The legendary gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, aged 48, made
Chusovitina’s Olympic journey
In a sport known for its youthful
“Now I have made
2 . The walls of our house were supposed to be white. But I never remember them being white. At first, they were gray, then turning black. My father was a coal worker. He made charcoal (木炭) in our house. Have you ever seen charcoal being made? The little bags you buy in the store for barbeque come from somewhere, and honestly, it’s a very dirty business.
I remember one day I was bagging up the charcoal with my dad, and it was really cold and raining. All we had was the tiny roof over our heads. After a few hours, I got to go to school, where it was warm. My dad stayed out, working all day. If he didn’t sell that day, maybe we wouldn’t have enough to eat. I thought to myself: At some point, everything is going to change.
For this, I owe football everything. I started to play football early. I played so much football that every two months, my boots would break apart. When I was seven, I must have been pretty good, because I scored 64 goals for my neighborhood team. That year, my dad got a call from a coach saying they wanted me to play there. My dad asked, “Oh, it’s too far away. Nine kilometers. How will we get him there?” My mom said, “No, no, no! Don’t worry! I’ll take him!” And that is when Graciela was born.
Graciela was an old yellow bicycle that my mother would use to drive me to the training ground every day. It had a little basket in the front. Imagine this: A woman biking through town with a little boy on the back and a bag in the basket with his boots. Up hills. Down hills. Through the dangerous neighborhoods. In the rain. In the cold. In the dark. Graciela got us where we needed to go.
Nowadays, people see me on YouTube, watch the World Cup and witness how I won the competition, but they don’t know the journey. They don’t know about my living room walls turning from white to black. They don’t know about my father working under a little roof. They don’t know about my mother riding Graciela through the rain and the cold.
1. Why did the walls of the author’s house turn black?| A．His family wanted to change the look of their old house. |
| B．The black color could cover up his father’s dirty business. |
| C．The author often had indoor barbeques using charcoal. |
| D．There was a lot of coal dust produced from his father’s work. |
| A．Graciela was a yellow bicycle with a basket. |
| B．Graciela was named after the author’s mother. |
| C．Graciela was born when the author was nine. |
| D．Graciela was given to the author. |
| A．Determined. | B．Confident. | C．Ambitious. | D．Easy-going. |
| A．Time and tide wait for no man. |
| B．Happiness is a choice, not a result. |
| C．One who fears failure limits his activities. |
| D．There is always an unknown story behind every glory. |
3 . Lionel Messi, one of the greatest football players of all time, was born on June 24th, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina. From a young age, Messi showed a remarkable talent for football, and his passion for the game led him to join a local club at the age of just six.
Growing up in a working-class family, Messi faced many challenges. He suffered from a disease related to growth at a young age, and his parents could not afford the expensive treatment required. However, Messi’s talent on the field did not go unnoticed, and he was eventually offered a tryout with FC Barcelona. Messi impressed the Barcelona coaches with his exceptional skills, and they offered him a place at the club’s youth academy at the age of 13. He quickly rose through the ranks and made his first-team debut (首次亮相) in 2004 at the age of 17, becoming the youngest player to ever play for Barcelona.
Over the years, Messi has established himself as one of the best players in the world. He is known for his incredible dribbling (带球) skills, his ability to create space and his incredible speed. Messi has won a large number of awards over the course of his career, including the Ballon d’Or (an award given to the best football player in the world) seven times. In addition to his individual achievements, Messi has also enjoyed great success with FC Barcelona. He has won many domestic and international titles with the club. Messi has also been an important part of the Argentina national team, helping them reach the final of the 2014 World Cup and winning the Copa America in 2021.
Off the field, Messi is known for his charitable work. He has donated millions of dollars to charitable causes. In 2020, Messi and his foundation donated €1 million to hospitals in Catalonia to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lionel Messi’s story is an inspiration to young football players around the world, and his charitable work off the field is a testament to his character and generosity.
1. What challenge was Messi faced with on the way to success?| A．No family support. | B．Poor physical condition. |
| C．No exceptional talents. | D．The lack of good coaches. |
| A．Modest. | B．Cooperative. | C．Caring. | D．Ambitious. |
| A．Lifestyle. | B．News. | C．People. | D．Entertainment. |
| A．Lionel Messi: A Superstar off the Court |
| B．Lionel Messi: A Hero Changing the World |
| C．Lionel Messi: The Return of a Football Star |
| D．Lionel Messi: The Rise of a Football Legend |
At nine years of age, she took
Years
5 . There are four youngest athletes who won the gold medal in the Olympics. Their achievements are recorded in the history of professional sports.
Marjorie Gestring
Marjorie Gestring was only 13 years and 268 days old when she won a gold medal for her county. After 1936, the Olympies were sopped for the Second World War. Following the conclusion of the war, she could not qualify for the 1948 London Olympics. Marjorie Gestring would have won more gold medals considering her talent if not for the World War II.
Klaus Zerta
Klaus Zerta was only 13 years and 283 days old when he won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy. He cooperated with his teammates Bernhard Knubel and Heinz Renneberg to win the gold medal. Klaus was from West Germany but represented the unified team of Germany at the Olympics. Moreover, he is the youngest confirmed male athlete to win the gold medal in the history of the Summer Olympics.
Fu Mingxia
Chinese female diver Fu Mingxia is popular for being one of the youngest Olympic diving champions. She won a gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona when she was just 13 years and 345 days old. Her last Olympic gold medal came during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, which emphasized the environmental protection and the reduction in waste. With the fourth gold medal, she joined Americans Pat McCormick and Greg Louganis as the world’s only quadruple (四次的) Olympic diving champions.
Nadia Comaneci
Nadia Comaneci is a five time Olympic gold medalist. She is a retired gymnast and one of the youngest athletes to win the gold medal. In 1976, she became the first gymnast to receive a perfect score of 10. She was merely 14 years old when she secured the gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Interestingly, back then, a gymnast had to be 14 to participate but later the age limit went up to16.
1. Which of the following players played team sports?| A．Marjorie Gestring. | B．Klaus Zerta. |
| C．Fu Mingxia. | D．Nadia Comaneci. |
| A．The 1948 London Olympics. | B．The 1992 Barcelona Olympics. |
| C．The 1976 Montreal Olympics. | D．The 2000 Sydney Olympics. |
| A．Klaus Zerta defeated Bernhard Knubel and Heinz Renneberg in 1960. |
| B．Fu Mingxia won more Olympic-diving champions than Pat McCormick. |
| C．Marjorie Gestring didn’t participate in the Olympics because of the war in 1948. |
| D．It is impossible to break Nadia Comaneci’s record as the youngest gymnast gold medalist. |
Nikhil Kumar is one of the best young table tennis
The coronavirus pandemic(新冠病毒)has forced many athletes to be
Many competitors are facing tough issues during the pandemic.
7 . Of all the stories of Olympic medalists, the most touching one is that of weight-lifting champion Oscar Figueroa.
During his athletic
In the 2004 Olympic games, Figueroa made his first
In spite of all, he’d already
No matter how hard he felt, he never gave up, serving as a
| A．work | B．job | C．career | D．story |
| A．compete | B．win | C．join | D．call |
| A．excitement | B．disappointment | C．shame | D．happiness |
| A．promise | B．appearance | C．decision | D．plan |
| A．down | B．up | C．back | D．forward |
| A．Unbelievably | B．Thankfully | C．Hopefully | D．Unfortunately |
| A．tested | B．shaken | C．injured | D．caught |
| A．spent | B．cost | C．took | D．lost |
| A．experienced | B．expected | C．prepared | D．checked |
| A．imagine | B．refuse | C．give | D．claim |
| A．put up | B．took off | C．took on | D．set aside |
| A．retire | B．benefit | C．graduate | D．suffer |
| A．special | B．powerful | C．fresh | D．different |
| A．last | B．best | C．first | D．latest |
| A．training | B．learning | C．lifting | D．playing |
In 2018, Su Yiming, a 14-year-old native of northeastern China,
1. When did Jordan go to college?
| A．In 1981. | B．In 1984. | C．In 1990. |
| A．In Chicago. | B．In Los Angeles. | C．In Barcelona. |
| A．He joined the NBA. | B．He returned to the Bulls. | C．He retired from basketball. |
| A．For about six years. | B．For about two years. | C．For about five years. |
10 . Simone Biles was a bright, bouncy little girl. She couldn’t sit still, and her favorite place was the trampoline (蹦床) in her grandparents’, backyard, where she jumped and twisted (扭动) in the air for hours.
Simone was born in 1997. When she was 6 years old, her day-care group went on a field trip to a gym. Simone loved watching the gymnasts train and perform. She couldn’t just watch them, though-she had to try their moves. She was so good that one of the coaches sent a letter home with her, inviting Simone to take gymnastics (体操) classes.
Simone loved the classes, and she was excellent at climbing, swinging and jumping. She had a lot to learn, though. Most of the gymnasts in her class had started lessons when they began to learn to walk. At 6, Simone was the oldest child in her class. But that would change quickly.
Several times a year, the gym held exhibitions to demonstrate the gymnasts’ skills. At one of these, young gymnasts had to climb 10 feet up a rope, using just their arms and holding their legs straight in front of them. Simone was so strong that she climbed 20 feet into the air.
At 9, Simone learned why she couldn’t sit still: She had ADHD(多动症). Her brain moved fast and her body did too, which made it hard for her to concentrate in school. “The challenges we face help us become who we are, ” Simone wrote. “My challenge is also my superpower: ADHD. ” Simone’s superpower would help make her one of the most brilliant gymnasts ever seen.
At age 16, she won two gold medals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, including the all-around. She has now won 25 world medals, 19 of them gold. That’s the most in world gymnastics history. So outstanding is she that several signature moves have been named after Simone.
1. What does the underlined word “bouncy” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Confident. | B．Active. | C．Curious. | D．Gifted. |
| A．Simone liked to show off. |
| B．Simone didn’t need to learn more. |
| C．How excellently Simone performed. |
| D．Why Simone fell behind her classmates. |
| A．Simone’s superpower. |
| B．Simone’s signature moves. |
| C．Simone’s great achievements. |
| D．Simone’s experience in competitions. |
| A．Practice makes perfect. |
| B．Interest is the best teacher. |
| C．Talent is the key to success. |
| D．Challenges can be superpower. |
