Yoga（瑜伽） is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit. It brings us balance. I was seriously out of balance when I started practicing yoga in 1999. I had plantar fascitis in both feet, and my doctor had warned me against all the things I loved to do: walking, hiking, and playing tennis. I was desperate for exercise. Yoga became my salvation and even enhanced my other fitness activities. I practice yoga at least twice a week, but I consider yoga to be part of my daily life because after a while you no longer just practice yoga—you love it.
Yoga becomes part of your physical life. Your body grows stronger, more toned, and more flexible as you move from one pose to the other. I spent a week in Mexico at a yoga retreat, and it was the first vacation on which I lost weight. “Rather than building muscle, yoga builds muscle tone,” says Shakta Kaur Khalsa, author of the K.I.S.S. Guide to Yoga. “Because yoga helps maintain a balanced metabolism (新陈代谢), it also helps to regulate weight. Additionally, yoga stretches muscles lengthwise, causing fat to be removed around the cells.” I do yoga poses throughout the day. After hours at my computer, I stretch my stiff shoulders and arms. When I need a boost of energy, I do energizing poses. When I am feeling exhausted at the end of the day, I do restorative poses.
Yoga becomes part of your mental life. Yoga teaches you to focus on breathing while you hold the poses. This attention to breath is calming; it dissolves stress and anxiety. I use yogic breathing on the tennis courts, in the dentist’s chair, and in traffic jams. You should always leave a yoga practice feeling energized, not tired. If you feel tired after yoga, it means you spent the time “fighting” yourself, trying to force yourself into poses. In yoga, you “surrender” to the pose by letting go of the tension.
Yoga becomes part of your spiritual life. Yoga is practiced by people from all religions; it is not restricted to any religious group. Yoga teaches “right” living in how we deal with ourselves and others. As I work on a difficult pose, I learn patience, forgiveness, and the value of gentleness. Yoga advocates proper eating, but you don’t have to be a vegetarian to practice yoga.
1. What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．What’s Yoga? | B．How I Do Yoga Poses |
| C．The Benefits of Yoga | D．The Varieties of Yoga |
| A．grow taller | B．lose weight |
| C．become flexible in thinking | D．make more friends |
| A．they consume energy in practicing yoga |
| B．they respond well to yoga poses |
| C．they spend too much time on yoga |
| D．they force themselves into yoga poses |
| A．Yoga as a means to keep fit. | B．Different yoga poses. |
| C．Popularity of yoga all over the world. | D．Encouraging people to do yoga. |
First, you must ask yourself, “Where is the wind coming from? Is it coming from ahead or behind or from the side?” You must think about this all the time on the boat. The wind direction tells you what to do with the sail.
Let’s start with the wind blowing from the behind. This means the wind and the boat are going in the same direction. Then you must always keep the sail outside the boat. It should be at a 90° angle (角度) to the boat. Then it will catch the wind best.
If the wind is blowing from the side, it is blowing across the boat. In this case, you must keep the sail half way outside the boat. It should be at a 45° angle to the boat. It needs to be out far enough to catch the wind, but it shouldn’t flap (摆动). It shouldn’t look like on a flagpole. If it is flapping, it is probably out too far, and the boat will slow down.
Sailing into the wind is not possible. If you try, the sail will flap and the boat will stop. You may want to go in that direction. It is possible, but you can’t go in a straight line. You must go first in one direction and then in another. This is called tacking. When you are tacking, you must always keep the sail inside the boat.
1. What should you consider first while sailing?
| A．Sailors’ strength. | B．Wave levels. |
| C．Wind directions. | D．Size of sails. |
| A．The boat. | B．The wind. | C．The sail. | D．The angle. |
| A．Move in a straight line. | B．Allow the sail to flap. |
| C．Lower the sail. | D．Tack the boat. |
| A．In a popular magazine. | B．In a tourist guidebook. |
| C．In a physics textbook. | D．In an official report. |
Born in 1949, Diana Nyad took an early interest in swimming as a sport and was a Florida State High School swimming champion. Like many young athletes, she had Olympic dreams, but a serious illness kept her from competing in the Games. The disappointment didn’t stop her from going forward. Instead, she became interested in marathon swimming. A brilliant athlete, she was well-conditioned for spending long periods of time in the water. As a long-distance swimmer, she would compete against herself and the obstacles presented by distance, danger, cold, and exhaustion.
For ten years Nyad devoted herself to becoming one of the world’s best long-distance swimmers. In 1970, she swam a ten-mile marathon in Lake Ontario, setting the women’s record for the course. In 1972 she set another record by swimming 102.5 miles from an island in the Bahamas to the coast of Florida. Then she broke a third record when swimming around Manhattan Island in 1975.
Nyad attempted to swim the distance between Florida and Cuba in 1978. Though the span of water is less than 100 miles wide, it is rough and dangerous. After battling the water for two days, she had to give up for the sake of her own health and safety. Even so, she impressed the world with her courage and strong desire to succeed. For Nyad her strength of purpose was just as important as reaching Cuba. That is how she defined success. It did not matter that her swim came up short; she believed she had touched the other shore.
When Nyad ended her career as a swimmer, she continued to try new things---travelling the world as a reporter, writing books and giving public speeches about her life. Diana Nyad works to inspire others, just as she did when she swam the waters of the world.
1. What prevented Nyad from taking part in the Olympic Games? (Not more than 5 words)_______________________________________________________________________
2. What does the underlined word “obstacles” mean? (1 word)
_______________________________________________________________________
3. What achievement did Nyad make in 1970? (Not more than 10 words.)
_______________________________________________________________________
4. Why did Nyad believe that she had touched the other shore? (Not more than 10 words)
_______________________________________________________________________
5. Please explain how you are inspired by Nyad. (Not more than 20 words)
_____________________________________________________________________
4 . Swimming, cycling, jogging, skiing, dancing, walking or any of dozens of other activities can help your heart.
●Choose activities that are fun and add variety. Develop several activities that you can enjoy.
●Wear comfortable, properly fitted shoes and comfortable, loose-fitting clothing appropriate for the weather and the activity.
●Find a convenient time and place to do activities.
●Use music to keep yourself entertained.
●
●Don’t overdo it, especially at first. You can slowly increase the time and intensity (强度) of your activities as you become more fit.
●Keep a record of your activities. Reward yourself at times. Nothing will inspire you more than success!
| A．Try to make it a habit, but be flexible. |
| B．They all cause you to feel warm and breathe heavily without being out of breath. |
| C．Be an active role model for your children. |
| D．That way, exercise will never seem boring. |
| E．If you are overweight or have a high risk of heart disease, see your doctor for medical advice before exercising. |
| F．Surround yourself with supportive people. |
| G．Gradually, work up to exercising on most days of the week for 30-60 minutes. |
Since Beijing’s first ski resort was opened ten years ago, the sport has enjoyed astonishing increase. There are now more than a dozen resorts. Clothes markets in the city have added bright colored ski suits to their winter collections. Mr. Wei, a manager of a newly-opened ski resort in Beijing, sees the growth of an industry that could soon lead Chinese to head for the ski resorts of Europe. In recent years, ski resorts offering natural snow have opened in China. But many are in faraway areas of the country and can’t really match the equipment and services of some ski resorts in Europe.
Beijing’s skiing craze is partly a result of the recent increase in private (私有的) cars. This has led to the growth of a leisure industry in the capital’s suburbs (郊区), which until the late-1990s were unreachable to ordinary people. According to Mr. Wei, about 40% of the visitors to his resort come in their own cars. The rest are bused in by schools, businesses or government offices.
The problem is making money. Starting ski resorts requires quite a lot of money; hiring land from the local government, preparing the hills, buying snow machines, making sure there are enough water and electricity to run them, and buying ski equipment for hiring out to customers.
The ski resort where Mr. Wei works cost nearly $4 million to set up. And as so often in China when someone comes up with a good idea, many others rush in and price wars break out. Beijing now offers some of the cheapest ski training classes in the world, though with most people rather new to the sport, expecting a few more doing the same job.
1. What does this text mainly talk about?
| A．Convenience for skiers brought about by private cars. |
| B．Skiing as a new way of enjoying one's spare time. |
| C．Things to be considered when starting a ski resort. |
| D．A sudden increase of ski training classes in Beijing. |
| A．To visit more ski areas. |
| B．To ski on natural snow. |
| C．For a large collection of ski suits. |
| D．For better services and equipment. |
| A．transport to ski resorts |
| B．production of family cars |
| C．business of providing spare time enjoyments |
| D．part-time work for people living in the suburbs |
| A．Difficulty in hiring land． |
| B．Lack of business experience． |
| C．Price wars with other ski resorts |
| D．Shortage of water and electricity. |
6 . In the competition of Olympic weightlifting, the athletes try to lift the maximum (最大的) weight they can. There are special conditions they have to meet in order to compete: body weight, height and strength.
The Olympic weightlifting mainly tests the limit of explosive strength (爆发力). There are not many lifters who really like Olympic weightlifting and the explanation is very simple: they are short of explosive strength.
The weights used for Olympic weightlifting are added in kilograms. The order by which the athletes enter the competition is not general, but it is set depending on the event. Usually the athlete with the lowest weight begins. If he/she is not successful, he/she can try later. There is a maximum of three lifts allowed for every competition.
For many years Olympic weightlifting was only for men. However, now women also take part in Olympic weightlifting. It was at the beginning of the 21st century that women’s competitions entered an organized professional environment. For women, Olympic weightlifting is more difficult because of their different body structure. However, strength training techniques (技术) are widely and successfully used by women, too.
Lots of the athletes who’ve ended up in Olympic weightlifting competitions have started with strength training only to improve their muscle condition and their body power. However, the demarcation line (界线) is not still very clear between power training and Olympic weightlifting. This is how so many lifters have got into Olympic weightlifting competition, even if their purpose was different at the beginning.
1. In the competition of Olympic weightlifting, athletes need to be all of the following EXCEPT________.| A．the right age | B．the right height |
| C．the right weight | D．the right strength |
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．men often do better than women in weightlifting |
| B．women need to use different training techniques from men |
| C．men can learn the training techniques better than women |
| D．women used not to be allowed to compete in Olympic weightlifting |
| A．take part in the Olympics |
| B．get a reward in the competition |
| C．strengthen their body power |
| D．test the limit of explosive strength |
7 . It’s 5:00 in the morning when the alarm(闹钟)rings in my ears. I roll out of bed and walk blindly through the dark into the bathroom. I turn on the light and put on my glasses. The house is still as I walk downstairs while my husband and three kids sleep peacefully. Usually I go for a long run, but today I choose my favorite exercise DVD, Insanity. Sweat pours down my face and into my eyes. My heart races as I force my body to finish each movement. As I near the end of the exercise, I feel extremely tired, but a smile is on my face. It’s not a smile because the DVD is over, but a smile of success from pushing my body to its extreme limit.
Some people enjoy shopping, smoking, food, work, or even chocolate. But I need exercise to get through each day. Some shake heads when they see me run through the town. Others get hurt when I refuse to try just one bite of their grandmother’s chocolate cake. They raise their eyebrows, surprised by my ＂no thank you＂, or by my choice to have a salad. Over the years, I have learned it’s okay to just say ＂no＂. I shouldn’t feel sorry for refusing food that I don’t want to eat.
So what drives me to roll out of bed at 5:00 a.m.? What gives me the reason to just say no to ice cream? Commitment. A commitment to change my life with a way that reduces daily anxiety, increases self-confidence and energy, extends life and above all improves my body shape. This is the point where a smile appears on my face as I look at myself in the mirror or try on my favorite pair of jeans that now fit just right. It’s through commitment and sweat that I can make a difference within myself inside and out.
1. Why is there a smile on the author’s face in the morning?| A．Because she sees her family sleeping peacefully. |
| B．Because she finishes her favorite exercise. |
| C．Because she enjoys the interesting DVD |
| D．Because she feels a sense of achievement. |
| A．She doesn’t treat others politely. |
| B．She likes to make others surprised. |
| C．Others don’t understand what she does. |
| D．Others try to help her by offering her food. |
| A．Good health. | B．Firm belief. |
| C．A strong power. | D．A regular habit. |
| A．She acts in a strange way. |
| B．She wants to look different from others. |
| C．She aims to develop a good body shape. |
| D．She has difficulty getting along with others. |
