good at swinging their legs. |
A.It’s more effective in body building. | B.It’s less challenging physically. |
C.It’s less likely to cause knee injuries. | D.It’s more popular at the Olympics. |
A.becoming an experienced coach. | B.Having a medical checkup. |
C.Doing regular exercises. | D.Getting experts’ opinions. |
A.Objective. | B.Negative. | C.Doubtful. | D.Positive. |
6 . Back in January, my partner and I resolved to take exercise seriously. This would mean spending hours every week working out, stretching and sweating our way to better health, which is something that is particularly difficult when you glance at the weather outside and see dark clouds on the horizon. “Looks like it is about to rain, I guess I’ll go for a run tomorrow instead.” But then just as we were on the edge of giving up again, we discovered a brilliant new way to make exercise better: by turning it into a video game.
SWIFT is a cycling game that you control by pedaling your real bike, which is fixed onto a device called a turbo-trainer. As you pedal, the trainer sends signals back to your computer to control the character on screen. And smartly, the game sends back instructions to the trainer to apply different levels of resistance, so that as you’re cycling up a hill in the game, you can actually feel it on the bike.
So, after restoring our small garage and signing up for a $12 per month subscription, we had our TV, bike and all-important cooling fan ready to go.
Once you’re set up, you can participate in virtual cycle rides in 3D-recreations of real places, like London and New York, or fictional locations. And importantly, other real human cyclists appear alongside you, sharing your journey.
The genius of the design is that it has used lots of the tricks of traditional video games to keep pushing you a little bit further and harder: go a little faster, and you’ll be rewarded with a little achievement marker, and if you pedal harder, you might win a race against another real player. It’s essentially generating for some sort of dopamine(多巴胺) hits that riding along on a traditional exercise bike simply can’t match.
I’m not the only person who has noticed this. Today many other companies in the tech industry are chasing the same users, and they all offer their own unique versions.
1. Why does the author mention the weather in Paragraph 1?A.To give a warning of the coming storm. |
B.To complain about the changeable weather. |
C.To reveal the limitation of traditional exercise. |
D.To persuade readers to mind the weather while exercising. |
A.A real bike. | B.Monthly payment. |
C.A turbo-trainer. | D.3D glasses. |
A.How SWIFT motivates its users. |
B.Who are the target users of SWIFT. |
C.What physical benefits SWIFT users get. |
D.Why traditional bikes are replaced by SWIFT. |
A.Unclear. | B.Critical. |
C.Doubtful. | D.Favorable. |
7 . Sports play a large role in millions of lives. As parents, we want to find an activity that our children are passionate (热诚的) about. Let’s look at how to encourage kids to play sports.
Let them pick which sport they want to play. Don’t force kids to follow in your footsteps.
Praise effort and be supportive. Not all kids are gifted athletes and that’s OK.
Make sports fun and let kids be kids. Keep in mind how a child’s mind works. Let them find the fun in sports and support them as they try new activities and explore their interests.
Be present. The smallest action can have the largest impact (巨大影响).
will always remember.
A.It’s important to teach them to set goals. |
B.They might have different passions than you. |
C.When they look over to the sideline, be there. |
D.Let them experience the game at an advanced level. |
E.Take advantage of a time they are excited to be outdoors. |
F.Their enjoyment in the sport, the fun, should be the top focus. |
G.As long as they enjoy the activity and try their best, that’s all you can ask for. |
Freckleton, Lancashire, 18 June
Take part in running history with this great event, held between Preston and Blackpool. It’s the oldest half marathon (马拉松) in the country and began back in 1965. You’ll have every chance of recording a great time yourself on this mostly flat road race, which starts at 2 pm.
bookitzone.com
Jersey Half Marathon
St Brelade, Jersey, 11 June
Please praise the organizers of this event for making the race friendlier to our environment. They’ve done away with free shirts (you can choose to plant a tree instead) and their medal is made of reused paper and includes wildflower seeds (种子), so you can remember your race in a beautiful corner of your garden.
runjersey.co.uk
Norn Iron Ultra 100
Ballintoy, Co. Antrim, 3-4 June
The Ulster Way spreads out for some 1,024 km in a circle around Northern Ireland. This 100-mile run covers the coastline and mountains. These hills are beautiful but also come with some painful inclines (斜坡).
werunwildni.com
Giants Head Marathon
Sydling St Nicholas, Dorset, 17 June
This is certainly one of the hardest marathons in the UK, and not just because it rises to 1,000 m above sea level (all in the form of short climbs, might we add). It also passes a quite wonderful huge chalk figure (人像) carved into a hillside near Cerne Abbas.
whitestarrunning.co.uk
1. When will the oldest half marathon be held?
A.On 3 June. | B.On 11 June. |
C.On 17 June. | D.On 18 June. |
A.Norn Iron Ultra 100. | B.Jersey Half Marathon. |
C.Giants Head Marathon. | D.Freckle ton Half Marathon. |
A.It is a flat road race. |
B.It will last for two days. |
C.It is unfriendly to new runners. |
D.It can be read about on werunwildni.com. |
9 . In an ideal world, we would be able to devote as much time to sports as we feel we need. But in reality, with growing demands in both work and family, we can only jump at the chance for our physical exercise when we can. Making the most of that time to practice Yin Yang yoga, which mixes the dynamic and slow-paced elements of yoga, helps keep you active and relaxed.
Yin and Yang are the Taoist concepts representing a balance of opposite forces which are also interconnected. Yin is inactive, cooling, and negative, associated with the female force. Yang is active, warming, and positive, associated with action and movement. They are complementary to one another, as one cannot exist without the other.
Yin Yang yoga is a combination (结合体) of high-energy movement which builds energy, increases strength and promotes stamina (耐力), followed by the more restful practice of Yin to give us a deeper stretch (拉伸) and calm the nervous system.
If you have a busy and active life you may feel more in Yang, so taking some cooler, slower Yin yoga practice into your routine may help you feel calmer and more balanced.
If you are practicing for an hour, divide the time in half. Warm up with sun salutations (拜日式瑜伽), continue into a dynamic flow and then move on to some standing postures. After half an hour your heart will be pumping, muscles tighten up and you are hopefully feeling energetic, but ready for a rest. Then pick five Yin postures to hold for 3-5 minutes, or even longer if you are enjoying them!
As ever with yoga, if you are a beginner or have health issues, always attend a class with a trained instructor first to guide you safely through the yoga practice and avoid injury.
1. What can be inferred from paragraph 1?A.Most of our sports time should be spent on Yin Yang yoga. |
B.We’d better devote as much time to physical exercise as we can. |
C.Busy schedule makes it impossible for us to do any form of sports. |
D.Yin Yang yoga can be a choice of physical exercise when we are busy. |
A.Independent from one another. |
B.Competitive against one another. |
C.Similar to each other but unable to work together as a whole. |
D.Different from each other but together making a good combination. |
A.Relaxing muscles. | B.Building stamina. |
C.Strengthening the body. | D.Quickening the heartbeat. |
A.Hold each Yin posture for longer than 5 minutes. |
B.Do not practice yoga when you are not in good health. |
C.Start your yoga practice with an expert trainer. |
D.Spare half an hour for five Yin postures in every yoga practice. |
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. |