1 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

A new competition has been added to the calendar of world sports events—the Balloon World Cup. We are all familiar     1     the “sport” of keeping balloon up. Most of us have joined in the decades—old pastime of     2     (keep) a balloon up in the air without letting it touch the floor. Spanish soccer star Gerard Pique loved this so much     3     he developed it into an international event. The first Balloon World Cup     4     (hold) in Spain on Thursday. Peru's Francesco de la Cruz was the very first man     5    (win) world champion. He defeated Germany's Jan Spiess in the final with a 6-2 victory.

Mr. Pique got his     6     (inspire) for the tournament from Tik Tok videos that went popular. He loved watching clips of the game     7     (play) by an American family during the COVID-19 lockdown. It then developed from the family's living room into a “Keep-Up Balloon League”. Pique then made the game global. The contests took place on an 8m x 8m court,       8     contained living room furniture as     9     (obstacle). Teams from 32 countries participated. Pique said, “It's something     10     (total) different. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and try new things.” There are hopes that it could become an Olympics event.

2 . Every year, hundreds of hopeful students arrive in Washington, D. C., in order to compete in the National Spelling Bee, which has been held every year since 1925.

In the competition, students under 16 take turns trying to properly spell words. The champion is the only remaining student who does not make a mistake. American students are familiar with the competition because it is practiced in many schools throughout the country. The National Spelling Bee, however, is a much bigger setting and showcases only the best spellers from all parts of the nation. Winning the competition nowadays requires the ability to perform under much pressure against so many talented students in front of a large audience. A student who wins the event in the twenty-first century will experience a much different challenge than the first winner, Frank Neuhauser, did in 1925 when he defeated only nine other competitors.

Clearly, the 90 years of the National Spelling Bee’s existence proves the importance of spelling in the English language. However, struggles with spelling English words go back much more than 90 years. The charming thing about spelling correctly in English is that it is in many ways without rules. English language can absorb new words from other languages and in doing so make them “English” words. Because of this, the number of words in English is much higher than any other languages. Thus, spelling in many other languages has fewer words and fewer strange exceptions to rules. It turns out that a spelling bee in most other languages would be a waste of time. Why is that? Well, without so many exceptions to common vocabulary, there would be very few words that everyone didn’t already know.

1. How is today’s competition different from the first National Spelling Bee?

A．It produces more winners.	B．It draws more talented audience.
C．It attracts more competitors.	D．It tests more strange words.

2. Why does the author mention “other languages” in Paragraph 3?

A．To introduce the new rules of the competition.	B．To gather students from other countries.
C．To explain the difficulty in English spelling.	D．To show the strict rules of written English.

3. What’s the author’s attitude toward holding spelling competitions in most other languages?

A．Unfavorable.

B．Supportive.

C．Responsible.

D．Doubtful.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Ways to win a Spelling Bee.	B．The most difficult language.
C．The best spellers.	D．A competition about spelling.