1 . Walking or running outdoors, people usually see rubbish all over the ground. Well, some people are doing something about it.
A Swedish man named Erik Ahlström, started the movement in 2016. He moved to Stockholm from a small community(社区) in northern Sweden. Each day he would ride his bike to work. He became worried about the amount of rubbish and litter he saw each day on his way to work. So, he took matters into his own hands. He began picking up the rubbish.
Today, plogging is an official activity, which is becoming more and more popular. People of all ages are welcome to plog. Exercise while helping your community.
Along with cleaning up the environment, there may be another reason to choose plogging instead of just jogging. You may get a better workout. One fitness app, Lifesum, records one hour of plogging as burning 288 calories.
As can be seen, cities around the world now hold plogging events. The goal is to spread the idea that littering is not acceptable. People would think twice before dropping a garbage on the ground.
| A．And that is how plogging was born! |
| B．In other words, plogging is equal parts of exercise and community service. |
| C．There are people all around the world doing this. |
| D．They are plogging! |
| E．You get to know your neighbors. |
| F．And plogging does good to your mental health. |
| G．Usual jogging burns about 235 calories. |
2 . How does a person become an Olympic champion? In reality, a combination of biological, environmental, and psychological elements, as well as training and practice, all go into making a super athlete.
Perhaps the most important element involved in becoming an outstanding athlete is genetic. Most Olympic competitors are equipped with certain physical characteristics that make them different from the average person. Olympic weightlifters, for example, have a large number of fast- twitch fibers (快速收缩肌肉纤维) in their muscles. These allow them to lift hundreds of kilos from the ground and over their heads in seconds. Surprisingly, a large, muscular body is not the main requirement to do well in this sport. It is more important to have a large number of fast-twitch fibers in the muscles.
The legs of an outstanding marathon runner, on the other hand, might contain up to 90 percent slow-twitch muscle fibers. When we exercise long or hard, it’s common to experience tiredness, muscle pain, and difficulty breathing. These feelings are caused when the muscles produce high amounts of a substance called lactate and can’t remove it quickly enough. Athletes with many slow-twitch muscle fibers seem to be able to clear the lactate from their muscles faster as they move.
Some athletes’ abilities are naturally enhanced by their environment. Those raised at high altitudes (海拔高地) in countries such as Kenya have blood rich in hemoglobin (血红素). Large amounts of hemoglobin carry oxygen around the body faster, enabling these athletes to run better. Although genes, environment, and even culture play a part in becoming an outstanding athlete, training and practice are needed to succeed. Marathon runners may be able to control tiredness and keep moving for long periods of time, but they must train to reach their goals. Weightlifters and gymnasts perfect their skills by repeating the same motions again and again until they become automatic. Greg Louganis, winner of four Olympic diving gold medals, says divers must train the same way to be successful: “You have less than three seconds from takeoff until you hit the water, so it has to be reflex (对刺激的本能反应). You have to repeat the dives hundreds, maybe thousands, of times.” Training this way requires an athlete to be not only physically fit but psychologically healthy as well. Otherwise, they couldn’t handle the training loads.
1. Having a lot of slow-twitch muscle fibers is particularly important for ________.| A．long-distance cyclists | B．gymnasts |
| C．table-tennis players | D．weightlifters |
| A．strength | B．pain | C．excitement | D．dizziness |
| A．Athletes cannot perform well unless they are under pressure. |
| B．A professional athlete should think carefully about each movement. |
| C．It’s important to practice and train hard, but not take things too seriously. |
| D．It’s important to joke with your teammates before you perform any sport. |
| A．The size of a super athlete. |
| B．Ways to qualify for the Olympics. |
| C．Different muscle types of a super athlete. |
| D．Factors that make someone a super athlete. |
3 . Barbara, 70, and me, at 71, have swum together for at least 50 years. We swim in a quiet cove (小海湾). It’s home to seagulls, a duck or two, and kayaks (独木舟) on occasion. The difficult summer drought of 2021 brought a burning sun that warmed the water. As the drought eased and the water cooled in late August, we decided to keep swimming. We have both read Bonnie Tsui’s Why We Swim, a fine book about cold-water swimming. We challenged ourselves to swim for as long as possible through September and into October.
I have long loved swimming, though the fear of being seen as fat has dogged me. I am one of those female bodies poorly displayed in bathing suits. Cold-water swimming deepened my sense of well-being and let me use my body. It became a ritual Barbara and I embraced as swimming sisters. When she returned to the United States immediately after our Canadian Thanksgiving, I did not know how I could continue our cold-water tradition. I wasn’t prepared to freeze alone.
But, I had to swim; there were larger commitments I should stick to. In the summer, we planned to cross from the cove to an island across the lake. I had to stay fit. We also planned to host a cold-water swimming race for locals in the fall. We would make it an annual event, improving our strength and endurance (耐力) so that, in our 80s, we might swim through October and into November.
With these plans in mind, I joined my local city pool. I had not been in a public pool for about 30 years. But my body said swim, my brain said swim and my heart, could not let go. So I went anyway.
I am swimming. I am alive to my love of the water, alive to my promise for the spring and the summer that will come. I intend to step back into the lake in May, and through September and October with Barbara. We are perfectly matched in our devotion, and increasingly aware of the miracle of being able-bodied enough to share the cold-water wonder side by side.
1. Why was the book Why We Swim mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．It guided the author to learn to swim. |
| B．It analyzes the advantages of swimming. |
| C．It is the author’s favorite book about swimming. |
| D．It partly contributed to the author and Barbara’s common interest. |
| A．Promises . | B．Preparations . | C．Requirements . | D．Opportunities . |
| A．She went to a gym to improve her strength. |
| B．She became a member of the local public pool. |
| C．She swam across the lake to the island on her own. |
| D．She participated in a local cold-water swimming race. |
| A．To describe her friendship with Barbara. |
| B．To express her passion for cold-water swimming. |
| C．To recommend people to go swimming to keep fit. |
| D．To explain how she overcame her fear of swimming in public places. |
4 . Skeleton is one of the three sliding sports at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, alongside the luge(单雪橇)and bobsleigh(大雪橇). With only six medals up for grabs, skeleton has the fewest events at the Winter Games—which means competition will be fierce.
The sport of skeleton has its roots in the most popular winter pastime: sleighing. In the mid-19th century, British and American holidaymakers built the first toboggan(平底雪橇)run in Davos in 1882, and thus the sport of sleighing began.
Two years later, in 1884, the famed Cresta Run—a natural ice skeleton racing toboggan track—was built in St. Moritz, Switzerland(the course has hosted the annual Grand National championships since 1885).
In 1892, a new sledge made entirely of steel was introduced, and some claim that its bony appearance gave the sledge and the sport the name ‘skeleton’.
Men’s skeleton was first introduced on the Olympic program in the 1928 Games in St. Moritz. But due to the sport only being available at the Cresta Run at the time, it fell into obscurity(默默无闻)while the luge and bobsleigh grew in popularity. However, in 2002, the skeleton was reintroduced as a men’s and women’s event at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and has remained a part of the Olympic program ever since.
While Great Britain has the most medals(nine)in skeleton competition at the Olympics, the top spot belongs to the United States(eight medals)by virtue of having four silvers to Great Britain’s one(both nations have three golds, while Britain has five bronze medals, and the United States one).
Great Britain is the only nation to have won a medal every time skeleton has featured at the Olympic Games, and has won at least one medal in each of the five contests of women’s skeleton since its introduction.
1. How many events does skeleton have in the Olympics?| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
| A．In 1882. | B．In1885. | C．In1892. | D．In 1928. |
| A．Because its material steel was rare. |
| B．Because there was only one run for it. |
| C．Because only men could take part in it. |
| D．Because it was not on the Olympic program. |
| A．The number of medals. | B．The composition of medals. |
| C．The virtue of the athletes. | D．The times of hosting the Olympics. |
5 . All over the world people enjoy sports. Sports help to keep people healthy and happy, and to live longer.
Many people like to watch others play games. They buy tickets or turn on their TVs to watch the games. Often they get very excited when “their” player or team wins.
Some sports are so interesting that people everywhere go in for them. Football, for example, has spread around the world. Swimming is popular in all countries near the sea or in those with many rivers. What fun it is to jump into a pool or lake, whether in China, Egypt or Italy! And think of people in cold countries. Think how many people love to skate or ski in Norway or Canada.
Some sports or games go back thousands of years, like running or jumping. Chinese wushu, for example, has a very long history. But basketball and volleyball are rather new. Neither one is a hundred years old yet. People are inventing new sports or games all the time. Waterskiing is one of the newest in the family of sports.
People from different countries may not be able to understand each other. But after a game together they may become good friends. Sports help to train a person’s character. One learns to fight fair, to win without pride and to lose with grace.
1. Why do people all over the world enjoy sports?| A．Because they keep people healthy. | B．Because they keep people happy. |
| C．Because sports help to keep them to live longer. | D．All of the above. |
| A．Because their favourite team wins. | B．Because they win the game. |
| C．Because they get the good news. | D．Because they can’t help themselves. |
| A．Waterskiing. | B．Basketball. | C．Sailing. | D．Jumping. |
| A．气馁 | B．失望 | C．开心 | D．风度 |
6 . The benefits of regular exercise are well documented but there’s a new bonus to add to the ever-growing list. New researchers found that middle-aged women who were physically fit could be nearly 90 percent less likely to develop dementia in later life, and as they did, it came on a decade later than less sporty women.
Lead researcher Dr. Helena Horder, of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said : "These findings are exciting because it’s possible that improving people's cardiovascular （心血管的）fitness in middle age could delay or even prevent them from developing dementia. "
For the study, 191 women with an average age of 50 took a bicycle exercise test until they were exhausted to measure their peak （最大值的） cardiovascular capacity. The average peak workload was measured at 103 watts.
A total of 40 women met the criteria for a high fitness level, or 120 watts or higher. A total of 92 women were in the medium fitness category; and 59 women were in the low fitness category, defined as a peak workload of 80 watts or less, or having their exercise tests stopped because of high blood pressure, chest pain or other cardiovascular problems.
These women were then tested for dementia six times over the following four decades. During that time, 44 of the women developed dementia. Five percent of the highly fit women developed dementia, compared to 25 percent of the women with medium fitness and 32 percent of the women with low fitness.
"However, this study does not show cause and effect between cardiovascular fitness and dementia, it only shows an association. More research is needed to see if improved fitness could have a positive effect on the risk of dementia and also to look at when during a lifetime a high fitness level is most important. " She also admitted that a relatively small number of women were studied, all of whom were form Sweden, so the results might not be applicable to other groups.
1. What is on the ever-growing list mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．Positive effects of doing exercises. |
| B．Exercises suitable for the middle-aged. |
| C．Experimental studies on diseases. |
| D．Advantages of sporty woman over man |
| A．To predict their maximum heart rate. |
| B．To assess their cardiovascular capacity |
| C．To change their habits of working out |
| D．To detect their potential health problems |
| A．It aimed to find a cure for dementia. |
| B．Data collection was a lengthy process. |
| C．Some participants withdrew from it. |
| D．The results were far from satisfactory. |
| A．More Women Are Exercising to Prevent Dementia |
| B．Middle-Aged Women Need to Do More Exercise |
| C．Fit Women Are Less Likely to Develop Dementia |
| D．Biking Improves Women's Cardiovascular Fitness |
7 . Races
Virtual(虚拟的）races-but the running is real! Here are some of the best online races.
RAINBOWS VIRTUAL 5K
This is a fun run designed to be completed in any way that is proper for you-whether you run or walk in the garden,dance and walk fast along with your dog. All the organisers ask is that you complete 5K—in one go or over several days of your choice.
￡20,rainbows.co,uk/events/rainbows-virtual-5k
MILTON KEYNES MARATHON WEEKEND VIRTUAL 5K
Part of the yearly September Milton Keynes running festival, this year you can complete the 5Kvirtually. Complete it in your own time—in the garden or on an exercise machine if need be. You can also complete it in smaller runs.
From ￡18,mkmarathon. com/virtual-race
10K GARDEN CHALLENGE
A virtual race you can complete in your garden or at a local open space or park. Put on your shoes and complete 10K as speedily as you can. The event helps raise money for mental(精神的)health,with 15% of the entry fee being given to Bath Mind.By the way,the medal(奖牌)is environment-friendly.
￡15,womensrunning.co. uk/ neus/ keep-motivated-with-our-womens-runing-virtual-challenges
ROCK 'N' ROLL VIRTUAL
Sign up with the virtual running club and compete in weekly events alongside runners from around the world. Challenges include running an 8K and 15K in one weekend or running a l5Kwithin a 30-hour time window. Running challenges are all free to enter, but you can buy merchandise(商品）and medals if you want to add to your wall.
Free to join,buy your medals from ￡20,runrocknrollvr.com
1. If Mary wants to run just for fun,she will most likely visit________.| A．womensrunning.co.uk/news /keep-motivated-with-our-womens-running-virtual-challenges |
| B．rainbows.co.uk/events/rainbows-virtual-5k |
| C．mkmarathon.com/virtual-race |
| D．runrocknrollvr.com |
| A．10K GARDEN CHALLENGE. |
| B．RAINBOWS VIRTUAL 5K. |
| C．ROCK ' N' ROLL VIRTUAL. |
| D．MILTON KEYNES MARATHON WEEKEND VIRTUAL 5K. |
| A．It is held once a year. |
| B．It welcomes local runners only. |
| C．It offers different choices to people. |
| D．It requires people to pay the entry fee. |
8 . Physical education(体育), or PE, isn’t required for all high school students. In some schools, it isn’t offered for some different reasons. But should high school students receive physical education? The answer is certainly “Yes.”
Today many people don’t do sports. But as is known to all, doing sports is very important for an adult. Teaching teens the importance of a healthy lifestyle and making fitness plans now can help teens put exercise in the first place as an adult.
The American Heart Association says that 10 million kids and teens suffer from obesity(肥胖症). The increase in activities that don’t get teens to move around, such as computer games, means many teens don’t get their required exercise. PE classes act as a public health measure to encourage physical activities and help teens have healthy weights.
Not doing sports increases teens’ hazard of developing many diseases. An active lifestyle offers a good way of protection from these health problems. As much as 75 percent of health-care spending goes toward treating medical conditions that can be prevented by lifestyle changes, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.
According to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN), students who performed five hours of physical activity each week improved their academic(学业的)performance. Students from programs with no physical activity, who used the extra time for classroom study, did not perform better on tests than those who gave up some study time in support of physical education.
1. According to Paragraph 2, what does physical education in high school mean?| A．Making teens attach importance to exercise later. |
| B．Removing the stress faced by teens at school. |
| C．Getting teens to encourage adults to exercise. |
| D．Helping teens learn to make good plans. |
| A．happiness | B．risks |
| C．safety | D．sadness |
| A．means making students choose between sports and studies |
| B．helps students make good use of all their time |
| C．means students adjust to their studies better |
| D．helps students do better in their studies |
| A．Why high school students should receive physical education. |
| B．Why some schools consider physical education important. |
| C．How schools can help students love doing sports. |
| D．How high school students can live a better life. |
9 . How exercising changed their life
Name: Katelyn Block, 19
The problem: At the end of her junior year of high shoo, she fell into a serious eating disorder.
The change: She was an athlete, but while she was sick, she stopped running. Later, she decided to get back into running. She made the decision to build her body back from the ground up. With a few months of hard work and determination, she graduated from high school with a healthy body and a healthy mind.
Name: Amalia Biro, 24
The problem: Amalia was a horseback rider with her sight set on the Olympics, until one day she was thrown off a horse, leaving her left knee badly injured.
The change: She ran a 5K at the request of her friend. Running lets her clear her bead. She found herself staring to turn to running instead of breaking away from her social life.
Name: Sarah Jane Parker, 28
The problem: She had a lot of fear and anxiety about different things. The fear was taking over her life.
The change: She tried indoor rock climbing with her friend's encouragement. When she finally managed to climb to the top, she fell in love with the sport Eventually she used the courage she got from climbing to break away from her fear.
Name: Kimberly Whittaker, 25
The problem: Two car accidents in one month made Kimberly have joint problems in both knees and pain in her lower back.
The change: She joined a gym and worked with a physical trainer three times a week to help her become healthy again. She took spin classes (动感单车课程) the most often because she felt like she was able to focus her energy just on riding.
1. How did Katelyn become healthy again?| A．By running. | B．By seeing a doctor. |
| C．By changing her mind. | D．By focusing on studying. |
| A．They had big goals. | B．They were sports fans. |
| C．They had no self-confidence. | D．They should thank their fiends. |
| A．They were boring. | B．They were tiring |
| C．They were difficult | D．They were attractive. |
10 . Taking pressure off sports competitions
Sports are a great way to have fun and stay active. Competitions can make sports more exciting. But because somebody wins and somebody loses competitions can also make kids be under pressure. A little pressure can be OK. But too much pressure is bad news.
What is a competition?
There are different kinds of competition in sports.
Why do I feel under pressure?
Do you ever have “butterflies” in your stomach? It's that nervous feeling some people get when starting to attend a new school or preparing for a big soccer match. Believe it or not, the best player on your team gets nervous before a big game.
How can I deal with pressure?
When you're competing in sports, you need a lot of energy.
| A．Read on to learn more about sport pressure. |
| B．What if you want to give up? |
| C．But usually only one person or team does. |
| D．It takes a lot of work to become skilled at a sport. |
| E．Even professional players feel nervous sometimes! |
| F．One secret to having lots of energy is to get plenty of sleep. |
| G．You may compete by yourself, as part of a team, or both. |
