1 . I love outings to the ballpark. My ears perk (竖起) up at the whack of a precisely hit ball, my nose enjoys the scent of hot dogs, and my heart jumps at the possibility of winning it all. But a few years ago I discovered the best way to watch a baseball game might be not to watch at all.
This discovery arose the year I got married. The first apartment my husband and I rented could charitably be called “charming”, although “diminutive” better describes it. But to young newlyweds, the 41-square-metre apartment felt sublime. The best thing about the apartment, in my opinion, was its location a quarter-mile from baseball’s oldest stadium, Boston’s Fenway Park.
The only problem? My husband was not a Red Sox fan. I hadn’t anticipated this stumbling block. He was an avid sports fan, and he’d only just moved to Boston. Surely a love of the hometown team would seep into his heart as naturally as fish take to water.
My hopes faded as the season began. A Seattle Mariners hat remained firmly planted on his head. Matching Red Sox T-shirts earned a veto.
As newlywed disagreements go, this one wasn’t horrible. Plenty of couples flourish with dueling team loyalties. But a worry nagged: If he couldn’t root for the Red Sox, would he ever truly make Boston home?
As a student, when the magic in the air that season permeated (传播) the girls’ boarding school I attended outside Boston, we begged our house directors to let us stay up past curfew to watch the games on TV, and when they at first refused, we listened on radios in our rooms and gleefully burst into the halls to cheer.
So when my husband said he’d never be a Red Sox fan, my heart clenched. But one delightful spring day our teeny apartment came to my rescue. As we sat at our dining room table, we heard a roar swell to a crescendo. This was the first indication that we could hear the stadium crowds from our home.
1. What do we learn about the author from Paragraph 1?| A．She has a good appetite. |
| B．She used to be a very energetic player. |
| C．She is very alert to smell. |
| D．She is a baseball fan. |
| A．Very smart. |
| B．Very small. |
| C．Extremely broken. |
| D．Extremely old. |
| A．She tolerated them. |
| B．She ignored them. |
| C．She argued with her husband frequently. |
| D．She attended school for baseball games. |
| A．Watching games with her husband at home. |
| B．Listening to the games from the neighboring stadium. |
| C．Communicating with her husband while dining. |
| D．Listening to the games on radios at home. |
2 . Every racehorse has different abilities．Like humans，some are short- distance runners，while others are marathoners． Figuring out which is which and how to pace them can be the difference between failure in the finish and taking the award home．Jockeys （赛马骑师） and trainers have traditionally relied on centuries of experience and data from previous races to plan their races．
Amandine Aftalion，a mathematician in Paris，thought she could add to that．Since 2013，she has been analyzing the performances of world champion runners like Usain Bolt．She has found that short-distance runners tend to win when they start strong and gradually slow down toward the finish line．But in medium-distance races，runners perform better when they start strong，settle down，and finish with a burst of speed．
Her model shows how those winning strategies maximize the energy output of muscles reliant on two different pathways：powerful aerobic（有氧的）ones that require oxygen，which can be in limited supply during a race，and anaerobic ones，which don't need oxygen but build up waste products that lead to tiredness．
Aftalion wondered which strategy would be best for horses．So she and Quentin Mercier，another mathematician， took advantage of a new GPS tracking tool inserted in French racing saddles（马鞍）．
The two studied patterns in many races at the Chantilly racetracks north of Paris and developed a model that accounted for winning strategies for three different races：a short one(1，300 meters)， a medium one (1,900 meters)， and a slightly longer one (2,100 meters)，all with different starting points on the same track．The model takes into account not just different race distances，but also the size or friction from the track surface．
The results might surprise jockeys who hold horses back early for bursts of energy in the last finish．Instead，a strong start leads to a better finish，the team found．“That doesn't mean those jockeys are wrong，though．If the start is too strong，it can be devastating as well，leaving the horse tired by the end，” Aftalion says．
1. What should a runner do to get an award according to the text?| A．Make a good start． | B．Plan for the race early． |
| C．Run slowly on the starting line． | D．Try running quickly all the time． |
| A．The experience and data from previous horse races． |
| B．The benefit of knowing horses' different abilities． |
| C．The success in studying runners' winning strategies． |
| D．The performance of horses on different race distances． |
| A．Boring． | B．Damaging． | C．Astonishing． | D．Puzling． |
| A．Runners have the same energy output of muscles． |
| B．Aftalion's findings may help horses to win the race． |
| C．What Jockeys and trainers do makes no sense to horses． |
| D．World champion runners made a contribution to the study． |
3 . Accompanied by her father, using a combination of aid and free climbing and taking advantage of some special equipment and ropes for protection, 10-year-old Selah made it to the top of El Capitan on June 12 after five days of big wall climbing.
Climbing the challenging and adventurous Nose route of El Capitan was a labor of love for Selah in more than one way. Her parents , Mike and Joy Schneiter, fell in love on this 3,000- plus-foot huge rock and she has always wanted to feel the way that her parents felt when they were up there together. Selah showed great interest in rock climbing at an early age. She wore her first rock-climbing equipment shortly after she learned to walk. She first dreamed of climbing El Capitan when she was 6 or 7.
El Capitan is a famous mountain-sized rock in Yosemite National Park. Getting to its top is no easy task. It's taller, as reported, than the tallest building in the world-Dubai’s Buri Khalifa. El Capitan and its difficult Nose route, which runs more than 3,000 feet high up the center of the rock's face, is considered one of the world's hardest big wall climbs and has attracted the best climbers over time. But never before had a youngster accomplished it.
Selah's achievement caught national attention. Outside Magazine called her the youngest documented person to climb the Nose. Ken Yager, president of the Yosemite Climbing Association, said he also couldn't think of anyone younger who has done it.
Selah is humble about her El Capitan accomplishment. "I'm not necessarily a special kid or anything like that, she said. "There were a few times when I would be so worn that it would kind of discourage me from holding on. But overall, it was just great to keep plugging away.”
Selah shared this advice for other young climbers dreaming of big walls, "It doesn't take necessarily a super special person to do something like that. You just have to put your mind to it.”
1. What do we learn about Selah climbing El Capitan?| A．She began her climbing on June 5. |
| B．She got inspired by her family history. |
| C．She managed without any external help. |
| D．She was the first female to reach the top. |
| A．To state El Capitan's height. |
| B．To prove El Capitan's popularity. |
| C．To introduce El Capitan's location. |
| D．To stress the challenge of climbing El Capitan. |
| A．Determined. | B．Generous. |
| C．Warm-hearted. | D．Fortunate. |
| A．Dream big and aim high. |
| B．Be committed to your ambition. |
| C．Chance favors the prepared mind. |
| D．Nothing is impossible for a genius. |
