文章大意：本文是一篇记叙文。文章讲述了Nenad被诊断患有帕金森病，和朋友打乒乓球激发了他活下去的欲望，并成立了一个名为乒乓帕金森(PPP)的组织，希望鼓励患有帕金森症的人为了自身利益打乒乓球。
9 . For many years, Croatian-American recording artist Nenad Bach toured the world performing with famous musicians like Bono and Pavarotti. Everything came to a stop in 2010, however, when Nenad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease — a progressive disease that affects a person’s movement.
“I love music,” he said. “When I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2010, I didn’t know what it was. Five years later, I couldn’t even play the guitar.”
One day, a friend of Nenad’s asked him to play ping-pong with him, and Nenad said yes. The effects were immediate and positive: he woke up the next day filled with a “desire to live”, and his physical and mental issues had improved. Encouraged, he kept playing.
For months he told everyone around him about how ping-pong was helping his Parkinson’s, but his praise fell on deaf ears. Finally, he took matters into his own hands and started hosting Ping Pong Parkinson’s events at the Westchester Table Tennis Center in Pleasantville, New York. Once the events attracted enough attention, he started an organization called Ping Pong Parkinson (PPP) in March 2017.
PPP hopes to encourage people living with Parkinson’s to play ping-pong for its benefits. In addition to promoting social connectivity, PPP also says that it increases neuroplasticity (神经可塑性) which creates new neural pathways in the brain. Nenad has seen evidence of this with his own eyes many times in the past years. He said that their “facial expression changes from when they arrive until they leave. In addition, some people start walking again.”
Nenad has made spreading the word about the power of ping-pong his new life’s work! He hopes others will take up the sport and see the same improvements he’s enjoyed since the first time he picked up a paddle (乒乓球拍).
1. What happened to Nenad in 2015?
| A．His disease got worse. | B．He learned to perform. |
| C．He began to play the guitar. | D．His acting journey ended. |
2. What caused Nenad to have hopes for life again?
| A．Organizing social events. | B．Taking his mind off his work. |
| C．Setting up Ping Pong Parkinson. | D．Playing ping-pong with his friend. |
3. What was people’s attitude to Nenad’s words about ping-pong at first?
| A．Uncertain. | B．Favorable. | C．Uninterested. | D．Curious. |
4. What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．Nenad’s fighting against Parkinson |
| B．The benefits of playing ping-pong |
| C．The severity of Parkinson’s disease |
| D．The sporting experience of Nenad |
