1 . Running can be a polarizing (两极分化的) subject. Most people fall into one of two camps: those who love running every morning, and those who would sooner do anything to avoid it. For most of my life, I was planted in the second camp.
I always hated running. I remembered entering a neighborhood 5K race with my dad at age 12; I also remembered that I came in last in the race, followed by only the police car driving patiently behind me. Three years later, I didn’t make the junior volleyball team because I couldn’t run a mile in under 10 minutes. Every time I ran, I felt as though failure — in some form or other — was the only possible result.
The summer after my freshman year, though, I took a job at a summer camp in Connecticut, where I got paid to be a kid again. I spent my days keeping an eye on different camp activities. When it came to exercise, running was my only choice. So, I made a promise myself: Every day, I would run for a while. By most runners’ standards, it wasn’t far; I guessed it was only about a mile. But I decided to do it every day, no matter how long it took. The exercise lasted for 61 days — the entire time I spent at camp that summer.
I started to feel better about myself. But to my great surprise, I learned to love running, too. I went from fearing the sport to loving it. I’ve finished seven marathons (马拉松赛跑) and more shorter races than I can remember, and now I am a running coach. These were the secrets I discovered to changing my way of looking at life.
1. What was the author’s attitude to running at first?| A．He deeply loved it. |
| B．He refused to do it. |
| C．He thought it tiring. |
| D．He thought it a waste of time. |
| A．He didn’t like to do any sport. |
| B．He didn’t believe he could do sports. |
| C．He didn’t do well in running-related sports. |
| D．He didn’t join the volleyball team on purpose. |
| A．To run every day. |
| B．To do a part-time job. |
| C．To fully relax himself at the camp. |
| D．To take part in different activities. |
| A．It is a difficult thing to do. |
| B．It has become a boring sport. |
| C．It makes no difference to him. |
| D．It has changed his life in a good way. |
2 . Every Saturday morning, at 9 am, more than 50,000 runners set off to run 5km around their local park. The Parkrun phenomenon began with a dozen friends and has inspired 400 events in the UK and more abroad. Events are free, staffed by thousands of volunteers. Runners range from four years old to grandparents; their times range from Andrew Baddeley’s world record 13 minutes 48 seconds up to an hour.
Parkrun is succeeding where London’s Olympic “legacy” is failing. Ten years ago on Monday, it was announced that the Games of the 30th Olympiad would be in London. Planning documents pledged that the great legacy of the Games would be to level a nation of sport lovers away from their couches. The population would be fitter, healthier and produce more winners. It has not happened. The number of adults doing weekly sport did rise, by nearly 2 million in the run-up to 2012-but the general population was growing faster. Worse, the numbers are now falling at an accelerating rate. The opposition claims primary school pupils doing at least two hours of sport a week have nearly halved. Obesity has risen among adults and children. Official retrospections continue as to why London 2012 failed to “inspire a generation.” The success of Parkrun offers answers.
Parkun is not a race but a time trial: Your only competitor is the clock. The ethos welcomes anybody. There is as much joy over a puffed-out first-timer being clapped over the line as there is about top talent shining. The Olympic bidders, by contrast, wanted to get more people doing sports and to produce more elite athletes. The dual aim was mixed up: The stress on success over taking part was intimidating for newcomers.
Indeed, there is something a little absurd in the state getting involved in the planning of such a fundamentally “grassroots”, concept as community sports associations. If there is a role for government, it should really be getting involved in providing common goods-making sure there is space for playing fields and the money to pave tennis and netball courts, and encouraging the provision of all these activities in schools. But successive governments have presided over selling green spaces, squeezing money from local authorities and declining attention on sport in education. Instead of wordy, worthy strategies, future governments need to do more to provide the conditions for sport to thrive. Or at least not make them worse.
1. According to Paragraph1, Parkrun has_____.| A．gained great popularity | B．created many jobs |
| C．strengthened community ties | D．become an official festival |
| A．boost population growth | B．promote sport participation |
| C．improve the city’s image | D．increase sport hours in schools |
| A．aims at discovering talents | B．focuses on mass competition |
| C．does not emphasize elitism | D．does not attract first-timers |
| A．organize “grassroots” sports events | B．supervise local sports associations |
| C．increase funds for sports clubs | D．invest in public sports facilities |
| A．tolerant | B．critical |
| C．uncertain | D．sympathetic |
3 . What Are the Physical Benefits of Exercise?
Exercise is often thought of as activities that help a person lose weight or prevent weight gain. Having a body that is slimmer and trimmer is certainly one of the physical benefits of exercise, but there are many others.
Exercising can help strengthen the muscles.
Diet pills may help a man shed weight but they will not help him build or strengthen his muscles. The physical benefits of exercise are generally experienced simultaneously.
Working out can make the bones stronger.
Exercise also strengthens bones, which becomes more important the older a person gets. Bones go through a natural process of breaking down the rebuilding.
Many people are concerned with looking older. Slowing and reversing the effects of aging are benefits of physical exercise. Cellulite (皮下脂肪团), for example, can make a young woman appear older than she is.
| A．Many people want to change or improve their bodies. |
| B．Taking regular exercise can reduce the effects of aging. |
| C．As people grow older, however, the rebuilding process slows unless it is stimulated. |
| D．Training also reduces the negative physical effects which a person feels when he ages. |
| E．Exercise has the ability to help a person change his body shape, and make him stronger. |
| F．The appearance of cellulite can be diminished with basic exercises such as walking or jogging. |
| G．These include strengthening the bones, strengthening the muscles, and reducing the effects of aging. |
4 . Are you preparing for a big test? If so, you may want to go playing some basketball in between hitting the books. Doctors are starting to find more and more information that suggests a connection between exercise and brain development. Judy Cameron, a scientist at Oregon Health and Science University, studies brain development. According to her research, it seems that exercise can make blood vessels (血管), including those in the brain, stronger and more fully developed. Dr Cameron is sure that this allows people who exercise to think better. As she says, “while we already know that exercise is good for the heart, exercise can actually cause physical changes in the brain.”
The effects of exercise on brain development can even be seen in babies. Babies who do activities that require a lot of movement and physical activity show greater brain development than babies who are less physically active. Even a little movement can show big results. Margaret Barnes, a scientist, also believes in the importance of exercise. She thinks that many learning disabilities that children have in primary school or high school can result from a lack of movement as babies. “Babies need movement that encourages and excites their five senses. They need to set up a connection between motion and memory. In this way, as they get older, children will begin to connect physical activity with higher learning，” says Margaret.
Older people can develop their brains as well. Cornell University studied a group of seniors who have a shortterm memory increase of up to 40 percent after exercising just three hours a week. The exercise does not have to be very difficult, but it does have to increase the heart rate. Also, just like the motion for babies exercise for older people should not be too simple. Learning some new skills or actions, such as with yoga or taichi helps to open up memory paths in the brain that may not have been used for a long time. For most people, any type of physical activity that increases the heart rate is helpful. The main aim is to increase the brain’s flow of blood. And your brain can benefit from as little as two to three hours of exercise a week.
1. What is the connection between exercise and brain development?| A．Exercise helps make our blood vessels. |
| B．Physical exercise helps us think better. |
| C．Exercise prevents us having brain diseases. |
| D．More physical exercises enlarge our brains. |
| A．Whether they are excited or not depends on movements. |
| B．A lack of movement results from their learning disabilities. |
| C．The more frequently they move, the cleverer they become. |
| D．The more activities they do, the greater their brains develop. |
| A．It helps them memorise quicker. |
| B．It decreases the heart rate. |
| C．It includes learning new actions. |
| D．It can be done in groups. |
| A．3 hours per week. | B．4.2 hours per week. |
| C．1 hour per day. | D．40 hours per month. |
5 . All over the world people enjoy sports. Sports help to keep people healthy,happy and help them to live longer.
Sports change with the season.People play different games in summer and winter.
Games and sports often grow out of people’s work and everyday activities.The Arabs use horses or camels in much of their everyday lives;they use them in their sports,too.
Some sports are so interesting that people everywhere go in for them. Football, for example, has spread around the world. Swimming is popular in all countries near the sea or in those with many rivers.
Some sports or games go back to thousands of years ago, like running or jumping. Chinese boxing, for example, has a very long history. But basketball and volleyball are quite new. Neither one is a hundred years old yet. People are inventing new sports or games all the time.
People from different countries may not be able to understand each other,but after a game they often become good friends. Sports help to train a person’s character (性格). One learns to fight hard but fight fair,to win without pride and to lose with grace (体面).
1. The writer doesn’t tell us in the passage that ________.| A．basketball was invented in America |
| B．sports change with the season |
| C．games and sports often grow out of people’s work and everyday activities |
| D．football is played all over the world |
| A．sports are interesting |
| B．sports help to keep people healthy,happy and help them to live longer |
| C．sports help to train a person’s character |
| D．All of the above |
| A．to be enemies | B．to understand each other better |
| C．to be partners | D．to dislike each other |
6 . You probably know that exercise is the key to treating depression (沮丧), but a bigger fact remains: You don’t feel like exercising. Here are some tips to help you start exercising.
Change your view of “exercise”.
Forget “exercise”. Instead think: “being active” or “having fun”.
Taking part in physical activities with others supports you in doing those activities. Ask friends what activities they’re doing or they would like to do, and join them. You can also find a personal trainer, join an exercise group or go to a class.
Keep moving throughout the day.
Sitting is the new smoking.
Take exercise outside.
Nature has a great effect on your mood and it can relax you. Even just looking at images of lakes and trees helps.
Set a goal.
When you connect your exercise to a longterm goal, it helps your brain forget the discomfort and makes your exercise more satisfying.Find out what’s truly important to you.
| A．Do exercise with others. |
| B．In other words, it’s bad for you. |
| C．Sign up and go to exercise classes. |
| D．It’s a lot easier to do something simple. |
| E．Remind yourself of your goal regularly. |
| F．Take a walk around your neighborhood or a local park. |
| G．This increases your chance of actually moving your body. |
7 . A study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology took a closer look at music in sports, specifically how listening to music could affect one’s overall performance.
Researchers asked 150 volunteers to throw a ball into a basket. For the first stage of the study, participants threw the ball from a fixed point. They threw the ball while listening to music of their choice, while not listening to music, or while listening to music that the researchers selected. For the second stage they were able to choose where to stand when throwing the ball and performed the same activity with the various music choices.
The study found that listening to music, whether it was music of the volunteer’s choice or a song chosen for them, did not make the participants more or less likely to get the ball in the basket. It had no effect. What it did do was increase self-esteem and make the study participants more likely to take risks, especially for males who were allowed to choose their own music.
The results suggest that music may pump you up. And it may even help you work out harder and longer than you would without it. But no matter what song you listen to, it’s not going to help you get that ball into the basket.
Another study took a detailed look at how music pace might affect exercise. Researchers found that listening to high-pace music makes people feel like they’re working out less while also benefiting their bodies more.
Listening to high-pace music while exercising resulted in the highest heart rate compared with not listening to music. This means that the exercise seemed like less effort, but it was more beneficial in terms of enhancing physical fitness.
The study found that the beneficial effects of high-pace music were greatest for people who were walking or running and were felt the least for those who were doing high-intensity exercises such as weightlifting.
1. What were volunteers allowed to do while shooting in the second stage test?| A．Choose the position and music. |
| B．Shoot from a fixed point. |
| C．Shoot with fixed music. |
| D．Shoot with no music. |
| A．It has no effect on sports. |
| B．It improves your athletic skills. |
| C．It helps easily achieve a better workout. |
| D．High-pace music is beneficial to all forms of exercise. |
| A．Reducing. | B．Balancing. |
| C．Changing. | D．Strengthening. |
8 . In 1665, Johannes Vermeer, one of the greatest painters in Netherlands, completed his masterpiece “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” On an April day 357 years later, Janine Strong slowed her bike to stop, paused her fitness app, and watched as the snaking line of her cycling route drew the shape of Vermeer’s masterpiece over the streets of Brooklyn.
Ms. Strong creates what has come to be known as “GPS art” — a practice that uses the Global Positioning System mapping capabilities of modern phone apps to create digital drawings with an athlete’s route. It has grown with the widespread availability of satellite tracking for use by ordinary people. In fact, the idea has been around since before the popularity of smartphones for fitness like Strava released in 2009.
In 2003, The New York Times Magazine told of how Jeremy Wood got the idea for GPS art. Mr. Wood said while he was using a GPS tracker on a flight and the plane flew in a holding pattern above Heath-row Airport, he was attracted by the pattern appearing on his Garmin GPS device. In recent years, technology has advanced enough to create visual maps in real time using a phone or smart watch.
“I get bored cycling on the same path in the same streets,” Ms. Strong said. “Creating GPS art gives me more reasons to hit the pavement, which makes cycling a lot easier. I always have a big smile on my face when it works out and I upload it and it’s done,” she added. “It’s a very satisfying feeling.”
To complete her digital vision of “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” she biked almost 50 miles around southern Brooklyn, carefully checking Strava to make sure each turn, circle, and straight line was achieving the shape of earring and head covering of Vermeer’s original.
1. What can we infer about Janine Strong in paragraph 1?| A．She tests a fitness app. | B．She is an innovative cyclist. |
| C．She likes pearl earrings. | D．She is a painter of some note. |
| A．It is rarely used by common people. | B．It arose after the popularity of fitness apps. |
| C．It is based on apps’ GPS mapping functions. | D．It is a practice of creating realistic drawings. |
| A．The origin of GPS art. | B．The prospect of GPS art. |
| C．The function of a GPS tracker. | D．The advancement of a GPS device. |
| A．Painting lovers. | B．Mobile game players. |
| C．Software developers. | D．Running enthusiasts. |
9 . If you always sit indoors for too long, putting on weight may become a trouble. Tired of all that fat? If so, these sports can help you burn the most calories.
Running
“Running is one of the best calorie burners out there,” qualified personal trainer Daniel Saltos says. An average person can burn anywhere from 500 to 1000 calories in one hour of running. “Speed, pace, and tolerance are all factors that can impact this range. But running uses every muscle group in the body, allowing you to burn more calories.”
Swimming
“Swimming is a workout that produces the lowest impact on body while it still can burn 500 to 600 calories in just 30 minutes,” Saltos says. Swimming also improves heart health and increases strength—all great reasons for playing in the water.
Boxing
Not only is boxing a great way to release energy, but it also helps improve balance, builds up tolerance and strengthens the upper body and core. “Boxing helps you get a good calorie burn, too, with the average person burning up 400 to 800 calories in an hour session,” Saltos says.
Rowing
The pushing and pulling motion of rowing machines targets multiple muscle groups including the arms, core, and back, helping you to burn more calories. “An hour of rowing will burn 400 to 600 calories on average,” Saltos says.
1. Which sport can burn the most calories per hour?| A．Boxing. | B．Running. |
| C．Swimming. | D．Rowing. |
| A．It enhances balance. | B．It improves tolerance. |
| C．It produces low impact. | D．It builds muscle groups. |
| A．Great athletes. | B．Fitness experts. |
| C．Sports reporters. | D．Overweight persons. |
10 . Tennis, basketball, soccer, swimming — these are examples of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of sports in the world. People in every country play some kind of athletic game. Why do people spend so much time and energy playing sports?
Good health is one big advantage to playing sports.
An additional reason for playing sports is that it makes people feel good. It does this in two interesting ways. First, playing sports makes people feel good about themselves.
There are a lot of other reasons why people play sports, but studies show that the biggest reason is enjoyment. When asked why they play sports, most people said they play because it’s fun.
Do you want to be healthy, socialize, feel good, and have fun? Play a sport.
| A．It takes time to find a fun sport. |
| B．They don’t have to play — they want to play. |
| C．Finishing a long race can make someone feel confident. |
| D．It may be because playing sports has a lot of advantages. |
| E．Good health is not the only reason that people play sports. |
| F．Exercise can make people stronger and help them live longer lives. |
| G．Sports allow people to realize the importance of physical and mental health. |
