1 . Since the 1980s, Special Olympics Unified Sports has created chances for many middle and high school students that they didn’t have before. Young athletes with intellectual (智力的) and physical disabilities (缺陷) who played in the Special Olympics could now play on middle and high school teams. More than 1.6 million Unified teammates now compete in more than 30sports around the world. Unified athletes train and play with Unified student partners.
Contoocook Valley Regional High School (ConVal) has two Unified sports programs:basketball and soccer. Kevin Came, a ConVal Unified basketball coach, understands the influence that these teams have on the athletes. “Unified Sports has the same influence on the athletes as all other varsity (大学) sports,” he says. “It builds their personalities, helps build sport skills, confidence, teamwork, and gives them the honor of playing for their school. Days of playing high school sports will be long remembered by the athletes as years go by.”
Unified teams are considered varsity sports, but there are no tryouts, and the spirit around both teams is always positive and encouraging.
Steve Erdody has coached Unified basketball for 10 years. “My goal is always to make it a positive experience every time, whether it be a practice or game, and that goes for opponents (对手) too. We try to get every athlete on our team to score each game, as well as help the athletes on the other team score.”
Andres Torugee, a recent Con Val graduate, played on both the Unified soccer and Unified basketball teams. “If you are considering joining a Unified sport, you should go for it because it was so much fun playing soccer and basketball and the coaches are really good and funny too,” Torugee said. “Unified and Special Olympics taught me to play as a team and to share the ball with my teammates. It was a great way to make friends.”
1. What do we know about Unified Sports?| A．It has spread worldwide. |
| B．It is open to the disabled only. |
| C．It includes fewer than 30 sports. |
| D．It has been popular for more than a century. |
| A．It is challenging for the athletes. |
| B．It is not as famous as the Olympics. |
| C．It has a great influence on the athletes. |
| D．It helps the athletes more than other varsity sports. |
| A．Getting his team to win. |
| B．Coaching a Unified basketball team. |
| C．Making Unified basketball a positive experience. |
| D．Helping the athletes attend the Special Olympics. |
| A．Boring. | B．Helpful. | C．Difficult. | D．Surprising. |
2 . Last summer, over 12,000 fans were at Wembley Arena in London, shouting and cheering. Thousands more were watching online.
Millions of people in the UK play games for fun. Some of them have become professional games, playing games as their full-time job.
But are esports really sports? Are players athletes? Some say no.
But others say yes: esports are sports. Players do need some physical skills, especially hand-eye coordination (协调) and timing. Snooker (斯诺克台球) and shooting are classified as sports.
| A．Then perhaps esports should be, too. |
| B．They prove popular throughout the world. |
| C．Instead, it has great influence on their health. |
| D．It’s not easy being a professional gamer, though. |
| E．But this wasn’t a football, basketball or tennis match. |
| F．As well as playing games, many people like watching them, too. |
| G．Esports players don’t need to run, jump, throw or do big physical actions. |
3 . “Second place is just the first loser” is a well-known saying from the legendary NASCAR champion Dale Eamhardt. Or as my father put it jokingly, “It’s not enough to win. Your friends have to lose too.” We may not want others to know our thoughts, but many of us think this way, because we are born to compete with each other. However, if left unmanaged, this can create disagreements between ourselves and others. Fortunately, there is a way to solve this problem: instead of always going for gold, aim for the bronze (铜牌) .
To expand on the wisdom of Earnhardt, let’s put it another way: although second place may be the first loser, third place can be the real winner, at least when it comes to happiness. A 1995 study discovered that bronze winners appeared happier on average than silver medalists, while another research in 2018 studied U.S. athletes in the Olympics from 1904 to 1936 and found that those whose best performance was silver lived to 72 on average. Gold medalists beat this by living to 76 But the first prize went to the bronze winners, who lived to 78.
The social concepts of upward and downward comparison help explain the difference. Silver medalists see themselves as the first loser because they compare themselves only with the champions. However, the bronze winners compare downwards with those who have never made it onto the podium at all. Therefore, they feel better about themselves and thus, happier. The feeling shows up in improved health. In fact, researchers have found that comparing ourselves with the unfortunate ones can help prevent a negative mood. The comparison is not from a feeling of ill will, but because rewards in life are relative (相对的).
The worldly happiness strategy of working for gold every day is foolish. Stop spending most of your time feeling like a silver medalist or always relying your happiness on a single result. Rather, aim for healthy competitions in which you do your best without the expectation of being the top winner.
1. What will be influenced by the type of medal one receives?| A．Wisdom. | B．Lifetime. | C．Wealth. | D．Recovery. |
| A．The place to receive the awards. |
| B．The place to meet his or her fans. |
| C．The place to build up one’s body. |
| D．The place to have the competitions. |
| A．Who Is the Real Winner? | B．How to Win a Gold Medal? |
| C．Should We Work for Gold? | D．Is It Difficult to Win? |
| A．Athletes. | B．Reporters. | C．Doctors. | D．Soldiers. |
4 . 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. |
5 . Thousands of runners did up their running shoes and poured out from the starting line while crowds cheered along the course. Marathons in China are picking up the pace again.
According to the Chinese Athletics Association, a total of 133 marathons across the country have been registered for the first six months of the year. On March 26, more than 300,000 runners took part in 26 marathon events nationwide, reported China Daily.
Teenagers have also taken part in marathons. Xu Qian, a 15-year-old teenager from Suqian, Jiangsu, loves running. He got first place in the 5-kilometer Happy Run of the Jingdong Suqian Marathon held on April 2.
For Xu, the race meant months of training and preparation. He ran about 30 to 40 kilometers in local stadiums each week ahead of the run. “Compared with the 800-meter run at school which is more about speed, a marathon tests a runner’s endurance (耐力) and psychological quality,” he told Teens. When he felt tired during the race, he told himself not to give up. “In long-distance running, the only opponent you have to beat is yourself,” Xu added.
Apart from one’s willpower, kindness from the audience also plays a big part in helping runners get to the finishing line. Li Zhouzi from Shanxi took part in a 3-kilometer Kid Run of the Berlin Marathon in Germany in 2019 when she was 10. The support from the people cheering along the course really encouraged her.
“When things were hard, people from across the world cheered me on. Even if it was just the words ‘keep it up’, it meant a lot to me and I was inspired to keep going to the end,” Li told Teens.
She believes that running a marathon is about staying focused on the final goal, not the suffering along the way. “Likewise, our life is also a marathon,” Li said.
1. How is marathon in China according to the text?| A．Strange. | B．Outdated. | C．Popular. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Runners’ psychological quality determines their speed. |
| B．Marathon has positive influence on his body and mind. |
| C．Speed is the only way to beat opponents during the race. |
| D．Unlike long-distance running, the 800-meter run tests runners’ endurance. |
| A．It gave her confidence in life. |
| B．It didn’t make a big difference. |
| C．It made her depressed. |
| D．It gave her strength to race to the end. |
| A．Their life goals. |
| B．Their competition age group. |
| C．Their way of being encouraged. |
| D．Their character of being fearless of difficulties. |
6 . Just Cycle And Fold Away
There’s no excuse not to get on your bike this spring. Get your indoor cycling fix and feel the benefits.
Great for general cardio (有氧的) fitness, exercise bikes can be a brilliant way of training at home. However, choosing the right bike is incredibly important, which is something that Roger Black and his team recognized when creating the Roger Black Folding Bike.
“Excellent value for money. Especially the ability to fold the exercise bike into a vertical (直立的) position and wheel it away for storage. This can also prevent you from throwing your clothes on it at the end of the day! Even if we are limited on space at home and work, we can continue physical activity with a Roger Black folding bike. This bike is helping me achieve my fitness goals following a recent running injury.”
——Brian Smith
“Best Present EVER are the words from my 77-year-old father who received his Roger Black fitness bike for his birthday. He said it is so simple and easy to use. The seat is VERY comfortable, so using it every day is a pleasure. It folds away nearly so it can be stored behind a door when necessary.”
——Anna Farnham
Roger Black is offering a 10% discount on the full www.rogerblackfitness.com range of home fitness equipment for all Reader’s Digest readers. Please use discount code DIGEST10 at checkout.
1. What can people do with a Roger Black Folding Bike?| A．Cycle in the mountains. | B．Work out at home. |
| C．Hang their clothes. | D．Get a discount. |
| A．Easy storage. | B．Reasonable price. |
| C．Comfortable seats. | D．Excellent quality. |
| A．A textbook. | B．A scientific report. |
| C．A magazine. | D．An academic article. |
7 . When Nigeria’s first-ever female taekwondo (跆拳道) Olympian Princess Dudu was fighting on the Olympic mat sat Athens 2004, five-year-old Elizabeth Anyanacho was enjoying one of her favourite movies at her home in Abuja.
She knows that the Olympics are not a joke, and she dreams of being a role model to other women. At 16, Anyanacho wanted to try out a sport. She began training with the track and field team at a local stadium in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.
During one of her training courses, she was spotted by Chika Chukwumerije who was at the stadium to identify up-and-coming talent to train for taekwondo. “In 2015, I went to the stadium to find tall boys and girls. Her body structure fits the body of a taekwondo athlete. She had never done sport in her life,” said Chukwumerije, now the technical director at Nigerian Taekwondo. Chukwumerije, a three-time Olympian figured Anyanacho’s long legs would give her an edge over opponents (对手) when she is kicking from a distance.
“I was happy to give it a try,” said Anyanacho. “I was excited when I discovered taekwondo.” Anyanacho spent more time training and improving her skills. She was outstanding on the mat. In her first competition in 2017 held in neighbouring Ghana, she won gold. The national under-67kg champion has competed in 13 tournaments (联赛), winning eight of them and finishing twice in second and three times in third place. All these events formed part of the road that led her to Tokyo.
“Taekwondo has given me confidence, exposed me to different cultures and I have made friends from all over the world. I would not have had all these opportunities if it weren’t for taekwondo,” said Anyanacho. In addition to her Olympic goals, she hopes her rise can inspire more women.
1. What is Anyanacho’s dream?| A．To make more money. | B．To inspire more athletes. |
| C．To become a famous athlete. | D．To set an example for other women. |
| A．Long legs. | B．Perfect figures. | C．Good personalities. | D．Strong arms. |
| A．She benefited a lot from taekwondo. |
| B．She was good at making friends. |
| C．She used to lack responsibility. |
| D．She lost a lot of opportunities. |
| A．Creative and confident. | B．Humorous and clever. |
| C．Talented and inspiring. | D．Determined and brave. |
8 . My son loves hockey (曲棍球). As his supportive fan, I watched him paying in all the matches across half of USA this year, and I’ve learned that losing maybe best for kids.
In his third season in 2022, my son’s team never lost more than three straight games. There was happiness, boasting, celebration, pizza. In short, it was a typically good youth hockey season. He improved as a player, but did not much change as a person.
However, what happened the next year added its story to the legends of sporting inability. Not only weak but prettily bad, this team lost 40 of their first 50 games, most of the defeats coming in the course of two losing streaks (倒霉的时刻). For a time, I worried that these streaks would kill my child’s love of the game.
But that’s not what happened. As bad as it got, the losing was clarifying. It kept out the kids who were in it less for the game than the glory, leaving just the die-hards behind. What started as a list of 17 of the team was cut down to 12. It was especially instructive for the kids. It taught him a great truth of the world: For everyone good, there is someone better.
What more, the kids were learning the game in a way that only losing can teach. Each player got to play everywhere, to learn and appreciate the role of every position on the ice. They kept an eye on the payers from the other team too, studying and applying the tricks of success. In an effort to break the streak, they went back to basics, accepted the intelligence of the hockey ancients: If playing like a team, they can defeat a collection of all-stars; If doing small and unimportant tasks well, they can get the goal.
This new team had personalities and could never be listed, no matter the score. They had learned the most important lesson: You can lose without being beaten. They squeaked into the state game, then made it all the way to the final, where the winner was decided in overtime (超时赛). When they lost that game and went into the handshake line, it was not as runners-up but as a team that had been made into winners in the only way that will stick — by losing.
1. What does the author think about his son’s team in the third season in 2022?| A．The team succeeded as a result of good luck. |
| B．The team had an extremely impressive performance. |
| C．The team didn’t live up to the author’s expectations. |
| D．The team behaved rather badly in three straight games. |
| A．The losing improved their teamwork. |
| B．The losing made them better understand hockey. |
| C．The losing helped them learn a great truth of the world. |
| D．The losing kept true players instead of those for the glory. |
| A．They became the winner finally. |
| B．They didn’t start their training as beginners. |
| C．They have personalities that can be counted. |
| D．They applied themselves to improving their skill. |
| A．Falls seven times, stand up eight. |
| B．The hardest fight is to fight oneself. |
| C．God helps those who help themselves. |
| D．Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. |
9 . Ida Keeling’s daughter, Cheryl, a lifelong athlete, thought that maybe what would pull her mother out from under her dark cloud was something that would get her pumping again. She suggested a run. Not just a jog around the block, but an official run. At the time, Ida Keeling was 67.
Keeling had grown up poor in Harlem, and had done hard work in factories. She had lost her husband early to a heart attack, and two of her four children—both of her sons— died in unsolved drug-related incidents in 1978 and 1981.
Keeling had sunk into a deep depression (消沉), and her health had begun to slide. Her daughters began to worry that they soon might be losing their mother as well.
It had been decades since Keeling had done any running, and she would later recall that first “mini-run” feeling as if it would never end. But when it did, “I just threw off all my bad memories.”
She hasn’t stopped running since, and it’s no longer the tough work it was during that first meet. Since then, the small Keeling has set records for 60 meters in the 95-to-99 age group, and in 100 meters for the over-100 group.
“I was just exercising,” she says regarding that first run, “and now I'm all over the world.”
When she’s not running, she’s working out. She’s in the gym three to four days a week, running on tread-mills (跑步机), working out with weights and pedaling on the exercise bike, and even squeezing in some squats (深蹲) while she’s cooking. Part of her healthy diet is occasional brandy wine mixed with her coffee or water to aid circulation (血液循环).
She’s written a book about her experiences, titled Can’t Nothing Bring Me Down: Chasing Myself in the Race Against Time. Her philosophy is also suitable for a runner: “Every day is another day forward.”
1. What do the underlined words “get her pumping” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Free her from great pressure. | B．Fill her with life and energy. |
| C．Equip her with self-confidence. | D．Remind her of her problems. |
| A．She had grown up poor. | B．She had done hard work. |
| C．She had been in poor health. | D．She had lost her husband and sons. |
| A．Travelling around the world. | B．The mini-run experience. |
| C．Working out whenever possible. | D．Brandy wine mixed with coffee. |
| A．Athletic and strong-willed. | B．Caring and sport-loving. |
| C．Friendly and hard-working. | D．Humorous and outgoing. |
| A．Run forward. | B．Never too old to learn. |
| C．Live healthily. | D．Never give up hope in life. |
10 . Tennis great Billie Jean King is a great athlete and a pioneer in sport and she won four singles titles at the US Open between 1967 and 1974. Now, the same tennis officials with whom she often competed with have paid her a special honor. US Open organizers named their venue (会场) the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at the beginning of this year’s championship. The decision came as a surprise to the star.
Billie Jean King had her first tennis lesson at the age of 11, and became interested in it. Six years later she made herself known winning the first of 20 titles at Wimbledon in the doubles championship. King went on to become the first female athlete to earn $100,000 in a year. But her greatest achievements may have been off the game. She devoted herself to fighting for equal status (地位) for women and women in sports that went far away from tennis.
A unique chance arrived and it proved a perfect way for King to further change the place of women in sports in 1973. She was challenged to play a man-tennis great Bobby Riggs. The men organizing the event expected it would provide great fun and the event was reported by sportscaster (体育评论员) Howard Cosell. But King found he focused on her appearance, never mentioning her athletic achievements. King saw it as a crossroad in her fighting for women’s equality in sports. She did win, further opening chances for girls in sports.
But some young female athletes now don’t take these chances seriously. When asked what they knew about Billie King, they looked puzzled. “They’ve got many chances to play and it’s a good thing. However, we still have a long way to go for girls and women in sports and that’s what I want-- I want the dream to be equal” She said.
1. Billie Jean King fought with tennis officials for ______.| A．better pay for herself | B．more chances to compete |
| C．the equality (平等) for women in sports | D．a special honor from them |
| A．her competition with Bobby Riggs in 1973 |
| B．being the first athlete to get a yearly income of $100,000 |
| C．the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center |
| D．her victory in the doubles championship |
| A．To attract more audience for the interests of the organizer. |
| B．To increase Billie King’s fame in the sports field. |
| C．To make the sport tennis popular: |
| D．To further open chances for women in sports. |
| A．has always been respected and honored in sports from the start |
| B．thinks that the status women have got in sports is high enough |
| C．is disappointed at not being recognized by young female athletes |
| D．thinks inequality between men and women in sports still exists |
| A．beautiful female athletes were not quite common |
| B．women athletes were looked down upon at that time |
| C．Billy King remained unknown at that time |
| D．he didn’t know much about Billie King. |
