1 . 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 state 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 many pump you up. And it may even help you workout 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 look 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 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 position and music. | B．Shoot from a fixed point. |
| C．Shoot with fixed music. | D．Shoot with no music. |
| A．Music given by experts. | B．Music males chose. | C．Peaceful music. | D．Loud music. |
| A．It has no effect on sports. | B．It improves your athletic skills. |
| C．It helps easily achieve better workout. | D．High-pace music is beneficial for all forms of exercise. |
| A．Reducing. | B．Balancing. | C．Changing. | D．Strengthening. |
2 . People believe that climbing can do good to health. Where can you learn the skill of climbing then? If you think that you have to go to the mountains to learn how to climb, you’re wrong. Many Americans are learning to climb in city gyms. Here, people are learning on special climbing walls. The climbing wall goes straight up and has small holding places for hands and feet.
How do people climb the wall? To climb, you need special shoes and a harness around your chest to hold you. There are ropes tied to your harness. The ropes hold you in place so that you don’t fall. A beginner’s wall is usually about 15 feet high, and you climb straight up. There are small pieces of metal that stick out for you to stand on and hold on to. Sometimes it’s easy to see the next piece of metal. Sometimes, it’s not. The most difficult part is to control your fear. It’s normal for humans to be afraid of falling, so it’s difficult not to feel fear. But when you move away from the wall, the harness and the ropes hold you, and you begin to feel safe. You move slowly until you reach the top.
Climbing attracts people because it’s good exercise for almost everyone. You use your whole body, especially your arms and legs. This sport gives your body a complete training. When you climb, both your mind and your body can become stronger.
1. The word “training” underlined in the last paragraph most probably means ________.| A．excitement. | B．tiredness. | C．settlement. | D．workout. |
| A．to tie ropes to your harness | B．to control your fear |
| C．to climb straight up | D．to move away from the wall |
| A．It’s easy for people not to feel fear while climbing. |
| B．You have to go to the mountains to learn how to climb. |
| C．To climb wall, you only need a harness around your chest to hold you. |
| D．Climbing is good exercise for both your body and mind. |
| A．To introduce the sport of wall climbing. | B．To encourage people to climb mountains. |
| C．To prove the basic need for climbing. | D．To tell people where to find gyms. |
3 . How exercising changed their life
Name: Katelyn Block, 19
The problem: At the end of her junior year of high shoo, she fell into a serious eating disorder.
The change: She was an athlete, but while she was sick, she stopped running. Later, she decided to get back into running. She made the decision to build her body back from the ground up. With a few months of hard work and determination, she graduated from high school with a healthy body and a healthy mind.
Name: Amalia Biro, 24
The problem: Amalia was a horseback rider with her sight set on the Olympics, until one day she was thrown off a horse, leaving her left knee badly injured.
The change: She ran a 5K at the request of her friend. Running lets her clear her bead. She found herself staring to turn to running instead of breaking away from her social life.
Name: Sarah Jane Parker, 28
The problem: She had a lot of fear and anxiety about different things. The fear was taking over her life.
The change: She tried indoor rock climbing with her friend's encouragement. When she finally managed to climb to the top, she fell in love with the sport Eventually she used the courage she got from climbing to break away from her fear.
Name: Kimberly Whittaker, 25
The problem: Two car accidents in one month made Kimberly have joint problems in both knees and pain in her lower back.
The change: She joined a gym and worked with a physical trainer three times a week to help her become healthy again. She took spin classes (动感单车课程) the most often because she felt like she was able to focus her energy just on riding.
1. How did Katelyn become healthy again?| A．By running. | B．By seeing a doctor. |
| C．By changing her mind. | D．By focusing on studying. |
| A．They had big goals. | B．They were sports fans. |
| C．They had no self-confidence. | D．They should thank their fiends. |
| A．They were boring. | B．They were tiring |
| C．They were difficult | D．They were attractive. |
4 . For most people, growing older means getting weaker. But this is far from the case of this 83-year-old woman Ernestine Shepherd, one of the world’s oldest female bodybuilders. Born in 1936, she is still exercising and working out, keeping up her strength, and looking absolutely fit!
Her journey to fitness all began when she turned 56. “I seldom worked out—you couldn’t get me away from chocolate cake. But that day, my sister and I went shopping for swimsuits. I looked in the changing room mirror and realized that I was getting out of shape and needed to start exercising,” she told BBC.
She started with simple training and eventually shifted to bodybuilding and weight lifting. She then decided that she should try to get into the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest bodybuilder on the planet.
Though the idea seemed big, it was something that was worth working towards. Ernestine trained harder. At the age of 71, she took part in her first bodybuilding competition and won the top prize! Her dream finally came true—Guinness contacted her and officially honored her as the world’s oldest female bodybuilder. A year later, she lost the title but remained to be one of the world’s oldest female bodybuilders.
She is now retired from competing but she is still into bodybuilding. Her extraordinary diet includes egg, chicken, and turkey. She has inspired so many people with her journey, and many come up to her and ask for advice. She also started working as a personal trainer and has published her own book, “Determined, Dedicated, Disciplined To Be Fit”. Ernestine is living proof that it is never too late for anyone to achieve their goals!
1. What do the underlined words “getting out of shape” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Putting on weight. | B．Losing balance. |
| C．Becoming weak. | D．Turning strong. |
| A．When she turned 56. | B．As soon as she started training. |
| C．After she won the prize. | D．One year after her first competition. |
| A．She is the oldest female bodybuilder. | B．She began bodybuilding thanks to her sister. |
| C．Her habit of living was once unhealthy. | D．She took up exercise before she was 56. |
| A．Exercise makes one young and happy. | B．It’s never too old to achieve a goal. |
| C．We should be positive about ourselves. | D．A thousand-mile journey begins with the first step. |
5 . How To Make Exercise A Habit That Sticks
Maybe you can relate to this: You are determined to get more exercise. And you do—for a while. But a few days or weeks into a new routine, your good intentions fall apart.
There’s no magic number of days it takes to build a new habit, but the key to habits is repetition. So, give it a month, and research suggests that this can help you build a new routine. Moreover, if you can get that repetition going while you have high motivation, you’re much more likely to have a behavior change that lasts.
Make it social.
Let flexibility be your friend.
The people who worked out at the same time every day, they did actually form a more lasting habit around exercising at that time. But here’s the hidden disadvantage:
Set goals—but don’t let them trap you.
Make sure your exercise objective is achievable and ambitious.
| A．But give yourself a free pass or two if you fail to meet it. |
| B．Commit to about four weeks of daily exercise. |
| C．Combine a real pleasure that you look forward to with your workouts. |
| D．That was the only time they ever worked out. |
| E．Losses are about twice as motivating as gains of equal size. |
| F．Research shows that habits—good and bad—spread through our social networks. |
| G．How do you bridge the divide between intention and action? |
6 . How often do you exercise? A new study found that most kids aged 12 to 15 weren’t getting enough physical activity. The results were based on about 800 kids. As part of the study, the kids reported on their own activity levels, and took physical exams. According to the study, only 25% of U.S. kids get enough physical activity.
“It's certainly worrying to see that our kids have such a limited amount of physical activity each day,” said Dr. Stephen Pont. He is an expert on children's health.
Few kids in the study met the requirement on physical activity that raises the heart rate and makes people breathe harder. Overall, about 25% said they got an hour of that kind of exercise every day. Kids also reported on which activities they did most often outside of school gym class—basketball for boys and running for girls.
“There's always room for improvement,” said Tala Fakhouri, who was the leader of the study. Fakhouri visits schools and holds exercise events. She also calls on schools to offer regular gym classes.
The study also found kids who get physical education at school may get better grades in study.
1. What is the result of the new study?| A．It’s important to take physical exams. |
| B．800 kids don’t get enough physical activity. |
| C．Most U.S. kids don't get enough exercise. |
| D．Kids should get physical activity as much as possible. |
| A．Basketball. | B．Running. |
| C．Gym. | D．Swimming. |
| A．be less active than fat children | B．be more willing to help others |
| C．try their best to get in shape | D．do better in their studies |
7 . The whistle（哨子）blew. My heart sank（下沉）as if I had jumped into the sea. Heart pounding, breathing（呼吸）heavily and thinking “Stay calm and do what you have to do,” I started to run.
Since I started high school I really couldn't picture myself playing a sport. When I was younger I played baseball, but not even that really. Then in my second year of high school, my friend strongly advised me to join a sport with her, but I was not sure whether to join or not. This sport that she wanted me to join with her was lacrosse（长曲棍球）. I finally accepted her invitation and wanted to try. So we decided to play on the school team.
The team helped us understand how the game worked. The game is very easy to learn. At practice everyone was friendly and we all treated each other as if we were brothers and sisters. Every time I stepped on the field for practice I felt comfortable. I told myself "It's OK to mess up. Just try again." Meeting some of the players that had experience in the game encouraged me to stay and give it a try.
After several games, our midfield（中场）players were tired. The coach called me out to play midfield with some of the others. I was nervous because it was a new place for me, but I understood what I had to do. The whistle blew. Heart pounding and breathing heavily, I started to run and did the best I could.
The overall experience was amazing. I plan to play the rest of my time at high school and maybe college. I'm pretty happy that I listened to my friend. My advice is to play lacrosse when you're young and you'll get better over time.
1. Why did the author start to play lacrosse?| A．She was interested in it. | B．She was invited to play it. |
| C．She thought the game was easy. | D．She wanted to challenge a friend. |
| A．It was full of pleasure. | B．It made her a little tired. |
| C．It took up much of her time. | D．It could be completed easily. |
| A．She refused it politely. | B．She made great efforts at it. |
| C．She asked him doubtfully about it. | D．She recommended others to complete it. |
| A．Getting instructions from older players. | B．Finding an experienced coach. |
| C．Starting from a young age. | D．Doing daily practice. |
| A．The Value of Sports | B．Trying Something New |
| C．The Power of Friendship | D．Making Yourself a Go-getter |
8 . A month before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only two weeks to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead.
I remember back to my 7th year in school. In my first P. E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and hit a softball. I didn't do either well. He later informed me that I was "not athletic".
The idea that I was "not athletic" stuck with me for years. When I started running in my 30s, I realized running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of wills!
The night before my marathon, I dreamt that I couldn't even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but ready to prove something to myself.
Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces became untied. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted!
At mile 3, I passed a sign: "GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!"
By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt severely. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.
By mile 21, I was starving!
As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign. She is my biggest fan. She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 a.m. or questioned my expenses on running.
I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. Actually, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.
Determined to be myself, move forward, free of shame and worldly labels(世俗标签), I can now call myself a "marathon winner".
1. After the author’s ankle was injured, the author ________.| A．decided to quit | B．made up his mind to run |
| C．lost hope and held back | D．felt painful and frightened |
| A．To share a funny story. | B．To share his precious old days. |
| C．To show his inability in sports then. | D．To express his thanks to the teacher. |
| A．He walked to the end. | B．He made it to the end. |
| C．He quit running halfway. | D．He was awarded the first prize. |
| A．Strong-minded and brave. | B．Confident and learned. |
| C．Outgoing and dependent. | D．Courageous and humorous. |
| A．One is never too old to learn. |
| B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．The secret to success lies in family support . |
| D．Success can be gained with a great effort of will. |
9 . Are you the type to run before breakfast in the morning? Working out on an empty stomach won't hurt you—and it may actually help depending on your goal.
Exercising before eating comes with the risk of being light-headed due to low blood sugar. You might feel tired or uneasy, and won't be able to work out as energetically as you would have. A light amount of food is important for older adults over 55—especially in the morning. But if your primary exercise goal is weight loss, exercising on an empty stomach may come with some promising benefits. There's some research to support the idea that working out in a fasted (禁食) state can burn more fat than exercising in a fed state.
Working out on an empty stomach, however, may not prove true for everyone. "Some people, young and in amazing physical shape, suggest fasted exercise," says Douglas Paddon-Jones, a muscle physiology (生理学) researcher of aging and health. "They have no health matters, and what they're eating is super-high quality and carefully regulated." On the other hand, working out in a fasted state without proper planning or professional management may run the risk of unhealthy body changes.
For people who aren't athletes, having food before a workout may be the best way to get the most fat-burning benefit. "You don't want to fill up; you just want to give your body a burst of energy to power your training period. After you exercise, drink some water—but wait 60 to 90 minutes before eating." Says Shivani Sahni, director of the nutrition (营养) program at Harvard University's Institute for Aging Research. "You're trying to take advantage of your promoted metabolic rate (代谢速率) after exercise, so if you can go an hour or an hour and a half without eating, you'll maximize (最大化) the fat-burning response," says she.
1. Who should have a little food before morning exercise?| A．Seniors over fifty-five. | B．Professional athletes. |
| C．Adults over twenty-five. | D．Regular runners. |
| A．To appear younger. | B．To become athletic. |
| C．To achieve excitement. | D．To burn fat at most. |
| A．Improve diet quality. | B．Drink water after exercise. |
| C．Exercise without eating. | D．Do exercise regularly. |
| A．strict | B．careful | C．confident | D．calm |
10 . On James Owen's 70th birthday, he saw a video of himself walking slowly to the podium (讲台) where he was giving a talk, his feet hardly off the ground. “I looked like an old man,” said Owen, who built a successful career on Wall Street. Even worse, he felt like an old man.
He was about 25 pounds overweight and he had chronic trouble with his back,knees,and shoulders.But instead of giving in to age,Owen decided to set an ambitious five-year goal:He wanted to be pain-free,and he decided the way to get there was through exercise-even though at the time he couldn't do a single push-up.
Owen began his new exercise plan by walking,though he started huffing and puffing after five minutes.But that didn't discourage him. He kept at the walks every day, along with some stretching.Once he had those basics down, he started weight lifting and hired a personal trainer to teach him and design a routine he could follow on his own. The last piece was finding other activities he enjoyed, which turned out to be cycling and swimming.
In less than five years,Owen was able to do three sets of 50 push-ups each and walk for miles each day. And yes, he was free of aches and pains. “Aging well is only about 20 to 25 percent genes, and the rest is lifestyle,” he says.
Owen used his experience to write a book called Just Move! A New Approach to Fitness After 50,in which he details how older adults can safely get off the couch and add more movement to their lives. “Think of it as movement, not exercise, just get started,” he says. “The key is slow and steady progress.”
Now 81 and retired, Owen exercises an hour a day, six days a week. “It is the best investment I've ever made in my life,” he says.
1. Why did Owen decide to set a five-year goal?| A．To give a talk. |
| B．To build a career. |
| C．To lose weight. |
| D．To keep healthy. |
| A．Boring and painstaking. |
| B．Slow but productive. |
| C．Tough and discouraging. |
| D．complex but ineffective. |
| A．it's better to get started earlier |
| B．lifestyle is vital for one's health |
| C．genes play a key role in aging well |
| D．successful careers need investment |
| A．promote Owen's new book |
| B．offer ways to relieve pain |
| C．encourage old people to work out |
| D．present health problems of the old |
