1 . Q1: When does the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon take place?
A： The 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon takes place on Sunday 26 April.
Q2 : I have moved. How do I let you know my change of address?
A； Please email changeofaddress@londonmarathonevents. co. uk with your name, date of birth, telephone number, old address and your new address.
Q3: I need a hotel in London for the weekend of the race — any advice?
A： Virgin Money London Marathon hotel packages are available at Holiday Inn® and other IHG® hotels in and around London, and include a champion's breakfast and coach transfer to the Start Line so you arrive rested and ready to run your victory lap. Visit www. restandrun. holidayinn. com to find out more.
Q4： I am a visually disabled runner. Where can I find out more about running with a guide?
A： If you are a runner with a visual disability and would like to find out more about running with a guide, please contact disability@londonmarathonevents, co. uk.
Q5: What time does the race start?
A： Start times for the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon are as follows；
09: 05 Elite Wheelchair Races
09: 10 World Para Athletics Marathon Championships Ambulant Athletes
09: 25 The Elite Women's Race
10 :10 The Elite Men's Race, British Athletics & England Athletics Marathon
Championships and Mass Race
Q6: What time do I need to get to the Start?
A： We suggest you get to your Start at least one hour before the race begins. This will allow time for you to use the facilities, warm up and take your position.
Q7: Can I track a runner during the race?
A： Yes. On Race Day, there will be a link to our tracking service on the home page of www. virginmoneylondonmarathon. com. The best way to track a runner is by using the runner's running number. If you do not have the running number, it is also possible to search for a runner by surname.
1. Which address should you contact if you need to run with a guide?| A．www. restandrun. holidayinn. com. |
| B．disability@londonrnarathonevents. co. uk. |
| C．www. virginmoneylondonmarathon. com. |
| D．changeofaddress@londonmarathoncvents. co. uk. |
| A．08: 20. | B．09: 05. |
| C．09: 10. | D．09：25. |
| A．With the address. | B．With the running number. |
| C．With the first name. | D．With the telephone number. |
2 . On a bright summer morning, many young swimmers gather at a local swimming pool in the state of Maryland. They are members of a competitive summer swim team. As they practice their strokes and cut seconds off of their times, they are getting lots of physical exercise and vitamin D from the sun. However, the benefits of belonging to a sports team are not just health-related. Team sports also help to build many life skills.
The coach of the swim team is Paul Waas. He explains how swim team teaches the team members skills like discipline (纪律) and focus. “I think the discipline comes into play when you’re talking about focusing on the details that your coaches are saying as it makes you faster rather than just going up and down the pool the same way you have every time. So, when you can focus on what you’re doing right and what you can do better, then you’ll see the improvement. I think they see that from their peers and then it challenges them to do better themselves.”
But discipline and focus are just two of the life skills that team sports can teach. There is also responsibility, goal-setting and working within a group.
Again, here is Coach Waas. “I’ve had kids who, as 7-year-olds on the team, could barely pay attention in practice and were only interested in who was going first. And now they’ve come back as 8-year-olds and they’ve set some goals. And now they have things that they want to achieve. They see the record board and they want their name up there.”
These life skills can help a child later in life. An article published in the magazine Fast Company notes reasons why a company should consider employing former athletes. The writers argue that people who played sports in school are: focused on goals, strong communicators, team players, good at managing their time, and resilient-meaning they do not give up when things get difficult.
Some studies have found that team sports could be especially good for women. A series of studies by the company Ernst Young found that 90 percent of women in so-called “C-suite” positions (like chief executive officer, or CEO and chief financial officer, or CFO) at several major companies had played sports.
1. What can we infer from paragraph 1?| A．Bright summer mornings are perfect for swimming. |
| B．Swimming can be beneficial to us more than in health. |
| C．Being admitted to a swimming team can be competitive. |
| D．Being on a sports team benefits children in many aspects. |
| A．Stress from peers makes kids discouraged. |
| B．Kids may get inspired by peers’ improvements. |
| C．Kids can make improvements once they join a team. |
| D．7-year-old kids in the swimming team can learn nothing. |
| A．analyze an upsetting social problem |
| B．advocate taking up various team sports |
| C．appeal to readers to care for sports safety |
| D．share with readers his personal experiences |
3 . Breakdancing is set to make its first debut (亮相) as an Olympic sport at Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris organizing committee, said on February 21st. Skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing, which have already been added to the programme for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, have been invited to return in Paris four years later.
Tony Estanguet said the choices responded to a need to make the Olympics “more urban” and “more artistic”. We have chosen to present the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the four sports because they are creative, appealing to youth and completely in line with our vision. They reflect perfectly Paris 2024’s identity.
Breakdancing is an example of a sport “Which can be played anywhere and anytime in urban and other environment.” It appeared at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in the form of head-to-head “battles”. In competitive breakdancing, “breakers” face off in “battles” against each other, either as individuals or teams. Breakdancers use a mix of physical and artistic skills combining elements from gymnastics or acrobatics (杂技).
The IOC had announced that the number of competitors at Paris 2024 would be restricted to 10, 500, which limited the opportunity to add sports. But the organizers said the inclusion of the four sports in Paris would not necessitate the construction of permanent facilities and would involve just 248 competitors, of which 32 would he in breakdancing. The surfing events are likely to be held in established surf centres such as Biarritz or Lacanau in southwest France.
The inclusion still need to be rubberstamped by the IOC, which is expected to decide on which sports to add in Paris after next years’ Tokyo Games.
1. What do we know about breakdancing?| A．It involves multiple skills. |
| B．It’s limited to group competition. |
| C．It will show up in Paris 2024. |
| D．It never appeared in the world events. |
| A．Because they attract young people. |
| B．Because they perfectly reflect Paris’ identity |
| C．Because they make Paris more urban and artistic. |
| D．Because they can be played anytime and anywhere. |
| A．10, 500 competitors will compete for the new sports. |
| B．More surf centers will be specially designed for Paris 2024. |
| C．The IOC will reject the proposal because of inadequate facilities. |
| D．The inclusion won’t require additional competition space to he built. |
| A．approved | B．canceled |
| C．submitted | D．designed |
4 . How to Stay Fit and Beautifully Healthy
Find the time.
You will see the most benefits from exercise if you do it regularly. One good way to make it a habit is to pick a form of exercise that you enjoy. For example, if you like swimming, make it a point to swim twice a week.
Go outdoors.
There are definitely some benefits to work out at a gym — air conditioning and televisions are a few.
Use your local parks.
Many parks will have great areas for running or walking.
Be social.
If you involve other people in your exercise routine, you’ll see a positive impact in your results. Finding a workout friend can help with responsibilities. If you schedule an activity with a friend, you are less likely to cancel than if you were only canceling on yourself. Group exercise classes also offer benefits.
| A．Make it a habit |
| B．If you like sports |
| C．Exercise really does good |
| D．If you have more free time |
| E．In classes, instructors can offer encouraging words |
| F．But scientists report that exercising outdoors can have major benefits |
| G．Exercise is one of the most important aspects in staying/becoming fit and healthy |
5 . Exercise could not only benefit your body, but also improve your memory, researchers found recently. In their paper published on Monday, researchers from the University of California, Irvine in the United States and the University of Tsukuba in Japan introduced their experiment and conclusion.
Scientists invited 36 volunteers who were in their early 20s to do 10 minutes of light exercise before taking a memory test in which they were shown pictures like broccoli（西兰花）or picnic baskets and asked to recall them later. The same experiment was repeated with the same group of volunteers without exercising. u The memory task was really quite challenging , " said Michael Yassa,co-author of the study and a neuroscientist （神经科学家）at the University of California, Irvine. "We used very tricky similar items to see if they would remember whether it was this exact picnic basket versus （对抗）that picnic basket. "
Researchers also scanned brains of some, of the participants during the experiment. They found strengthened communication between regions involved in the storage and recollection of memories in brains of those who had exercised. This suggested that just 10 minutes of light exercise like walking,yoga or Tai Chi might increase memory power.
As all the volunteers in the experiment were relatively young, researchers are still working to look at the effects of light exercise on older people. "Our future goal is to try to develop an exercise prescription（处方） that can be used by older adults who might have disabilities or mobility impairments,but can still adopt very simple exercise rules of life and be able to,perhaps,delay cognitive decline temporarily," said Yassa.
1. What did the researchers find from the experiment mentioned in the text?| A．Regular exercise is of benefit to the memory of all people. |
| B．Just a short period of exercise better young people's memory power. |
| C．Older people can also improve their cognitive power by exercising regularly. |
| D．All the volunteers in the experiment improved their memory through exercise. |
| A．The time to solve the questions was too limited. |
| B．The people in the experiment were disabled. |
| C．The items to be distinguished were extremely similar. |
| D．The questions asked by the scientists were too complicated. |
| A．.To solve a problem. | B．To give practical advice. |
| C．To present a research result. | D．To tell an interesting story. |
| A．Advantages of Exercising Regularly |
| B．Exercise Is Beneficial to Both Young and Old |
| C．Exercise Can Improve Older People's Cognitive Power |
| D．Ten Minutes of Exercise a Day Might Improve Memory |
6 . Sports offer kids the ability to exercise while having fun, the chance to learn how to play as a team, and a good way to develop athletic skills. Despite these benefits, 70% of kids quit sports by the age of 13.
◆
Have you ever watched kindergarteners play soccer against another team of kindergarteners? It is both enjoyable and amusing. No matter what the score, all the kids have a good time and are happy.
◆ It costs more.
Therefore, when an activity becomes expensive, parents start pushing their pre-teen to do well in it. Perhaps the parents complain that if their pre-teen is sitting on the bench, or isn’t the star player, the money wasn’t worth it. This adds extra pressure on a pre-teen who might quit the team.
◆ It’s the age.
Parents need to remember that pre-teens are going through a lot of changes. Their bodies are changing. School has become more challenging (and requires them to manage a lot of homework).
| A．Their peers are becoming more important to them than their family is. |
| B．The more money in a sport, the less participation in it. |
| C．As kids get older, the experience of playing sports changes. |
| D．The older a player gets, the more expensive the participation in a sport becomes. |
| E．It stops being fun. |
| F．Here are some reasons why that happens. |
| G．Their friends are becoming bored of some sport. |
7 . Professional athletes pay a high price for their pursuit of excellence and glory. Training to the limit tears muscles and wears out joints. Gymnasts often need hip replacements when barely into middle age. Few footballers make it to the end of their careers with their knees intact.
But many also run a darker risk: doping — the use of banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs by athletic competitors. The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, in South Korea, starts this week in its shadow. Years after whistle-blowers first revealed wholesale (大规模的) doping in Russia, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at last decided to bar it from taking part. But it has allowed many Russians to compete as individuals. And on the eve of the competition the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said that 28 others should receive a more tolerant penalty from the IOC, further muffling the anti-doping message.
Russia’s doping is unusual only in its scale and institutional nature. No country or sport is immune. Studies, and an anonymous survey at the World Athletics Championships in 2011, suggest that a third of athletes preparing for big international competitions take banned substances. Yet just 1-2% fail a test each year. Lance Armstrong, a cyclist who won the Tour de France seven times and later admitted to doping all the while, was tested on 250 occasions. The few times he failed, he avoided punishments by claiming he had taken anti-inflammatories (消炎药) for saddle-sores (骑行引起的肌肉酸痛).
Doping is more sophisticated than when some states used steroids (类固醇) to bulk up athletes. New drugs are designed to be undetectable in a blood or urine sample. Many athletes “blood dope,” receiving transfusions or taking a drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells to improve their physical strength. Soviet athletes who were fed steroids suffered a host of serious problems in later life. They were more likely to commit suicide, or to miscarry (流产) or have a disabled child. No one knows what risks those taking new “designer” versions are running. Blood-doping can cause heart attacks; more than a dozen cyclists’ deaths have already been linked to it.
The agencies that set out to stop doping are hugely outclassed. As the argument over punishments on Russia illustrate, they are divided and weak. Most testing is done by national bodies, which may not try very hard to find evidence that would get their own stars banned. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which oversees them, is packed with officials from national sports federations and the IOC. Their interests are likewise conflicted. Its budget is tiny. The system seems to be designed to look tough but punish only the occasional scapegoat (替罪羊). Honest athletes deserve better.
1. The word “muffling” (in paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to “ .”| A．deafening | B．conveying | C．spreading | D．weakening |
| A．To illustrate he is a model of Russian athlete. |
| B．To show cycling is very popular in France. |
| C．To indicate doping exists everywhere. |
| D．To suggest doping is an exception for American athletes. |
| A．Giving birth to an unhealthy child. |
| B．Suicidal tendencies. |
| C．Stimulates the production of red blood cells. |
| D．Unintentionally having a pregnancy end early. |
| A．The CAS should put more severe penalties on Russian athletes. |
| B．The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang have not been successful due to doping scandals. |
| C．Doping is quite common among athletes in France and Russia. |
| D．WADA does a good job monitoring doping in the Olympics. |
8 . Getting out into the great outdoors is an even better idea than you think.
It's good exercise.Let's not forget the most obvious benefit of camping.
It is a good way to truly connect with nature.Too often we take nature for granted.In fact，spending a few days in nature with the family will teach your kids thins they may have never known before.
You have no stress after the camping.Vacations can be stressful.Sometimes when you get home from vacations，you need another rest for your last vacation.
| A．You can stay away from TV. |
| B．They may know how to work an iPad. |
| C．You'll meet new challenges each time. |
| D．Sure. it saves some money if you stays in a camper. |
| E．You're spending a lot of time performing physical activities. |
| F．Many campers report better sleep cycles when they return from a trip. |
| G．But once you settle into camping with your family，the stress of every day will disappear. |
9 . If you’re tired of freestyle walking programs, you may be interested in learning how to racewalk. Or you want to pick up speed. Or maybe you have a desire for competition.
As you begin to racewalk, it is important to concentrate more on movement than on speed. Speed will come later, as you master the movement skills of racewalking. And you can begin to increase your speed once you feel comfortable with the actions of racewalking. Be sure, however, to increase your speed gradually.
Racewalking can increase your walking exercise. You can experience this in person. Try walking as fast as you can, and youll feel your body eager to jog.
| A．No matter what the reason is |
| B．In order to walk at high speeds |
| C．The same is true after each exercise |
| D．Always keep safety in mind when racewalking |
| E．In order to continue walking and not to break into a jog |
| F．Don’t push too hard or walk to the point of being tired out |
| G．It is more efficient to warm up your body before exercise |
10 . Winning literary competitions doesn't always lead to fame. But having a few such wins to boast about does you no harm when approaching editors or agents, so if you have dreams of a writing career, these could be the place to begin. Below is a list of the most interesting competitions. Bear in mind that contests with smaller prizes attract fewer entries and are therefore easier to win.
Wundor Editions Poetry Competition
Wundor Editions are looking for creative writers to enter their latest poetry contest. If you happen to be 16 or over, send in a poem on any subject running to as many words as you think you can get away with before the judge's eyes glaze over(兴趣丧失).
Closing: Nov.30. Prize: £ 500. Entry Fee: £ 10.
Manning's Pit Poetry Competition
It doesn't sound very attractive but it seems Manning's Pit is something of a beauty spot with more than its share of wildlife. But it's now under threat. This contest aims o raise funds to help save it. Your task is to write a poem of up to 40 lines about Manning's Pit or a similar treasured and threatened piece of countryside near a town or village.
Closing: Nov.30. Prizes: £ 100, £ 30, £ 20. Entry Fe: £ 3.
Commonwealth(英联邦)Short Story Competition
This contest from Commonwealth Writers is for unpublished short fiction of between 2,000 and 5,000 words aimed at adults. But you have to be a citizen of a Commonwealth country. You can write your story in English, Bengali, Chinese, Portuguese, Samoan, Tamil, Kiswahili or Malay.
Closing: No.1. Prize: £ 5,000. Entry Fee: £ 25.
Southword Fiction Chapbook Competition
To enter this international contest from the Munster Literature Centre in Cork，Ireland you should submit 10,000 to 15,000 words of fiction in the form of a collection of short stories. Stories can have been published previously in web or print journals, but not in a stand-alone publication by the author.
Closing: Oct.31. Prizes: Best International Entry and Best Irish Entry. Entry Fee: £ 5 for one, £ 10 for six.
1. What's the purpose of the literary competitions?| A．To attract more kids to write poems. |
| B．To bring up more Internet celebrities. |
| C．To make people know more about literature. |
| D．To offer a platform to those with writing dreams. |
| A．They should be Commonwealth citizens. |
| B．Their works should be up to 40 lines. |
| C．Their works should be aimed at teenagers. |
| D．They should write their stories in English. |
| A．Manning's Pit Poetry Competition. |
| B．Wundor Editions Poetry Competition. |
| C．Commonwealth Short Story Competition. |
| D．Southword Fiction Chapbook Competition. |
