1 . How does a person become an Olympic champion—someone capable of winning the gold? In reality, a combination of biological, environmental, and psychological factors, as well as training and practice, all go into making a super athlete.
Perhaps the most important factor involved in becoming an elite athlete is genetics. Most Olympic competitors are equipped with certain physical characteristics that differentiate them from the average person. Take an elite athlete’s muscles, for example. In most human skeletal muscles (the ones that make your body move), there are fast-twitch fibers and slow-twitch fibers. Fast-twitch fibers help us move quickly. Olympic weightlifters, for example, have a large number of fast-twitch fibers in their muscles—many more than the average person. 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 elite marathon runner, on the other hand, might contain up to 90 percent slow-twitch muscle fibers. These generate energy efficiently and enable an athlete to control fatigue and keep moving for a longer period of time. 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 lactate(乳酸) 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. Thus, the average runner might start to feel discomfort halfway into a race. A trained Olympic athlete, however, might not feel pain until much later in the competition.
For some Olympic competitors, size is important. Most male champion swimmers are 180cm or taller, allowing them to reach longer and swim faster. For both male and female gymnasts, though, a smaller size and body weight mean they can move with greater ease, and are less likely to suffer damage when landing on the floor from a height of up to 4.5 meters.
Some athletes’ abilities are naturally enhanced by their environment. Those raised at high altitudes in countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, and Morocco have blood that is rich in hemoglobin(血红素). Large amounts of hemoglobin carry oxygen around the body faster, enabling these athletes to run better. Cultural factors also help some athletes do well at certain sports. Tegla Loroupe, a young woman from northern Kenya, has won several marathons. She attributes some of her success to her country’s altitude (she trains at about 2,400 meters) and some to her cultural background. As a child, she had to run ten kilometers to school every day. “I’d be punished if I was late,” she says.
Although genetics, environment, and even culture play a part in becoming an elite athlete, training and practice are needed to succeed. Marathon runners may be able to control fatigue and keep moving for long periods of time, but they must train to reach and maintain their goals. Weightlifters and gymnasts perfect their skills by repeating the same motions again and again until they are automatic. Greg Lougains, 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. You have to repeat the divers hundreds, maybe thousands, of times.” Training this way requires an athlete to be not only physically fit but psychologically healthy as well. “They have to be,” says Sean McCann, a sports psychologist at the Olympic Training Center in the U.S. “otherwise, they couldn’t handle the training loads we put on them. Athletes have to be good at setting goals, generating energy when they need it, and managing anxiety.”
How do athletes adjust to such intense pressure? Lougains explains how he learned to control his anxiety during a competition: “Most divers think too much…,” he says. “They’re too much in their heads. What worked for me was humor. I remember thinking about what my mother would say if she saw me do a bad dive. She’d probably just compliment me on the beautiful splash.”
1. What is this article mainly about?| A．Factors that make someone a super athlete. |
| B．The different muscle types of super athlete. |
| C．The size of a super athlete. |
| D．How to qualify for the Olympics. |
| A．Muscles | B．Average people |
| C．Olympic weightlifters | D．Fast-twitch fibers |
| A．A strong sense of culture. |
| B．More muscles in their legs. |
| C．Hemoglobin-rich blood. |
| D．Lower amounts of lactate in their muscles. |
| A．A professional athlete should never feel anxiety. |
| B．Athletes cannot perform well unless they are under pressure. |
| C．It’s key to practice and train hard, but try not to take things too seriously. |
| D．It’s important to joke around with your teammates before you perform any sport. |
2 . One afternoon last week, I saw three tearful children from my son's school being comforted by teachers. That morning, my 11-year-old had stomach pains, retching （干呕）into a bowl. Talking to other mothers later. I heard about other children with stomachache or difficult sleeping the night before.
What caused so much pain? Sports day. Sports day might be necessary at a highly-competilive independent school, but not at a village primary school. For the children who can fly like the wind, sports day causes no problem. For those who are overweight or just not good at sport, it is a nightmare （噩梦）.Even for those who enjoy running but fall halfway down the track in front of the entire school and their parents, it can prove a disease.
Why do we put our children through this annual suffering? Some may say competition is character building; or it’s taking part, not winning, that’s important; or that’s a tradition of school life. I just felt great pity for those children in tears or in pain.
Team games at the end of sports day produced some close races, wild enthusiasm, lots of shouting —and were fun to watch More importantly, the children who were not so fast or quick at passing the ball were hidden a little from everyone's eyes. Some of them also had the thrill of being on the winning side.
I wish that sports day could be abandoned and replaced with some other less competitive event. Perhaps an afternoon of team games, with a few races for those who want them, would be less stressful for the children and a lot more fun to watch.
1. What can we learn about the author's son from Paragraph 1?| A．He talked with some mothers. |
| B．He comforted his classmates. |
| C．He had difficulty in sleeping. |
| D．He suffered from stomachache. |
| A．this is an independent school |
| B．it is a tradition of the school |
| C．it helps children lose weight |
| D．children enjoy watching sports |
| A．They should include more stressful races. |
| B．They are acceptable to different children. |
| C．They should be abandoned at primary school. |
| D．They are less fun for those who love running. |
| A．Critical. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Satisfied. |
3 . Indoor Skydiving
Have you ever dreamt of flying? Have you ever wanted to experience the excitement of skydiving, but didn’t want to jump out of a plane? Indoor skydiving has opened up a whole new world for you to try flying.
Indoor skydiving is an activity, simulating（模拟）the free fall of a skydive. That means you learn to fly in a column of air produced by a wind tunnel （风道） inside a limited area. Before flying, you need to wear certain equipment to protect you. And each of you is equipped with an instructor that helps you learn to control your body while flying. But you aren’t trained to be more aware in the sky as a normal skydiver.
To be an indoor flyer, you can be at all ages. Fear of height or lack (缺少) of experience won’t stop you from trying. The only real limitation preventing people from flying is weight limit. Countless physically challenged flyers have safely flown with the help of experienced instructors.
Although indoor skydiving gets its name from skydiving, the similarities between the two are actually very few. The one they are in common is in the sense that they both share the freedom of flying.
However, in traditional dives, skydivers usually step out of a plane from more than 10,000 feet high, while indoor skydiving just needs flyers to lean forward and lie on the air. Also, being an outdoor activity, skydiving depends on the weather. The wind, rain, or snow can cancel your plans to jump. Indoor skydiving removes this effect from the picture. Normally, a skydive lasts just between 45-60 seconds, but tunnels allow skydivers to fly longer and as much as they like.
While most people put skydiving in the must-do list, indoor skydiving is much more than that! What used to take skydivers tens of thousands of jumps and years of experience can be learned in a relatively shorter period of time. Skydivers could be trained at lower cost compared to being trained in the sky. Because people of all ages can fly, children are quickly becoming some of the most talented skydivers. Thus, all these will certainly benefit the development of skydiving.
1. What do indoor skydivers need to do before flying?| A．Jump out of a plane. | B．Become aware of the sky. |
| C．Produce a column of air. | D．Put on protecting equipment. |
| A．Their age. | B．Fear of height. |
| C．Their weight. | D．Lack of experience. |
| A．The sense of flying. | B．The cost of training. |
| C．The length of free fall. | D．The dependence on weather. |
| A．The future of skydiving depends on children. |
| B．Indoor skydiving is beneficial to skydiving. |
| C．Fewer people show interest in skydiving. |
| D．Indoor skydiving will replace skydiving. |
4 . Benefits of Cross-Country Skiing
Cross-country skiing can be enjoyed by a wide range of students, from the youngest kindergartners to those secondary students. It is really a fun activity, providing students a gentle workout outside in winter. While having fun, students can gain physical and mental benefits .
The physical benefits of cross-country skiing are well known. If we look at Olympic cross- country skiers, we can see the positive effects on the body that result from training for cross-country skiing. The average best female cross-country skier carries 11 percent body fat, and best male skiers carry 5 percent. These percentages are well below the average for people who are considered to be athletic-17 percent for females and 10 percent for males. The high number of calories burned while skiing helps to keep skiers slim in a healthy and attractive way.
Cross-country skiing is also an efficient way to exercise a large number of muscles at once. Because skiers use ski poles as a means of propulsion, the force that drives skiers forward, the upper body gets much more of workout. Of course, the leg muscles also do their fair share. People who use cross-country skiing as a workout over several weeks will discover that the muscles of their entire body increase in strength.
Cross-country skiing on a regular basis has a tremendous effect on a person’s cardiovascular system. In addition to gaining strength in the muscles of the upper and lower body, people who use cross-country skiing as a workout method over several weeks will also discover that their heart is stronger. A strong heart pumps more efficiently, sending out more blood to the muscles with each contraction. Through weeks of skiing, people often discover that their resting heart rate has decreased. Highly trained Olympic cross-country skiers have resting heart rates between 28 and 40 beats per minute. Compare that to the resting heart rate of the average person, which is 60 to 80 beats per minute!
The benefits of cross-country skiing extend beyond overall general health. A lot of evidence exists indicating that regular physical activity increases the release of mood-lifting endorphins in the body. After one of the energetic and fun skiing lessons, students will be smiling and laughing; they will be relaxed and in a better mood than when they started class. Students will leave class with a sense of accomplishment, knowing that they have developed new skills in a fun activity.
Cross-country skiing is a great way to work the total body. Now more and more students are taking part in this exercise outside during the winter months. They are enjoying it and benefiting from it!
1. The underlined word “workout” means ______.| A．manner | B．exercise | C．application | D．opportunity |
| A．requires the use of most muscle groups | B．offers students a unique way to keep fit |
| C．can increase the athletes’ resting heart rates | D．can balance out the skiers’ increased calories |
| A．By making comments. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By giving explanations. |
CP: Central point P: Point Sp: Sub-point (次要点) C: Conclusion
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
5 . 
At age 12, Keegan Sobilo of New Baltimore carefully tucks his legs and arms into a fire suit, pulls on a helmet and climbs into a race car that exceeds 80 mph. He has been doing this since age 8.
“ At first, I was scared to death. I was like, 'Let's do bowling or swimming. ' It's still very scary.But he knows what he's doing. Your heart goes out on that track every time he goes out there," said his mother Hillary Sobilo.
＂The sixth-grader always wears pajamas to the track every night and takes them off when he puts his race clothes on. He's been doing that for the last four years. That's his trademark,” said Tim Phillips, his crew chief. The first time he wore his train pajamas to the track, Keegan went from last place to ninth place. He decided they brought luck. Since then, he has won a series of championships.
Passion for cars runs in the family. Keegan's father is a design mechanic at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. He knows what it means to have seats and roll cages built to fit his son's body."What I see in Keegan is passion, like how I feel about car restoration. But for him, everything has to align itself. I tell my son you have to be the perfect package. Winning races every weekend is not the only key. More importantly, you have to have the right name, you have to look the correct way, speak the correct way, and act the correct way. Then the rest of it is really luck, like the stock market. If you don't put yourself out there,you'll never hit it big."
While Keegan's classmates play basketball and volleyball,Keegan is at the Birch Run track-practicing, qualifying and racing until 10 p.m. or 2 a.m. While many children spend time playing video games, Keegan runs race simulation training with his joystick after school.
＂The kid is cool.It was like having a grandson. We showed respect to each other. And he takes it very seriously," said competitor Mike Todd, 69 , of Galesburg, Michigan." He's an older soul in a young man's body. I'd like to see him make it big. He's got the willpower."
1. Keegan enjoys ______| A．swimming |
| B．racing cars |
| C．bowling |
| D．playing games |
| A．Victory. |
| B．Safety. |
| C．Good qualities. |
| D．Real luck. |
| A．Keegan spends a lot of time practicing |
| B．the train pajamas bring Keegan success |
| C．Keegan's mother worries about his studies |
| D．Keegan picked up the hobby at the age of 4 |
6 . Four teams of mountaineers set out on a race to conquer(征服) an unclimbed mountain peak in the Himalayas. The Canadian team chose a long, but safe route, while the British, Chinese and Russian teams chose a faster but steep and dangerous route up the mountain.
When night fell, the teams made camp on the mountainside. But the next morning, the sun rapidly rose air temperature and the strong wind caused a heavy snowfall, which led to a terrible avalanche. The disaster struck and some members of the British, Chinese and Russian teams were swept away and killed. But the Canadians didn’t know what had happened.
It was an hour after the disaster and there was no hope of finding any survivors. The leaders of the British, Chinese and Russian teams, met to discuss how to successfully keep all the survivors alive.
| Britain | Russia | China | |
| Members | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Tents | 1 two-man | None | 1 four-man |
| Sleeping bags | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Rope | 25 metres | 50 metres | None |
| Food | 1 person for 3 days | 2 people for 4 days | 2 people for 2 days |
| Medicine | None | None | None |
The table above was a summary of what they could collect. The leaders made a final decision that they had to find a way to conquer the mountain and put their flags on the peak.
1. What kind of route did the Chinese team choose?| A．A long but safe route. | B．A short but dangerous route. |
| C．A separate but flat route. | D．An unknown but steep route. |
| A．High temperature. | B．An avalanche. |
| C．Strong wind. | D．A heavy snowfall. |
| A．The supplies and equipment they had left. |
| B．The plan of their follow up climbs. |
| C．The survey of their damages and injuries. |
| D．The difficulties they would meet. |
| A．give up the race | B．keep climbing |
| C．ask for help | D．look for the survivors |
| A．A business newspaper. | B．A health guide. |
| C．A culture magazine. | D．A nature journal. |
7 . Is It a Healthy Interest?
The Guinness Book of World Records describes Ranulph Fiennes as the world’s greatest living explorer. His journeys include the first polar circumnavigation (极地环行) and the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic continent on foot. So when he suffered a heart attack, it came as something of a surprise.
Exercise is highly beneficial as it reduces both the pulse (脉搏) rate and the blood pressure so reducing stress on the heart as it brings blood round the body. It also helps to keep the artery (动脉) walls more elastic (有弹性的).
But can you push yourself too much? On the subject of exercise, it is good to take several parts of “moderate” exercise a week，which is a little more than quick walking. “We need to be careful when we’re doing extreme sports,” says expert Len Almond. “Extreme stress can make almost impossible demands on the body’s ability to recover. The stress of extreme sports forces biochemical changes in the body, and the physical response to that kind of activity will be too extreme.”
We all know how the Olympics began. The man who ran 26 miles from the town of Marathon to Athens with news of a victory died as soon as he arrived，and the cause of his sudden death might be the heart attack. Further research was done by scientists. They studied cyclists (自行车运动员) on a race that covers 230km with a height change of 5,500m. They were interested in one particular enzyme (酶), high concentrations of which are found in those who have suffered a heart attack. The scientists found that levels of this chemical increased in most of the cyclists who completed the race. The largest increases were seen in the fastest cyclists who had trained the hardest.
Most of us will never put our bodies to such extreme sports. But if, when you hear about someone like Fiennes，you ask whether exercise is worth it. I advise you to consider your own condition. Personally, I agree with the saying: “Run not to add years to your life but to add life to your years.”
1. According to the passage, taking exercise can_______ .| A．speed up the heart rate | B．increase stress on the heart |
| C．reduce the blood pressure | D．keep the artery walls straight |
| A．Our bodies can easily deal with physical stress. |
| B．Playing extreme sports is harmful to the human body. |
| C．We need a long period of recovery after extreme sports. |
| D．There is more to learn about the effect of physical stress. |
| A．To suggest a different area of research. |
| B．To support the activity of taking part in sports. |
| C．To explain the effect of a height change on cyclists. |
| D．To prove that extreme sports may cause heart attacks. |
| A．helps you have a regular life | B．adds years to your life |
| C．should be done in moderation | D．will be worth the effort |
8 . A number of studies show that sports and other physical activities can contribute to the development of self-esteem (a feeling of pride in oneself). For example, Canadian scientists found that sixth-grade students who were more physically active had considerably higher levels of self-esteem. A study in Switzerland found that teenagers who took part in sports clubs were healthier, including being better socially adjusted, feeling less anxious, and generally being happier about their lives. Similar findings were reported in a study of Latino students, where participation in school sport was found to be greatly associated with self-esteem.
There seems little doubt that part of the potency (潜能) of sports lies in their social setting. There are a lot of facts showing the importance of social connectedness (关联性) for healthy child and teenager development, and sports offer a popular and engaging setting for social interactions. Involvement in team sports has been positively associated with social acceptance and a sense of belonging, especially where such involvement is characterized by positive coaching, progressive skill development, and peer support.
But, the social setting of sports can exclude as well as include. There is now evidence that boys’ and girls’ experiences of sports can be very different, and this can affect the contribution they can make to the self-esteem of players. Peer acceptance seems to be an important factor in determining the relationship between sport participation and self-esteem, and girls can be particularly sensitive to negative judgments. And studies have found that many ‘girly’ boys and girls benefit most from non-competitive physical activities.
So, a note of caution ought to be sounded in case sports are considered to be a cure. Much of the literature on the most positive psychological (心理的) outcomes associated with childhood and youth sports stress the absolute importance of positive experiences. It will surprise no one that bullying, excluding or abuse experiences will harm, rather than support the development of self-esteem, and well-being in general. Sadly, it will also not be a shock to learn that many children’s introductions to sports are far from improving the quality of life.
The great developmental psychologist Jean Piaget argued that the foundations of self-esteem were laid between the ages of about 6 and 11 years of age. Importantly, this is also the time when children are most likely to be introduced to sports. We should know the importance of positive early sporting experiences for the development of both self-esteem and on-going participation in sports and other physical activities. Teachers, coaches, and parents have a responsibility to ensure that these experiences ‘catch’ as many children as possible, and for this to happen they need to remember ‘the principles of child development’: Children are not mini-adults.
Problems arise when adults forget these principles, and kid themselves into thinking that they are coaching future Olympians or Super stars. Unluckily, evidence suggests that talented children are most likely to stand out when they are given time to develop, to play, and to remain children.
Children are not miniature adults, and their enjoyment of sports (and their self-esteem) can suffer when adults forget this!
1. Studies in Switzerland and Latino showed teenagers who often join in sports _____.| A．build self-esteem earlier |
| B．have more good experiences |
| C．are more sensitive to judgments |
| D．are healthier both physically and mentally |
| A．positive | B．critical |
| C．uncertain | D．tolerant |
| A．will be happier about their lives |
| B．are more likely to be attracted by competitive sports |
| C．should be treated by coaches and parents as super stars |
| D．will build self-esteem if given positive comment and support |
| A．Children Should Take Part in Sports |
| B．Sports Offer You a Better Teenage Life |
| C．Sports Experience and Building Self-Esteem |
| D．People Should Treat Teenagers Like Miniature Adults |
9 . One major reason Americans don’t get enough exercise is that they feel they don’t have enough time. It can be difficult to squeeze in the 75 minutes of aerobic (有氧的) exercise per week that federal guidelines recommend.
In a new analysis of 14 studies, researchers tracked deaths among more than 232,000 people from the U.S., Denmark, the U.K. and China over at least five years, and compared the findings with people’s self-reports about how much they ran. People who said they ran any amount were less likely to die than those who didn’t run at all.
The analysis is the latest to illustrate the benefits of running on the human body. It’s what we evolved (进化) to do.
| A．People may no longer hunt wild animals for their next meal. |
| B．The physical demands of running affect our body in a beneficial way. |
| C．Some people run to prevent disease, and others run because it makes them feel better. |
| D．Runners were 27% less likely to die for any reason, compared with nonrunners. |
| E．But researchers point out, to infer something like that, they need the whole population measured. |
| F．But new research suggests people may be able to get life-lengthening benefits by running for far less time. |
| G．The good news is that running more than 50 minutes per week wasn’t linked to additional protections against dying. |
10 . The 2016 Rio Olympic Games have come to an end. Without doubt, many Chinese sports fans sat in front of the TV and cheered our athletes on, hoping that they would get as many gold medals as possible.
But sometimes our desire for gold medals can result in the sadness of failure. When Liu Xiang, China’s track hero, pulled out of the Beijing Olympics due to injury, he greatly disappointed many Chinese sports fans.
But things are different now. In the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, we saw a healthier Chinese attitude towards the sports people, fully in line with the Olympic spirit.
China didn’t win any gold medals on the first day. But, instead of criticizing(批评) the athletes who failed to win, most of the fans were happy with their efforts. “Looking at the results in the right way when an athlete misses out on gold shows the maturity(成熟) of a person, and is also a challenge for a country to face up to in the process of development,” commented CRI.
Swimmer Fu Yuanhui won fans’ hearts, even if she only won the third place in the 100m backstroke final. Her fans on her Sina Weibo have increased 100,000 to over 6 million. Many sports fans appreciated her straightforward character and attitude towards competitions.
“The warm support from Internet users shows that public attitude towards competitive sports and the Olympics has gotten to a higher level”, said an article in the People’s Daily.
1. What can we know from Paragraph 2?| A．Gold medals can also cause sadness. |
| B．Liu Xiang always disappoints his fans. |
| C．Fans have high expectations of Liu Xiang. |
| D．Liu Xiang got injured before the Olympics. |
| A．Interested. | B．Understanding. |
| C．Angry. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．Her Sina Weibo. | B．Her kindness to the fans. |
| C．Her attitude to competitions. | D．Her winning a gold medal. |
| A．Winning gold medals is important. |
| B．Changing attitude to athletes is a must. |
| C．Results are not important in the competition. |
| D．Peoples’ attitude towards competitive sports is healthier. |
