1 . Skeleton is one of the three sliding sports at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, alongside the luge(单雪橇)and bobsleigh(大雪橇). With only six medals up for grabs, skeleton has the fewest events at the Winter Games—which means competition will be fierce.
The sport of skeleton has its roots in the most popular winter pastime: sleighing. In the mid-19th century, British and American holidaymakers built the first toboggan(平底雪橇)run in Davos in 1882, and thus the sport of sleighing began.
Two years later, in 1884, the famed Cresta Run—a natural ice skeleton racing toboggan track—was built in St. Moritz, Switzerland(the course has hosted the annual Grand National championships since 1885).
In 1892, a new sledge made entirely of steel was introduced, and some claim that its bony appearance gave the sledge and the sport the name ‘skeleton’.
Men’s skeleton was first introduced on the Olympic program in the 1928 Games in St. Moritz. But due to the sport only being available at the Cresta Run at the time, it fell into obscurity(默默无闻)while the luge and bobsleigh grew in popularity. However, in 2002, the skeleton was reintroduced as a men’s and women’s event at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and has remained a part of the Olympic program ever since.
While Great Britain has the most medals(nine)in skeleton competition at the Olympics, the top spot belongs to the United States(eight medals)by virtue of having four silvers to Great Britain’s one(both nations have three golds, while Britain has five bronze medals, and the United States one).
Great Britain is the only nation to have won a medal every time skeleton has featured at the Olympic Games, and has won at least one medal in each of the five contests of women’s skeleton since its introduction.
1. How many events does skeleton have in the Olympics?| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
| A．In 1882. | B．In1885. | C．In1892. | D．In 1928. |
| A．Because its material steel was rare. |
| B．Because there was only one run for it. |
| C．Because only men could take part in it. |
| D．Because it was not on the Olympic program. |
| A．The number of medals. | B．The composition of medals. |
| C．The virtue of the athletes. | D．The times of hosting the Olympics. |
No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own efforts. I learned this lesson from an experience many years ago. I took the head coaching job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program. The school took part in the league matches every year. However, it never ended well. We were more of the audience, watching and cheering instead of sweating out in the fields.
Fortunately, the school held the tradition that the school’s old team was to play against the new team at the end of spring practice. For lack of resources, the old team bad no coach, and they didn’t even practice to prepare for the game.
I was assigned (指派) as the coach of the new team, which was why I was excited. I believed that we were going to win, but to my disappointment, we were defeated. I couldn’t believe I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I tried to figure out the reason and what I should do next.
It didn’t take long before I came to realize that my team was depending on me. Without proper guidance or previous experience, my team was at a loss what to do. I had to change my attitude so that I could bring out the best in them about their ability and potential.
I would let my action do the talking. First, I started doing anything I could to help them build a little pride. I could see their spirits lifted, with their head held high in great confidence. Most importantly, I began to treat them like winners. Only when they regarded themselves as winners could they willingly invest time and energy.
This summer, the other teams enjoyed their vacations.
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___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3 . NPR’s Student Podcast (播客) Challenge is back — for a fifth year! This year’s competition will open for entries on January 6, 2023 and close on April 28.
As in past years, our judges will choose winners in two categories: grades five through eight and grades nine through twelve. Entries must be submitted by an educator or a student leader who’s 18 years old or older. Another important rule is that the maximum length of your podcast is within eight minutes, and longer entries will be disqualified.
Our judges will use the following criteria to narrow down and choose the winners:
Information and structure, 40 percent
Does the podcast tell a good story or teach us something new and important? Is it structured in a way that keeps listeners engaged? Can we easily follow the story you’re telling or the information you’re explaining? Have you spent time cutting out unnecessary information to make sure the main ideas come through clearly?
Personality and creativity, 40 percent
Does it have personality, or does it sound like you’re reading from a script (脚本)? Does it make us laugh or cry or leave us deep in thought?
Production, 20 percent
We’re not judging you on how fancy your equipment is and we don’t expect you to be an expert on recording and editing sound, but we hope you’ll try.
Some podcasts may use a narration (讲述) format. Others may be more of an interview format. If you use sound apart from interviews and narration, make sure it is clear and smooth.
1. What is the deadline for handing in your podcast?| A．January 6. | B．February 18. | C．March 26. | D．April 28. |
| A．All monitors. | B．Any student. | C．Teachers. | D．Parents. |
| A．They should be more than eight minutes. | B．They must be well structured and edited. |
| C．They have to adopt an interview format. | D．They must be produced with special sound effects. |
4 . Boston Marathon runners in recent years may have seen a smiling furry face around the two-mile mark. It’s Spencer, the therapy (治疗) dog, who became known as an unofficial mascot (吉祥物) for the marathon, He’s shown up on the sidelines every year since 2015—rain or shine.
One particularly rainy marathon catapulted Spencer’s fame, In 2018, his owner, Richard Powers, decided to put a bright yellow rain coat on the dog, making him stand out even more than he usually does. Photos of Spencer, who holds a “Boston Strong” flag in his mouth, went viral, and he became an inspiration to runners and onlookers alike, During the marathon, some runners stop in their tracks to take selfies with the dog-the line sometimes growing to 20 runners long.
But in 2020, Spencer was diagnosed with a tumor (肿瘤). His owner was worried, but Spencer is a fighter. He got the care he needed and survived. In 2021, he was back on the course and it was really kind of a miracle and that really hit home to a lot of people.
Unfortunately, Spencer caught another tumor—this one cancerous—and Spencer began chemotherapy. Powers didn’t think his beloved dog would make it out to the marathon of 2022. “Miraculously, he’s still here with us and an even bigger miracle, he was strong enough to go to the marathon,” he said.
After recovering, Spencer was back to work—not just at the marathon—but as a therapy dog, alongside his companion, Penny, who is also a golden therapy dog. Powers takes his two therapy dogs around to schools, hospitals and senior living centers.
“He’s a gift to us and we’re very lucky to have him. He’s too good so we want to share him with as many people as we possibly can. He does make a difference,” Powers said.
1. Why is Spencer referred to as a mascot for Boston Marathon?| A．He has a smiling furry face. | B．He appears at the event annually. |
| C．He is not recognized officially. | D．He works as a therapy dog for runners. |
| A．Motivation. | B．Satisfaction. | C．Fantasy. | D．Barrier. |
| A．A failure in the marathon. | B．Caring for his owner. | C．Fighting against a disease. | D．Going viral. |
| A．Confident, | B．Supportive. | C．Objective. | D．Negative. |
The 19th Asian Games, also known as the Hangzhou Asian Games,
The design of the mascots was a long process. After fierce competition, “Memories of Jiangnan” finally stood out of more than 4000 candidates. The designer of the mascots, Zhang Wen, said: “Apart from the various cultural
6 . Soccer, basketball, baseball, and the like are popular all around the world, However, do you look for something a bit different? There may be some new sports that you want to try out!
One of the new sports is regball. It is a Russian sport adding basketball, wrestling (摔跤) and rugby. As in basketball, the players have a ball that they try to shoot through a hoop (篮筐) . But nobody will be calling “that’s a travel” while watching this sport, because there is no need to dribble (运球) . Players also wrestle with each other during the game.
Another kind of sport you don’t see every day is soapbox racing. Handmade vehicles are pushed down a hill, and competitors have to drive their vehicles through a course with different kinds of things in their way. Not all competitors are engineers, so the vehicles are easy to break apart. Competitors are judged for their soapbox’s creativity. Therefore, speed is not everything, and creativity plays the most important role. Competitors often design their vehicles based on themes from pop culture or history. Of course, the competitors dress up to play the role, too.
Cheese rolling race is not seen very often, but it is exciting. This is a game that is extremely funny for audience, but painful for competitors. During the game, competitors race down a very steep (陡峭的) hill, chasing after a round of Double Gloucester cheese that can weigh up to nine pounds and can travel some 70 miles per hour. Whoever gets to the bottom first wins the cheese.
1. What can we know about regball?| A．It mixes three kinds of sports. |
| B．Its competitors race down a hill. |
| C．Wrestling is not allowed during the game. |
| D．Its rules are exactly the same as basketball. |
| A．A lesson. | B．A track. | C．An action. | D．A period of time. |
| A．Their speed. | B．Their clothes. |
| C．Their creativity. | D．Their driving experiences. |
| A．A new study about sports. |
| B．A presentation of sports skills. |
| C．An introduction to three new sports. |
| D．The difference between traditional and new sports. |
7 . The Olympic Games began more than two thousand years ago in Greece. The first Olympic Games were held in 766 BC. They went on for a thousand years and then were stopped. In 1896, 1,500 years later, the Olympic Games began again. Winter sports began to be a part of the Olympic Games in 1924.
The Olympic Symbol (标记) is five colored rings. They show the friendship of people’s. They also show five continents (洲): Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and America. Each ring has a different color: blue, yellow, black, green and red.
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not wining but taking part in.
1. The first Olympic Games were held in ________ .| A．1896 | B．1500 | C．766 BC | D．1924 |
| A．Amusement | B．happiness | C．friendship | D．love |
| A．winning is the most important thing |
| B．taking part in is the most important thing |
| C．winning is more important than taking part in |
| D．taking part in is the same important as winning |
Jim stared at the ground and sighed in disappointment. Players from the opposing team raced past Jim, celebrating their shocking victory. They’d scored the game-winning goal just seconds before the end of the game.
“Just one word to describe a loss like that,” Jim mumbled to his teammate Devin.
“Terrible!” Devin sighed. “It was a tough one.” He trotted (小步快跑) toward the middle of the field to shake hands with the winning team. Jim walked slowly behind Devin. He unhappily slapped hands with the winners, then stopped to shut his eyes as the autumn air cooled his sweaty face.
“Terrible,” he repeated to himself as he sat on the bench and pulled his jacket on. “Let’s get some hot chocolate and watch the next game,” Devin said. There were eight teams in the YMCA league, so games would go on all morning. “Sorry. I’m heading home,” Jim said, “I’ve had enough soccer for today.”
As he reached the gate, Jim glanced back to see the next two teams take the field. They were jumping and shouting, excited to play. “That was us a little while ago, before we were discouraged.” Jim thought.
So why we lost the game at last? Jim asked himself. How did such a well-played game end up with such a terrible result? It was still clear in his head: Jim had the ball deep on the Jets’ side of the field, looking for Devin or another teammate to pass to. His team had outplayed the Jets for most of the game, but failed within the last seconds.
Jim let out a deep breath. The morning was growing warmer. Perfect for soccer. Jim looked back toward the field. He couldn’t see it, but he could hear the excited voices as the game continued.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
With a car’s horn beeping, Jim’s friends Tara and Bryan jumped out of the car.
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There came the turn for Tara and Bryan’s team to play the game.
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9 . Dealing with Stress in Sports
Sports are a great way to have fun while staying fit. Sports also teach important life lessons like working as a team.
Competing always leads to some stress. And that can be good.
Keep stress levels down when you aren’t competing.
Finally don’t forget that no one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes in sports. It is part of the game.
Whether you play on the school team or at a weekend pick-up game, the point is to have fun. By keeping that as the first place, you can learn to deal with the stress that is a natural part of competition.
| A．There will always be some stress in sports |
| B．A little stress helps the body face a challenge |
| C．Why not be quick to forgive mistakes and move on |
| D．If you have too much going on, think about doing more exercising |
| E．It is best to eat well and get enough sleep, especially before games |
| F．Aren’t sports about staying active, developing as a player and making friends |
| G．But it’s not always easy to keep it together when it feels like winning is everything |
10 . Sharing China 2023 is calling for photos and videos from all over the world until Feb.12, 2023. Welcome to send us your memorable moments from Chinese New Year celebrations.
What We are Looking for
Suggested themes include: traditional customs, modern customs and new trends, folk activities, foreigners experiencing the Spring Festival and celebrations around the world.
Awards and Prizes
We will select 50 photos (single or group) and 10 short films. Each winner will be awarded 1,000RMB.
Timeline
Starting time and deadline: from Dec.20, 2022 to Feb.12, 2023.
Selection and ranking: from Feb.13 to May 15, 2023.
Result announcement: June, 2023.
The Rules
Photos:
1. All works must be real and not doctored or edited.
2. Works can be single photos or a series of photos.
3. Works should have titles and a short photo description.
Short films:
1. Size: 1GB maximum, less than 4 minutes.
2. Dubbing and subtitles (配音和字幕): If the video is dubbed, the language could be either Chinese or English, but subtitles should be bilingual (双语的).
3. Caption: English or Chinese words to give a brief introduction.
How to submit (提交)
You can submit your works to China Culture’s Facebook. For further information, click here.
1. Which time is proper if you want to hand in your works?| A．Dec.10, 2022. | B．Jan.12, 2023. |
| C．Feb.15, 2023. | D．Jun.16, 2023. |
| A．An edited photo. | B．A 3-minute video. |
| C．A photo without a title. | D．A video with only English subtitle. |
| A．A science report. | B．An encyclopedia. |
| C．A story book. | D．A website. |
