1 . A month before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only two weeks to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead.
I remember back to my 7th year in school. In my first P. E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and hit a softball. I didn't do either well. He later informed me that I was "not athletic".
The idea that I was "not athletic" stuck with me for years. When I started running in my 30s, I realized running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of wills!
The night before my marathon, I dreamt that I couldn't even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but ready to prove something to myself.
Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces became untied. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted!
At mile 3, I passed a sign: "GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!"
By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt severely. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.
By mile 21, I was starving!
As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign. She is my biggest fan. She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 a.m. or questioned my expenses on running.
I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. Actually, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.
Determined to be myself, move forward, free of shame and worldly labels(世俗标签), I can now call myself a "marathon winner".
1. After the author’s ankle was injured, what was he determined to do?| A．quit | B．go ahead |
| C．have a rest | D．keep calm and walk |
| A．treasure his precious old days | B．prove his inability in sports then |
| C．defend himself from prejudice | D．convey his gratitude to the teacher |
| A．He succeeded for a strong will. | B．He quit running halfway. |
| C．He was awarded the first prize. | D．He walked to the end. |
| A．He passed a sign: "GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!" |
| B．He became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt severely |
| C．He was starving! |
| D．He was encouraged by his wife. |
| A．One is never too old to learn. |
| B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．Family support is the fountain of success. |
| D．Success can be acquired with a great effort of will. |
Learn Chinese swordsmanship and practice Chinese sword play under the instruction of a professional in Ditan Park every Sunday afternoon.
Fee: 60 yuan(US$ 7.2)
Time/Date: 2 pm — 3:30 pm, October 10.
Place: Meet at the south gate of Ditan Park, across the overpass north of the Lama Temple, Chaoyang District.
Tel: 8457-2772
See Lu Xun’s former residence
Visit the museum and former residence of Lu Xun, the father of Chinese modern literature, and learn about this period of Chinese history, from 1910 to the late 1930’s.
Fee: 50 yuan(US$ 6)
Time/Date: 2:30 pm — 4:30 pm, October 16
Place: Meet in front of Lu Xun’s Museum, Fuchengmennei Dajie, Xicheng District
Tel: 6432-9341
Hike on Heifengkou Great Wall
Heifengkou Great Wall is about one and a half hours’ drive north of Beijing. The hike starts from the village at the foot of the mountain where the Great Wall meanders to the top.
Fee: 150 yuan(US$ 18) for adults, 100 yuan(US$ 12) for kids under 12.
Time/Date: 8:30 am — 5:30 pm, October 16
Pick-up: Meet at 8:30 am in front of the Big Easy, at the South Gate of Chaoyang Park, returning by 5:30 pm.
Contact Lucy at lucy @ highclub. cn, or 6553-3920 for signing up.
Tai Chi class
This is a beginner’s level of Chen-style Tai Chi class, instructed by Paul Wang, who speaks excellent English and has a lot of experience teaching Westerners. He is the 12th generation master of Chen-Style Tai Chi, Tai Chi Sword, and Shaolin Temple longquan.
Time/Date: 10 am — 11:30 am, October 12, 19
Fee: 60 yuan(US$ 7.2)
Place: In front of Jintai Gallery, inside the West Gate of Chaoyang Park, Chaoyang District
Tel: 6432-9341
Contact Gina at linshujuan@chinadaily. com. cn.
1. The underline word “residence” in the second text possibly refers to ________.| A．a work | B．a famous person |
| C．a park | D．a house |
| A．Ditan Park at 2 pm — 3:30 pm, October 10 |
| B．Fuchengmennei Dajie at 2:30 pm — 4:30 pm, October 16 |
| C．the South Gate of Chaoyang Park at 8:30 am |
| D．Chaoyang Park at 10 am — 11:30 am, October 12, 19 |
| A．learn Chinese sword play |
| B．hike on Heifengkou Great Wall |
| C．visit the museum and former residence of Lu Xun |
| D．take the Tai Chi class |
| A．Sports. | B．Entertainment. |
| C．Advertisements. | D．Brief News. |
| A．$ 18 | B．$ 120 | C．$ 108 | D．$ 90 |
3 . Plan on traveling around the USA this summer? If you need help in arranging the trip, or want ideas about where to go and what to do, there are a number of outstanding websites that can make your American dream come true
http://byways.org The National Scenic Byways Program covers 150 memorable roads. Some are natural routes, such as Route 1 along the California coast. Others focus on history (such as Route 6) or man-made attractions (the Las Vegas Strip). For each, you are provided with a map, told the route’s length and how long is allowed, and given detailed suggestions on sights and stop-offs. |
www.oyster.com This is the best website for reviews of hotels in US cities and resorts. The reviews are impressively thorough, covering locations, rooms, cleanliness, food and so on. Importantly, these are not promotional photos by the hotels, but more honest and real ones taken by inspectors. Search facilities are excellent from the 243 hotels reviewed in the New York, you can narrow down what you are looking for by locations, facilities and styles, or just pick out a selection of the best. |
www.101 usaholidays.co.uk This is the latest offering that features 101 holiday ideas to the USA. It's an impressively diverse selection, ranging from touring in the footsteps of Martin Luther King to a golfing break in Arizona and a cycling and wine-tasting trip in California's Napa Valley. Narrow down what you are looking for — whether by price, region, theme and who will be traveling — and then just the photos of the relevant holidays remain on view. It’s a really clever design. |
www.mousesavers.com Walt Disney World in California can make dreams come true, but the price is not affordable for the majority of people. So turn to long established Mouscsavers.com, dedicated to giving big discounts on tickets, hotels and dining at Walt Disney World. The website also offers general money — saving tips, suggestions for cheap and free stuff and brief coverage of other Florida and California theme parks. |
| A．Route 1 | B．Route 6 |
| C．the Las Vegas Strip | D．the California coast |
| A．Because there are qualifications of the authority. |
| B．Because they are taken by inspectors of the website. |
| C．Because there are comments of customers on each photo. |
| D．Because they were taken by customers who once lived there. |
| A．www.oyster.com | B．http://byways.org |
| C．www.mousesavers.com | D．www.101usaholidays.co.uk |
| A．California’s Napa Valley is famous for its wine. |
| B．www.mousesavers.com is a newly established website. |
| C．The National Scenic Byways Program covers all the roads in the USA. |
| D．Discounted tickets of Walt Disney World are not available for everyone. |
| A．A news report. | B．A tourist brochure. |
| C．A culture journal. | D．A health column. |
“The guidelines are pretty easy,” says Dr Lorenzo Masci from the Alphington Sports Medicine Clinic. “Anything above the neck --- so if you’ve got a cold for example, a runny nose or a sore throat --- then you should probably cut down your exercise by half and do 50 percent of what you normally do.”
“If you’ve got anything below the neck, like muscle pain, joint pain or fever, you shouldn’t really exercise at all until those general symptoms settle down,” Lorenzo says. He points out that a cough would also fall into this more serious category. “For example, if anyone comes in with a fever and a runny nose, I’d tell them to stop exercising until the fever and the muscle ache settles. Then they can start their training again at 50 percent once all those symptoms settle, even if they’ve got a bit of a runny nose or a sore throat.”
“The reason we tell people to stop exercising is because if you exercise when you’re unwell it can make the illness worse and prolong it.” There is a second reason Lorenzo advises his patients to stop exercising when they have “below the neck” symptoms. In the event you have an illness which affects your heart, exercise can sometimes actually lead to death.
Lorenzo advises to take zinc (锌) and vitamin C as a way of preventing colds. But he admits that this is controversial --- some studies have shown that these supplements can improve immune function while other studies have cast doubt on the issue. The good news is that if you exercise regularly, you’re likely to improve your immune function. “If you exercise too much, it can predispose (使倾向于) you to coughs and sniffles,” he points out. This is often the case for excellent athletes who train every day, such as triathletes (铁人三项运动员). “But what we do know is that if you exercise at a moderate level, your immune system improves such that you’re probably at a lower risk of developing coughs and colds.”
1. How many guidelines does Dr Lorenzo mainly suggest on doing exercises when people catch a cold?
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．They should probably reduce their training time by 50%. |
| B．They should stop exercising until they recover. |
| C．They should start exercising at 50% after their runny nose settles. |
| D．They should do half of what they normally do. |
| A．Worsening the illness. |
| B．Prolonging the illness. |
| C．Affecting the heart. |
| D．Bringing about threat to life. |
| A．Zinc and Vitamin C can help to prevent colds. |
| B．The more exercises we do, the stronger our immune function will be. |
| C．Doing exercises regularly can help us prevent colds. |
| D．Excellent athletes seldom get coughs or sniffles. |
| A．Relationship between exercises and flu. |
| B．How to do exercises. |
| C．How to cope with flu. |
| D．When to do exercises. |
That’s because job growth numbers don’t matter to job hunters as much as job turnover data. After all, existing jobs open up every day due to promotions, resignations, terminations, and retirements. (Yes, people are retiring even in this economy.) In both good times and bad, turnover creates more openings than economic growth does. Even in June of 2007, when the economy was still humming along, job growth was only 132,000, while turnover was 4.7 million!
And as it turns out, even today — with job growth near zero — over 4 million job hunters are being hired every month.
I don’t mean to imply that overall job growth doesn’t have an impact on one’s ability to land a job. It’s true that if total employment were higher, it would mean more jobs for all of us to choose from (and compete for). And it’s true that there are currently more people applying for each available job opening, regardless of whether it’s a new one or not.
But what often distinguishes those who land jobs from those who don’t is their ability to stay motivated. They’re willing to do the hard work of identifying their valuable skills; be creative about where and how to look; learn how to present themselves to potential employers; and keep going, even after repeated rejections. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that 2.7 million people who wanted and were available for work hadn’t looked within the last four weeks and were no longer even classified as unemployed.
So don’t let the headlines fool you into giving up. Four million people get hired every month in the U.S. You can be one of them.
1. The author tends to believe that high unemployment rate ______?
| A．deprives many people of job opportunities. |
| B．prevents many people from changing careers. |
| C．should not stop people from looking for a job. |
| D．does not mean the U.S. economy is worsening. |
| A．Job growth |
| B．Job turnover |
| C．Improved economy |
| D．Business expansion |
| A．It doesn’t have much effect on individual job seekers. |
| B．It increases people’s confidence in the economy. |
| C．It gives a ray of hope to the unemployed. |
| D．It doesn’t mean greater job security for the employed. |
| A．Education |
| B．Intelligence |
| C．Persistence |
| D．Experience |
| A．They clearly indicate how healthy the economy is. |
| B．They provide the public with the latest information. |
| C．They warn of the structural problems in the economy. |
| D．They exclude those who have stopped looking for a job. |
