Rock climbing is not an easy sport. It requires not only physical strength, but also complete mental concentration. But don’t tell 20-year-old Sasha diGuilian that. This fearless girl who has been controlling the sport ever since she entered this field, is just getting warmed up.
The youngster says that she began climbing even before she could walk. As a baby, she was constantly escaping from her bed and as a young child always leading her friends to the nearest rocks or hills. Then at the age of seven she attended her brother’s birthday party at a local rock climbing gym and knew she had found her gift for rock climbing.
Soon after, she joined the local center in her home town of Alexandria, Virginia and began climbing — first once a week, then twice and soon, almost every day. Her moment came at the age of nine when she won her first climbing competition by taking part in an event that she hadn’t even known, until she went to the gym for her normal climbing routine(常规). Her competitive nature and love for the sport immediately reached the peak and she began training seriously, but this time outside the gym — climbing real mountains.
As a youngster, she won the Junior Continental Championships from 2004 to 2010. Then, as soon as she was old enough, she went on to win the Pan American Championship, the US National Championship and in 2011, at just 18 years of age, was crowned Female Overall World Champion in Arco, Italy .
She is also the youngest woman to have completed a 5.14d graded climb. It is something that even most experienced climbers fear to try, because a small slip could result in a severe injury or even death.
1. What does rock climbing require?(no more than 10 words)2. What did Sasha diGuilian realize when she attended her brother’s party at a rock climbing gym? (no more than 8 words)
3. What did Sasha do when her competitive nature and love for the sport reached the peak? (no more than 5 words)
4. What is the main idea of Paragraph 4?(no more than 8 words)
5. What sport do you like best and why?(no more than 20 words,)
2 . Thomas, 13, and his friends Mark and Josh had a fantastic idea. Why not play a game of football ... on a trampoline（蹦床）?
At first, it was great fun. Then Mark stumbled（绊倒）, landing directly on Thomas’s leg. Thomas howled in pain.
Even if you’ve never been injured on a trampoline, chances are you know someone who has. There were nearly 95,000 trampoline-related injuries, in 2012 alone.
These injuries are such an enormous problem that the American Academy of Pediatrics （AAP）, a group of doctors who specialize in treating children and adolescents, said in a 2012 study that trampolines should never be used at home or on playgrounds. Never.
“This is not a toy. It’s a piece of equipment,” says Dr. Michele LaBotz, an author of the AAPstudy.
Indeed, when trampolines were invented in the 1930s, they were intended for use by professional acrobats（杂技演员）. Over time, trampolines caught on with the public, and now 900,000 are sold each year, most of them for recreational use.
Part of trampolines’ appeal is that despite the risks, they provide good exercise. You get a heart-pumping aerobic（有氧的） workout, like you do when running or dancing. And young people need all the exercise they can get.
Still, trampolines can be dangerous — and not just for kids who fall off. Kids are also getting hurt on the springs and when they strike against each other. Serious injuries to the head and neck have been reported. One out of every 200 trampoline injuries leads to permanent brain damage.
Bouncing on a trampoline is clearly risky. But then, every athletic activity involves risk. Kids fall off bikes and skateboards all the time. As with any sport, kids on a trampoline can protect themselves. For instance: Never allow more than one person on a trampoline at a time. （About 75 percent of injuries result from having multiple jumpers at once.） And always have adult supervision.
1. According to the 2012 study by the AAP, ________.| A．kids can protect themselves on a trampoline |
| B．trampolines shouldn’t be used for entertainment |
| C．trampolines are more popular among young kids |
| D．kids shouldn’t trampoline without adult supervision |
| A．Trampolines were used to train the public. |
| B．People realized the danger of trampolining. |
| C．Trampolines became popular among the public. |
| D．People worried about kids playing on trampolines. |
| A．Uncertain. | B．Unconcerned. | C．Opposed. | D．Objective. |
| A．the history of trampolines | B．why kids shouldn’t trampoline |
| C．the advantages of trampolining | D．whether kids should trampoline |
3 . John Cruitt, 62, spent decades tracking down his third-grade teacher.
He wanted to talk with Cecile Doyle about 1958— the year his mother, who was seriously ill, passed away.
Her death came just days before Christmas. Cruitt had been expecting to go home from school and decorate the Christmas tree.
Doyle tells Cruitt at StoryCorps in Monroe, N. Y. “And you just don’t know how you’re going to go on without that person.”
When Cruitt returned to school, Doyle waited until all of the other children left the room at the end of the day, and told him that she was there if he needed her.
“Then you kissed me on the head,” Cruitt says. “And I felt that things really would be OK.”
“Well, Cruitt, I’m so glad that I could be there with you for that time,” says Doyle, 82.
Decades after his mother’s death, Cruitt began to think more and more of Doyle. He finally wrote a letter:
Dear Mrs. Doyle,
If you are not the Cecile Doyle who taught English at Emerson School in Kearny, N. J., then I’m embarrassed, and you can neglect the letter. My name is John Cruitt, and I was in your third-grade class during the 1958-1959 school year. Two days before Christmas, my mother passed away, and you told me that you were there if I needed you. I hope life has been as kind to you as you were to me.
God bless you.
John Cruitt
Doyle says his letter, which arrived in February, could not have come at a better time. Her husband, who passed away this August, was struggling with Parkinson’s disease.
“Well the funny thing is, when I finally wrote to you again after 54 years, I typed the letter —I was afraid my penmanship wasn’t going to meet your standards,” Cruitt says as Doyle laughs.
“John, what can I say —I’m just glad that we made a difference in each other’s life.”
1. Before Cruitt wrote the letter, he ________.| A．knew Doyle’s husband had passed away |
| B．believed Doyle was leading a happy life |
| C．considered it embarrassing to write to Doyle |
| D．was unsure whether Doyle could receive the letter |
| A．was a gift coming late |
| B．came at just the right time |
| C．lifted her confidence greatly |
| D．served as a reminder of her husband |
| A．pen repairer | B．pen friend | C．handwriting | D．biography |
| A．combine | B．engage | C．escape | D．ensure |
| A．gaining | B．to gain | C．gained | D．gain |
| A．generous | B．annoyed | C．absorbed | D．appealing |
| A．cut up | B．cut in | C．cut off | D．cut down |
| A．that | B．whether | C．when | D．how |
| A．As | B．For | C．On | D．In |
| A．carrying | B．to carry | C．carried | D．carry |
