1 . Packing up her bedroom in Virgin a Beach, Douglas had to say goodbye to her family, to her two dogs, and to the beach, where she loved to ride waves on her boogie board. But it was time to take the leap, however, heartbreaking and awkward it would be. Even at 14, Douglas knew that.
So off she went about 1.200 miles to West Des Moines, Iowa, to train with a coach from China and live with a white family she had never been met. When she arrived,\Douglas thought that she must be the only black person in the state.
“I was unpacking and saying, ‘What am I doing?’”said Douglas, who is 16.“it was like:’Where do I put everything? Where are the spoons?’ I’d wake up and say, ‘This is my bed, where am I?’”
Liang Chow, who had coached the Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, transformed Douglas into one of the best gymnasts in the world, helping her skyrocket from an average member of the national team to the top of the sport. And a couple with four young daughters became her second family, nurturing her in low a while her real family|supported her from afar,(遥远地).
That move also was important in Douglas’s making history. By winning the Olympic all-round title, she became the first black woman to do so. She also became the fourth American woman to win the all-round, following Mary Lou Rettonjin 1984, Carly Patternson in 2004 and Nastia Liukin in 2008.
Douglas won, scoring 62.232 points, and led the competition from beginning to end.’Viktoria Komova, who sobbed into her coach’s chest when she learned she had lost, won the silver, with 61.973 points. Aliya Mustafina. the 2010 world all-round champion, won the bronze with 59.566 points. The other American in the competition, Aly Raisman finished fourth after losing a tiebreaker(决胜局) to Mustafina.
Douglas said she had felt confident all along that she would win.“It was just an amazing feeling,”she said,“I was just like, believe, don’t fear, believe.”
1. Douglas left her home at 14 because she| A．didn’t like her dogs |
| B．needed training to make a difference |
| C．wanted to live with her second family |
| D．wanted to become the only black champion in the state |
| A．uneasy | B．excited |
| C．independent | D．tired |
| A．Komova felt stressed during the game and lost her heart. |
| B．Douglas stayed ahead throughout the whole game. |
| C．Aliya came from America and won the third place. |
| D．Most of the competitors were from America. |
| A．She was the first American woman to win the all-around. |
| B．She was the only black person in the state of Iowa. |
| C．Her family didn’t like the idea of her becoming a gymnast. |
| D．Her move to Iowa brought her the chance to succeed. |
She had to pack up her bedroom in Virginia Beach, where she lived with her mother, two sisters and brother. She had to say goodbye to her two dogs, who used to sleep in her bed, and to the beach, where she loved to ride waves on her boogie board.
But it was time to take the leap, however heartbreaking and awkward it would be. Even at 14, Douglas knew that.
So off she went about 1,200 miles to West Des Moines, Iowa, to train with a coach from China and live with a white family she had never been met. When she arrived, Douglas thought that she must be the only black person in the state. When she woke up, she always said, “This isn’t my bed set. Where am I?”
Liang Chow, who had coached the Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, transformed Douglas into one of the best gymnasts in the world, helping her skyrocket from an average member of the national team to the top of the sport. And a couple with four young daughters became her second family, nurturing her in Iowan while her real family supported her from afar.
That move also was important in Douglas’s making history. By winning the Olympic all-round title, she became the first black woman to do so. She also became the fourth American woman to win the all-round, following Mary Lou Retton in 1984, Carly Patterson in 2004 and Nastia Liukin in 2008.
Douglas won, scoring 62.232 points, and led the competition from beginning to the end. Viktoria Komova, who sobbed into her coach’s chest when she learned she had lost, won the silver, with 61.973 points. Aliya Mustafina, the 2010 world all-round champion, won the bronze with 59.566 points. The other American in the competition, Aly Raisman finished fourth after losing a tiebreaker (决胜局) to Mustafina.
Douglas said she had felt confident all along that she would win. “It was just an amazing feeling.” she said, giggling (咯咯笑). “I was just like, believe, don’t fear, believe.” After sacrificing so much, she had no other choice but to push forward, she said.
1. Why did Douglas leave her home at 14? (no more than 10 words2. How did she feel when Douglas first arrived at the new home? (no more than 5 words)
3. What does the underlined word “skyrocket” in Paragraph 4 most probably mean? (no more than 3 words)
4. According to Para. 5, what achievement did Douglas make? (no more than 15 words)
5. What do you think of Douglas from the story? Give your reasons. (no more than 20 words)
3 . When Kevin Durant gave his tearful MVP speech m 2014, the NBA star made sure to thank one person who had been there with him from the very beginning: his mother. His heartfelt words about the sacrifices she made for Durant and his brother led to a lifetime movie about her journey as a single parent, The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story.
Today, the NBA superstar’s mom travels the country as a motivational speaker and philanthropist (慈善家). On Monday, she spoke at Thomson Reuters’ in New York about her personal struggles to achieve financial stability and shared the financial advice she gave her son when he entered the league with CNBC.
“I wanted him to realize he has worked hard,” she says, “And it is OK for him to enjoy himself because of his hard work. But it is also imperative that he prepares for his future.” While she advised him to enjoy the rewards of his labor, she also wanted to make sure that her son knew the importance of financial planning.
She told the audience that when she found herself a single parent to two children at 21, she couldn’t follow the financial principles. Rather than planning for the future, she focused only on how her money could make ends meet for that moment.
Recently, Durant has teamed up with Laurene Powell Jobs for a new philanthropic program called College Track which is aimed at helping disadvantaged kids attend college. As part of the program, Durant has committed to donating $10 million to his hometown’s public school system.
Durant’s mom says that in addition to his financial decisions, she is proud of his philanthropic work and his desire to help the community, “I thought giving back was always very important, and so we talked about that and he had seen that from us as a family and it’s one of the things that I taught him,’’ she says.
1. What is The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story mainly about?| A．Durant’s career path. |
| B．Durant’s hard childhood. |
| C．Durant’s mother’s struggling to be independent. |
| D．Durant’s mother’s devotion to the family. |
| A．To share experience of her life and education on her son. |
| B．To make Durant realize the importance of financial planning. |
| C．To give the audience advice on how to achieve financial stability. |
| D．To explain that we can enjoy rewards by working hard. |
| A．Enjoyable. | B．Important. | C．Unusual. | D．Hopeful. |
| A．Enjoying now and planning for the future. |
| B．Sharing rewards and creating a charity program. |
| C．Spending less money and saving for the emergencies. |
| D．Donating money to the charity and helping more schools. |
| A．His kind heart. | B．His poor hometown. |
| C．His mother’s teaching. | D．His difficult life experiences. |
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. 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 15 words)
5. Please explain how you are inspired by Nyad. (Not more than 20 words)
5 . Called the “Iron Hammer” in her playing days, Lang Ping is considered as one of the biggest heroes of Chinese sports.
At the 1981 World Cup in Japan, the Chinese women’s team showed the world their speed and power for the first time. Playing outside hitter, Lang helped the team take home its first major title. Thanks to teamwork and their strong spirit, they achieved a record of five world titles in a row, which include two World Cups, two World Championships and a gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Despite a lot of victories, after eight years of hard training and fighting, Lang retired as a player in 1986. But she never said goodbye to her favorite sport. In 1995, Lang became the head coach of the Chinese national team and led China to silver medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic and the 1998 World Championships in Japan.
Though she left the job in 1999 to coach an Italian club, in 2013 she returned to coach the young national team. In 2016, her team took home the gold medal at the Rio Olympics, making her the first person to win an Olympic gold for volleyball both as a player and a coach. The team was listed fourth after the preliminary competition. But Lang said in a public interview, “Sometimes you know you may not win, but you still have to pull out all the stops.”
Lang plays an important role in the creation and passing on of an honorable tradition of fighting and teamwork. “The spirit of Chinese women’s volleyball team is never to give up. My duty as the coach is to guide this young team to carry on this spirit,” said Lang. The spirit is about more than sport; it is an important source of spiritual strength for the country to draw on in its effort to press ahead.
1. When did Lang win her first world champion?| A．In 1981. | B．In 1984. | C．In 1986. | D．In 1995. |
| A．They won the first prize. |
| B．They had a good start. |
| C．They won all the games. |
| D．They didn’t enter the final. |
| A．Put you on the spot. | B．End up with the game. |
| C．Go all out. | D．Catch your eye. |
| A．We have to do sports every day. |
| B．We should keep fighting to the end. |
| C．We should try our best to be a coach. |
| D．We must spend time learning volleyball. |
| A．Lang Ping, a very strict coach |
| B．Lang Ping, a hero of Chinese sports |
| C．The Chinese people’s love for volleyball |
| D．The spirit of Chinese women’s volleyball team |
6 . When Kevin Durant gave his tearful MVP speech in 2014, the NBA star made sure to thank one person who had been there with him from the very beginning: his mother. His heartfelt words about the sacrifices she made for Durant and his brother led to a lifetime movie about her journey as a single parent, The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story.
Today, the NBA superstar’s mom travels the country as a motivational speaker and philanthropist (慈善家). On Monday, she spoke at Thomson Reuters’ in New York about her personal struggles to achieve financial stability and shared the financial advice she gave her son when he entered the league with CNBC.
“I wanted him to realize he has worked hard,” she says, “And it is OK for him to enjoy himself because of his hard work. But it is also imperative that he prepares for his future.” While she advised him to enjoy the rewards of his labor, she also wanted to make sure that her son knew the importance of financial planning.
She told the audience that when she found herself a single parent to two children at 21, she couldn’t follow the financial principles. Rather than planning for the future, she focused only on how her money could make ends meet for that moment.
Recently, Durant has teamed up with Laurene Powell Jobs for a new philanthropic program called College Track which is aimed at helping disadvantaged kids attend college. As part of the program, Durant has committed to donating $10 million to his hometown’s public school system.
Durant’s mom says that in addition to his financial decisions, she is proud of his philanthropic work and his desire to help the community. “I thought giving back was always very important, and so we talked about that and he had seen that from us as a family and it’s one of the things that I taught him,” she says.
1. What is The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story mainly about?| A．Durant’s career path. |
| B．Durant’s hard childhood. |
| C．Durant’s mother’s devotion to the family. |
| D．Durant’s mother’s struggling to be independent. |
| A．Enjoyable. | B．Important. |
| C．Unusual. | D．Hopeful. |
| A．To share experience of her life and education on her son. |
| B．To make Durant realize the importance of financial planning. |
| C．To give the audience advice on how to achieve financial stability. |
| D．To explain that we can enjoy rewards by working hard. |
| A．Enjoying now and planning for the future. |
| B．Sharing rewards and creating a charity program. |
| C．Spending less money and saving for the emergencies. |
| D．Donating money to the charity and helping more schools. |
| A．His kind heart. | B．His poor hometown. |
| C．His mother’s teaching. | D．His difficult life experiences. |
7 . Do you like running enough to make it a habit? Tierney Wolfgram does; she has made running a lifelong career and isn’t stopping.
In February, the 16-year-old from Woodbury High School, Minnesota, US, competed at the 2020 US Olympic Trials.
She finished the marathon (42.195 km) with a time of 2:42:47 as the youngest competitor in the race and ranked 76th out of 390 runners.
However, the cross-country (越野的) season was postponed to winter because of the coronavirus pandemic. So she jumped at the opportunity to train for another race — the Parkway Marathon in California.
In November, Wolfgram, who turned 17, broke the Women’s American Junior marathon record with her time of 2:31:49. The old record was 2:34:32, which had stood since 1984.
“I’m absolutely stunned,” said Wolfgram’s assistant coach, EmKay Sullivan. “I knew she was going to break it, but she really showed out!”
During the run, Wolfgram once hit a wall pretty hard, but she overcame it to finish. “I guess I can say I gave it my all,” she told Runner’s World.
“I When I finished all was thinking was I was super happy,” Wolfgram said.
This was only her third marathon. In 2018, when Wolfgram was 15 years old, she ran her first marathon just because she wanted to see if she was capable of doing it. “I believed that I would get faster as the distances got longer… and I’m still gad that I did it.”
When preparing for that first marathon, she ran up to 120 miles (about 190 kilometers) per week.
Although her parents didn’t have any background in running, they helped Wolfgram train. At first, her dad would take her out in the morning and run about l3 miles. The distance would gradually increase each day. On top of her runs in the morning, she would do cross-country practice after school.
After the Parkway Marathon, Wolfgram shifted to recovery mode. She and her team now prepare for the indoor track and cross-country race this winter.
As for the marathon, Wolfgram will consider attending the Olympics Games in 2024 after it’s scheduled.
1. Why does Wolfgram choose running as a career?| A．She enjoys it so much. |
| B．She can earn a lot of money. |
| C．She wants to compete in Olympics. |
| D．She doesn’t want to be stopped by others. |
| A．Only adults cold compete in the cross country season. |
| B．She was not fully prepared for the cross-country season. |
| C．The cross-country season was put off because of COVID-19. |
| D．The two competitions were held on the same day. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Surprised. | C．Worried. | D．Interested. |
| A．Her coach’s support. | B．Her parents’ encouragement. |
| C．Her hope to break the national record. | D．Her desire to prove to herself she could do it. |
| A．Strong-willed. | B．Outgoing. |
| C．Humorous. | D．Modest. |
8 . THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
Near the small town of Grottoes, Virginia, a narrow dirt road goes from the house of Stephen Curry’s grandfather to the woods nearby. A far cry from the bright lights and shiny courts of the National Basketball Association (NBA), it was along this road that Stephen’s grandfather built a simple basket by attaching a piece of plastic to a telephone pole.
Like his father, basketball star Dell Cury, Stephen spent many childhood hours playing on this muddy basketball court. He probably didn’t realise it at the time, but it was where he learnt to be creative and flexible as a player. You see, with every shot, the weak plastic backboard gave way. The bumps and rocks that lined the road under the basket caused the ball to bounce in all directions. Knowing where the ball would go wasn’t easy. He had to adjust his own playing style as a result. Shooting with great accuracy was another thing he learnt. Only shots perfectly aimed at its centre went into the heavy, thick basket. In this way, practising day in and day out helped Stephen sharpen his skills.
Despite his father’s successful career, Stephen was thought by many people, including his high school teammates and coaches, to be too short, too thin and too weak to follow in his father’s footsteps. But Stephen carried on. Playing basketball was his dream. He would not give up. He finally ended up playing college ball at a small, little-known school, Davidson College, not too far from where he lived. His creativity and perseverance made him Davidson’s star player.
Selected for the NBA in 2009, Stephen joined the Golden State Warriors. He performed beyond everyone’s expectations with his accurate shooting and continuous efforts. In 2015, Stephen won his first NBA championship, and he led the Warriors to their first championship since 1975.
After receiving the Most Valuable Player award for two years in row, Stephen explained his philosophy, “I never really set out to change the game... What I wanted to do was just be myself... I know it inspires a lot of the next generation, a lot of people who love the game of basketball to value the skill of it, value the fact that you can work every single day to get better. You’ve got to be able to put in the time and the work. That’s how I got here. That’s how I continue to get better every single day.” Inspiring others to believe in themselves, Stephen Curry is living proof that what other people thing of you does not have to influence what you become. Through self-belief, hard work, perseverance and some help from an old hoop, he has shown that anything is possible.
1. What’s Stephen’s first basket?| A．A second-hand basket bought by his grandfather. |
| B．A piece of plastic attached to a telephone pole. |
| C．A new one built in the woods nearby. |
| D．A wooden one picked up behind the house. |
| A．To play in a small court. |
| B．To adjust his own style. |
| C．To strengthen the plastic backboard. |
| D．To bounce the ball in all directions. |
| A．Because his father was too excellent. |
| B．Because he ended up playing at a small little-known team. |
| C．Because he was far from a well-built player. |
| D．Because he came from a small town far away. |
| A．With his accurate shooting and continuous efforts. |
| B．By joining the Golden State Warriors. |
| C．By following in his father’s footsteps. |
| D．With the help of his grandfather. |
| A．To explain why Stephen Curry was doubted by many people. |
| B．To inform people about Stephen Curry’s basketball skills. |
| C．To inspire people with Stephen Curry’s determination to succeed. |
| D．To tell what Stephen Curry has achieved during his career. |
“Tennis – I’m saying goodbye.” With these words, Russian tennis superstar Maria Sharapova, 32, has announced her retirement.
“How do you leave behind the only life you’ve ever known?” she asked herself. Several reasons played a role in Sharapova leaving the tennis court for good.
Over the last couple of years, she’s dealt with an injury in her right shoulder and inflammation (炎症) in her forearms that may have prevented her from returning to top form. In more recent news, the death of her longtime friend, US basketball legend Kobe Bryant, also played a factor in her decision to retire.
“As I think you’ve seen throughout my career, my perseverance ( 毅 力 ) has been my greatest tool, my greatest strength,” Sharapova said in an interview. “But I’ve started feeling like it was becoming a weakness, because the stubbornness (执着) that was keeping me going was keeping me going for wrong reasons.”
Sharapova rose to stardom (明星身份) at age 17 when she won Wimbledon in 2004. She won a total of four Grand Slam singles titles: the 2006 US Open, the 2008 Australian Open, and the 2012 and 2014 French Open. She also earned the Fed Cup title in Russia in 2008 and an Olympic silver medal in singles in 2012, among many other accomplishments.
For 16 straight years from 2004, Sharapova was the world’s highest-earning female athlete, according to Forbes. Off the court, she made millions of dollars from companies such as Evian and Nike, as well as starting her own candy company.
“Tennis showed me the world --- and it showed me what I was made of,” Sharapova wrote on Facebook on Feb 26, alongside a photo of herself as a young girl with a tennis racquet (球拍). “It’s how I tested myself and how I measured my growth. And so in whatever I might choose for my next chapter, my next mountain, I’ll still be pushing, I’ll still be climbing，I’ll still be growing.”
1. What made Maria Sharapova decide to retire at the age of 32? (no more than 10 words)2. What does Para. 5 mainly talk about? (no more than 10 words)
3. How did Maria Sharapova become the world’s highest-earning female athlete? (no more than 20 words)
4. What does the underlined sentence mean in the last paragraph? (no more than 10 words)
5. Do you think perseverance (毅力) is always our greatest tool? Give your reason. (no more than 20 words)
Ivy Granstrom was born with impaired vision(弱视) and got a serious back injury at the age of 60 during a car accident. She participated in cold English Bay swimming events for 76 years and was therefore sometimes known as the Queen of the Polar Bear Swims.
Gerry Hewson
Gerry Hewson was a member of Australian Men’s National Wheelchair Basketball Team. He won a gold medal in the 1996 Summer Paralympics. He coached for the West Sydney Razorbacks from 2004 to 2006. He was named as a lifetime member in recognition of the efforts he made for the promotion of wheelchair basketball. Discussing the appeal of wheelchair basketball, he commented that,“There is a coating at the edge of the rim(轮辋) that actually lights up like a spark(火花), and it stays for about two to three seconds. That is quite exciting and great fun.”
April Holmes
April Holmes lost her left leg below the knee because of a train accident in 2001. Remembering it she said,“I had a life-changing accident in January, 2001. And fortunately I have been able to get back to doing what I love, and that’s track and field.” Through hard work, she made records in the 100, 200, and 400 meter events. To live her life to its full potential, she has set up a non-profit(非营利的) organization, the April Holmes Foundation, to help people with learning or physical disabilities while being a role model for them.
Shauna Maria Whyte
Shauna Maria Whyte was born in Canada in 1967. She has won many prizes in cross-country skiing competitions since 1975. In 1991, during a horseback riding competition, Shauna broke her back. She did not surrender to this change in her life, and she started using a sit sled(雪橇).
1. What earned Ivy Granstrom great fame?| A．Skiing | B．Basketball |
| C．Swimming. | D．Track and field |
| A．It brought him excitement. |
| B．It won him several medals. |
| C．It gave him a job as a coach. |
| D．It strengthened his physical abilities. |
| A．Ivy Granstrom. | B．Gerry Hewson. |
| C．April Holmes. | D．Shauna Maria Whyte. |
| A．They are peace-lovers. |
| B．They are disabled fighters. |
| C．They made contributions to youth sports. |
| D．They worked for the promotion of Paralympics. |
| A．Travel. | B．Culture. |
| C．Technology. | D．Sport |
