1 . When Andrea Peterson landed her first teaching job,she faced the daunting task of creating a music program with almost no money for equipment or supplies in a climate where standardbased learning was the focus and music just provided a break for students and teachers.
For her drive and creativity in overcoming those challenges,she’s been named national teacher of the year.
Principal Waynes Kettler said he had worked with many outstanding teachers in his 22 years as an educator,but Peterson is “just that one step above anybody I’ve ever worked with before”.
Kettler and others at Monte Cristo Elementary School talk about the ways she has introduced the learning from other classrooms into her music program and her creativity in working around things such as the lack of money for new music.
When students were reading S.E.Hinton’s novel The Outsiders in their regular classroom,Peterson helped them write a 30minute play with scenes from the book.Then they chose three Broadway tunes that focused on race,equality and social justice,the themes of the book.Peterson composed two other songs by herself after classroom discussions about the play and the book.
The honor means a lot to residents of Granite Falls.It’s inspiring to know that people from small towns can even win national honors.
As national teacher of the year,Peterson will spend the next year outside the classroom,as a national and international spokeswoman for education.
Not surprisingly,she is a big believer in the value of arts education.She said it’s essential for schools to offer classes such as art,music and physical education because for some kids one of those subjects is the only thing that motivates them to come back to school day after day.
1. The underlined word “daunting” in Paragraph 1 most probably means________.A.discouraging | B.interesting |
C.creative | D.unbearable |
A.She concerned herself with current social problems. |
B.She motivated students to learn music with her creativity. |
C.She has taught music at the elementary school for 22 years. |
D.She made great efforts to arouse students’ interest in literature. |
A.She wrote plays on themes of race,equality and social justice. |
B.She made use of the contents of other classes in her teaching. |
C.She organized classroom discussions of Broadway tunes. |
D.She helped students compose songs by themselves. |
A.art,music and PE classes are all important |
B.more subjects should be offered to students |
C.students should be motivated to attend art classes |
D.arts education is more important than other subjects |
A.Peterson’s honor was a surprise for the local people |
B.Peterson’s art classes attracted students back to school |
C.Peterson aroused the local residents’ passion for music |
D.Peterson will change her profession next year |
Shawn Cheshire is a blind cyclist who competed in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She lost her ability
She said that,
Earlier this month, Cheshire crossed 68 kilometers of steep and uneven ground in the Grand Canyon(大峡谷). She did so in 24 hours and 15 minutes,
Three friends helped her during the Grand Canyon hike. They walked several steps apart. They guided and warned her of
Cheshire and her friends finished the hike on October 8, 2018. She said as the group neared
3 . Abebe Bikila stared at the athletes from his own country, who were competing in the Olympic Games. The name Ethiopia (埃塞俄比亚) was written across the back of each athlete’s uniform (衣服). As Abebe Bikila watched, he made up his mind to become one of those athletes.
In 1932, Abebe Bikila was born in a poor family in a small town near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As a child, he always ran to school a few kilometres away from his home. After leaving school, Abebe Bikila went into the army. He was later found to be excellent as a marathon (马拉松赛跑) runner. In 1960, he was on his way to Rome as a member of the Ethiopian Olympic team.
In Rome, Abebe Bikila succeeded in completing things that no runner had ever achieved before. When he won the Olympic marathon, he became the first black African to win a gold medal. And he set a new world record. Another thing that made people surprised was that he ran the race in his bare (赤裸的) feet. When asked why he ran barefoot, Abebe Bikila said, “I wanted the world to know that my country Ethiopia has always won with determination and heroism.”
By 1964, Abebe Bikila had become wellknown as a barefoot runner. In the same year, he headed for the Tokyo Olympics. But six weeks before his big race, Abebe Bikila suffered an attack of appendicitis (阑尾炎). When he arrived in Japan, he was still recovering from the operation to remove his appendix. But Abebe Bikila ran the marathon — this time wearing shoes — and won it! He beat his own record in 1960 by more than four minutes. That made him the first runner to continuously win two Olympic marathons.
In 1968, a car accident left the great runner unable to walk for ever. Abebe Bikila died in 1973. A huge crowd, including the then ruler of Ethiopia, Atse Haile Selassie, gathered as he was laid to rest. Abebe Bikila will always be remembered for his great ability, love of country, and true Olympic spirit. In the heart of all sports fans, Abebe Bikila remains an excellent Olympic athlete.
1. What made Abebe Bikila want to be an Olympic athlete?A.Joining the army after leaving school. |
B.Running to school when he was young. |
C.Taking part in a marathon at a young age. |
D.Watching the athletes from his country compete. |
A.made some mistakes |
B.didn’t wear his shoes |
C.failed to win a medal |
D.set two world records |
A.strongminded | B.warmhearted |
C.peaceloving | D.welleducated |
A.The early life of Abebe Bikila |
B.Abebe Bikila, a real sports hero |
C.Abebe Bikila, a true peace runner |
D.Abebe Bikila’s experience in Rome |
Lionel Messi,
5 . Not so long ago, most people didn’t know who Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was going to become. She was just an average high athlete. There was every indication that she was just another Jamaican teenager without much of a future. However, one person wanted to change this. Stephen Francis observed then eighteen-year-old Shelly-Ann at a track meet and was convinced that he had seen the beginnings of true greatness. Her times were not exactly impressive, but even so, he sensed there was something trying to get out, something the other coaches had overlooked when they had assessed her and found her lacking. He decided to offer Shelly-Ann a place in his very strict training sessions. Their cooperation quickly produced results, and a few years later at Jamaica’s Olympic trials in early 2008, Shelly-Ann, who at that time only ranked number 70 in the world, beat Jamaica’s unchallenged queen of the sprint.
“Where did she come from?” asked an astonished sprinting world, before concluding that she must be one of those one-hit wonders that spring up from time to time, only to disappear again without signs. But Shelly-Ann was to prove that she was anything but a one-hit wonder. At the Beijing Olympics she swept away any doubts about her ability to perform consistently by becoming the first Jamaican woman ever to win the 100 metres Olympic gold. She did it again one year on at the World Championships in Berlin, becoming world champion with a time of 10.73 — the fourth fastest time ever.
Shelly-Ann is a little woman with a big smile. She has a mental toughness that did not come about by chance. Her journey to becoming the fastest woman on earth has been anything but smooth and effortless. She grew up in one of Jamaica’s toughest inner-city communities known as Waterhouse, where she lived in a one-room apartment, sleeping four in a bed with her mother and two brothers. Waterhouse, one of the poorest communities in Jamaica, is a really violent and overpopulated place. Several of Shelly-Ann’s friends and family were caught up in the killings; one of her cousins was shot dead only a few streets away from where she lived. Sometimes her family didn’t have enough to eat. She ran at the school championships barefooted because she couldn’t afford shoes. Her mother Maxime, one of a family of fourteen, had been an athlete herself as a young girl but, like so many other girls in Waterhouse, had to stop after she had her first baby. Maxime’s early entry into the adult world with its responsibilities gave her the determination to ensure that her kids would not end up in Waterhouse’s roundabout of poverty. One of the first things Maxime used to do with Shelly-Ann was taking her to the track, and she was ready to sacrifice everything.
It didn’t take long for Shelly-Ann to realize that sports could be her way out of Waterhouse. On a summer evening in Beijing in 2008, all those long, hard hours of work and commitment finally bore fruit. The barefoot kid who just a few years previously had been living in poverty, surrounded by criminals and violence, had written a new chapter in the history of sports.
But Shelly-Ann’s victory was far greater than that. The night she won Olympic gold in Beijing, the routine murders in Waterhouse and the drug wars in the neighbouring streets stopped. The dark cloud above one of the world’s toughest criminal neighbourhoods simply disappeared for a few days. “I have so much fire burning for my country,” Shelly said. She plans to start a foundation for homeless children and wants to build a community centre in Waterhouse. She hopes to inspire the Jamaicans to lay down their weapons. She intends to fight to make it a woman’s as well as a man’s world.
As Muhammad Ali puts it, “Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them. A desire, a dream, a vision.” One of the things Shelly-Ann can be proud of is her understanding of this truth.
1. Why did Stephen Francis decide to coach Shelly-Ann?A.He had a strong desire to free her family from trouble. |
B.He sensed a great potential in her despite her weaknesses. |
C.She had big problems maintaining her performance. |
D.She suffered a lot of defeats at the previous track meets. |
A.She would become a promising star. | B.She badly needed to set higher goals. |
C.Her sprinting career would not last long. | D.Her talent for sprinting was known to all. |
A.Her success and lessons in her career. | B.Her interest in Shelly-Ann’s quick profit. |
C.Her wish to get Shelly-Ann out of poverty. | D.Her early entrance into the sprinting world. |
A.She was highly rewarded for her efforts. | B.She was eager to do more for her country. |
C.She became an athletic star in her country. | D.She was the envy of the whole community. |
A.players should be highly inspired by coaches | B.great athletes need to concentrate on patience |
C.hard work is necessary in one’s achievements | D.motivation allows great athletes to be on the top |
A.The Making of a Great Athlete | B.The Dream for Championship |
C.The Key to High Performance | D.The Power of Full Responsibility |
6 . James Cleveland Owens was the son of a farmer and the grandson of black slaves. His family moved to Cleveland when he was 9. There, a school teacher asked the youth his name.
“J.C,” he replied.
She thought he had said “Jesse”, and he had a new name.
Owens ran his first race at age 13. After high school, he went to Ohio State University. He had to work part time so as to pay for his education. As a second year student, in the Big Ten games in 1935, he set even more records than he would in the Olympic Games a year later.
A week before the Big Ten meet, Owens accidentally fell down a flight of stairs. His back hurt so much that he could not exercise all week, and he had to be helped in and out of the car that drove him to the meet. He refused to listen to the suggestions that he give up and said he would try. He did try, and the results are in the record book.
The stage was set for Owens’ victory at the Olympic Games in Berlin the next year, and his success would come to be regarded as not only athletic but also political. Hitler did not congratulate any of the African American winners.
“It was all right with me,” he said years later. “I didn’t go to Berlin to shake hands with him, anyway.”
Having returned from Berlin, he received no telephone calls from the president of his own country, either. In fact, he was not honored by the United States until 1976, four years before his death.
Owens’ Olympic victories made little difference to him. He earned his living by looking after a school playground, and accepted money to race against cars, trucks, motorcycles and dogs.
“Sure, it bothered me,” he said later. “But at least it was an honest living. I had to eat.”
In time, however, his gold medals changed his life.“They have kept me alive over the years,” he once said. “Time has stood still for me. That golden moment dies hard.”
1. Owens got his other name “Jesse”when________.A.he went to Ohio State University |
B.his teacher made fun of him |
C.his teacher took “J.C” for “Jesse” |
D.he won gold medals in the Big Ten meet |
A.hurt himself in the back |
B.succeeded in setting many records |
C.tried every sports event but failed |
D.had to give up some events |
A.he was not of the right race |
B.he was the son of a poor farmer |
C.he didn't shake hands with Hitler |
D.he didn't talk to the US president on the phone |
A.have been changed for money to help him live on |
B.have made him famous in the US |
C.have encouraged him to overcome difficulties in life |
D.have kept him busy with all kinds of jobs |
A.Jesse Owens, a great American athlete |
B.Golden moment — a lifetime struggle |
C.Making a living as a sportsman |
D.How to be a successful athlete |