1 . TOKYO-International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson Mark Adams said the IOC wanted to send a signal of solidarity (团结) through updating the Olympic motto.
"The Olympic Movement's value is not just about individual excellence, but about a team around you. That is something that the IOC is eager to stress: the value of solidarity," Adams told a press conference here on July 20. "Solidarity is just not about having values. It's about putting values into action," he added. The IOC approved (同意) adding "together" into the Olympic motto. The new motto now reads "Faster, Higher, Stronger-Together" after it was approved at Tuesday's 138th IOC Session.
"The idea of the motto is that you are unable to go faster, go higher and be stronger without a team around you." If you really want to do something, you have to work with other people to achieve that. That's the reason behind the updated motto," explained Adams.
The addition of "together" was proposed by Thomas Bach after his re-election as the IOC president during the virtual 137th IOC Session in March, and the recommendation was approved by the IOC Executive Board in April.
With three days to go before the Tokyo Olympic Games begin, Adams attempted to give Japanese public confidence-boosting messages despite some Olympic-related positive COVID-19 cases over the past several days.
"We would like to reassure them again that everything is being done. The latest figure is nearly 30,000 tests at the airport over staff, athletes and stakeholders. Each of those nearly 30,000 people has been tested twice before they arrived. All these people had three tests, nearly 100,000 tests (in total)," he noted "We can give them a level of satisfaction that everything is being done by us to try and assure there will be a safe and secure Games."
Kirsty Coventry, Chair of the IOC Athletes Commission and a five-time Olympian, expressed her appreciation for quality infrastructures (基础设施) and efforts made by local organizers. "The (Olympic) Village is looking great. Athletes have been super excited. We have been hearing some very positive experiences from athletes. They are excited about the competitions starting" she said.
1. Why is "together" added into the Olympic motto?| A．The old Olympic motto needs updating. |
| B．It's about putting values into action. |
| C．It puts stress on the value of a team. |
| D．The new Olympic motto can improve public confidence. |
| A．Explained. | B．Created. |
| C．Announced. | D．Suggested. |
| A．They should have made more efforts. |
| B．They should be praised for their work. |
| C．They should have been more professional. |
| D．They should be blamed for the preparation. |
| A．There will be safe and secure Games |
| B．IOC displays value of solidarity through motto change. |
| C．Olympic athletes are excited about competitions starting |
| D．New Olympic motto reads. "Faster, Higher. Stronger-Together" |
2 . What would it be like to live on the moon? Students in the 2021 Future City competition were challenged to find out. Nine middle school students from Houston, Texas, took the grand prize home in the international competition.
Middle school teams from 37 regions in the United States, as well as Canada, Nigeria and China, took part in the 29th annual competition, which began last fall. The students used their STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills to create a lunar habitat 100 years in the future.
“In our city, we make full use of our SLR-MAP system, which stands for Smart Lunar Resources Management and Processing System,” said Mohammad Ali Rizvi, one of the winning students.
Extracting minerals and other resources on the moon helped the team with organic solutions to maintaining life on the planet, including providing enough oxygen and water, as well as hydrogen for fuel. When asked if they would like to live in their lunar city in the future, the students were excited and passionate about the potential relocation from the earth. They state “Living on the Moon” was the theme of this year's Future City competition, an annual event designed to encourage middle-school students to develop STEM skills.
Syeda Batool, the team teacher, encouraged the students to use their brains and provided practical advice for their project. The students then elaborated on their ideas in a 1,500-word essay. They created a model of their city with recycled materials and a brief video presentation. They also took part in an online Q&A session with technical judges.
“The most important thing we learned from this experience was teamwork,” said Mohammad Hani Mirza, who is a seventh-grader. “That's one thing we were missing because we all came from different backgrounds with different ideas, and we worked together to create one beautiful city.”
1. What can we learn about the 2021 Future City competition?| A．It was intended for English adults. | B．It encouraged students to choose arts. |
| C．It put students' STEM skills into full play. | D．It was merely attended by American teenagers. |
| A．Eager. | B．Grateful. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Gave up. | B．Complained about. | C．Hid in despair. | D．Explained in detail. |
| A．Boring. | B．Relaxing. | C．Disappointing. | D．Rewarding. |
3 . The modern Olympics, which appeared in ancient Greece as many as 3,000 years ago, have become the world’s most important sporting competition. From the 8th century B. C. to the 4th century A. D., the the ancient Olympics were held every four years in Olympia in honor of the god Zeus. The first modern Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens, and featured 280 participants from 13 nations, competing in 43 events. Since 1994, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games have been held separately every two years. The 2020 Summer Olympics, delayed one year because of the COVID-19, was held in Japan in 2021.
The ancient Olympics were held every four years between August 6 and September 19 during a festival honoring Zeus. The Games were named for their location (位置) at Olympia, a place near the western coast in southern Greece. Their influence was so great that ancient historians began to measure time by the Olympic Games held every four years.
After the Roman Empire conquered (征服) Greece in the mid-2nd century B.C., the Games continued, but their standards and quality dropped. For example from 67 A. D., the Emperor Nero entered an Olympic horse race, announcing himself the winner even after he fell off his horse during the event. In 393 A. D., Emperor Theodosius Ⅰ ended the ancient Olympic tradition.
It was another 1,500 years before the Games rose again, largely thanks to the efforts of Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937) of France. Working hard at the development of physical education, the young man became inspired by the idea of creating a modern Olympic Games after visiting the ancient Olympic building. In November 1892, at a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris, Coubertin suggested the idea of making the Olympics an international athletic competition held every four years. Two years later, he got the approval (批准) he needed to found the International Olympic Committee ( IOC ), which would become the governing body of the modern Olympic Games.
1. What do we know about the modern Olympics?| A．The modern Olympics became famous in the 18th century. |
| B．The first Winter Olympics was held in 1994. |
| C．The first modern Olympics dates back to 1896. |
| D．The latest Winter Olympics will delay for two years. |
| A．Every year. | B．Every other year. |
| C．Every three years. | D．Every four years. |
| A．In 393 A. D. | B．In 67 A. D. |
| C．In the mid-2nd century B. C. | D．About 1,500 years ago. |
| A．The ancient Olympics |
| B．The modern Olympics |
| C．The Olympics developed through years |
| D．The Olympics are popular in modern time |
4 . Imagine the feeling of swinging at a baseball going 100 miles per hour—without leaving your living room, or being in race car as it roars down the track, while you are sitting on the couch.
These are just some of the ways that sports business leaders say virtual reality (VR) will revolutionize how people train for and experience sports. Virtual and augmented（增强的）realities are together known as mixed reality (MR). “American footballers are already using VR to better train their minds and read the field,” Ludden said. “This can allow players to perfect their skills without risking injury.”
Canadian company D-BOX Technologies designs and produces moving seats found in cinema and theme parks. It is now moving into sports, and shows its Formula One (F1) racing simulator （模拟器）. The seats stimulate the force of gravity, speed and every shaking as Fl champion Lewis Hamilton zips around city streets.
A simulation seat uses pre-programed data now. Someday, though, it could use real-time information sent by the car. “They could broadcast live content through a network in pop-up theaters around the world,” Ludden said. Say you want to experience the true stress of a batter being up against major-league baseball pitcher. “You can have a heartbeat added to the sensation on the seat and then you can feel it, boom, boom,” Maheu explained. “When he swings and hits the ball, you can have an impact.”
One day, fans around the world could physically experience every game from their favorite player in real time. Ludden said that current and near-future technology could create “augmented stadiums” for live audiences. Panasonic launched its “Smart Venue” plans which included the overlaying of graphics, advertisements, player statistics and replays on the field of play at a pro football game. “If you are seated in the cheap seats, you can see this really useful.” “Fans may someday join in stadium wide games, using the field as a virtual gaming platform,” Ludden added.
1. What does the underlined phrase “read the field” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Get off the playing field. | B．Build up a football court. |
| C．Judge the situation on the field. | D．Ask players to play on the spot. |
| A．Enjoy live content in any theater. |
| B．Program the simulation seats in advance. |
| C．Control the force and speed of the baseball. |
| D．Experience the real time game with the player. |
| A．The origin of VR. | B．A future stadium. |
| C．An advertisement platform. | D．The expectations of audiences. |
| A．VR can improve players' skills for sports. |
| B．VR increases fans' joy in the baseball game. |
| C．VR can improve sports experience for players and fans. |
| D．VR promises a new future for football players and games. |
5 . Several years ago, I read about the world's longest foot race. It's called the Self- Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, held between June and August every year. According to a Reuters report, “The longest foot race in the world is3,100 miles, long enough to stretch from New York to Los Angeles. Those running it choose a different route: They circle one city block in Queens for two months straight.”
It reported, “The athletes lap their block more than 5,000 times. They wear out 12 pairs of shoes. They run more than two marathons daily. In the heat and rain of a New York sum-mer, they stop for nothing except to sleep between midnight and 6 am.”
I find it incredible that someone can run that far for that long. But what I find even more incredible is that it is done by running the same half-mile stretch over and over again. If the running didn't kill me, the monotony(单调乏味) would!
But I thought of a great picture of life. Our life is a long race. But I don't know how often we have considered that the difficulty in the race is not only in its length, but also in its monotony. So much of what we do is repetitive and mundane.
A mother works hard to take care of her children. But she does the same thing every day: diapers(尿布) to be changed，clothes to be washed，dirty dishes to be cleaned. A father works hard to provide for his family, but every day he is working on an assembly line doing the same job repetitively, dealing with hard-to-please customers.
One of the difficulties in living life is in hanging there through those difficult times when you’re running across the same ground over and over again. However, you should believe that you can survive the monotony and continue to run, and the finish line lies ahead.
1. How does the author feel about the foot race?| A．Unacceptable. | B．Funny. | C．Embarrassed. | D．Shocked. |
| A．They were determined. | B．They liked repetitive work. |
| C．They spent much money on the race. | D．They ran to Los Angeles straight. |
| A．Complex. | B．Difficult. | C．Boring. | D．Unreasonable. |
| A．Try to participate in the foot race. | B．Be confident to get through dull life. |
| C．Keep calm to face the challenge of life. | D．Adjust ourselves to the changing society. |
6 . Skipping Stones Youth Honor Awards
The Youth Honor Awards recognize creative and artistic works by young people that promote multicultural, international and nature awareness.
Original writing (essays, interviews, poems, plays, short stories, etc.) and art( photos. paintings. Cartoons, etc.) from youth. aged 7 to 17, should be typed or neatly handwritten. Essays should be under 1,000 words and poems should be under 30 lines. Non-English writings, photo essays and art pieces (up to 8) are equally welcome.
You may also choose to stress the work of a youth organization or group project. Using the same guidelines as above, tell us how the group works to preserve nature or enrich the community, its members and the lives of others.
Entries must be e-mailed or postmarked by 25 June. Please include the following:
A cover letter telling about yourself and your works, age, address and telephone number or e-mail, which we need to contact you during August if you are a winner.
A Certificate of Originality and a Parental Permission to publish your work We reserve the right to publish your entry at our judgement.
Send a $5 entry fee. If you enter the honor awards program and also subscribe ($25/year), you can enter without the entry fee. If you are entering electronically, we can send you an online request for $7, which includes the entry fee of $5, plus an additional $2 convenience fee.
Ten winning entries will be published in the October issue. Winners will receive an Honor Award Certificate, a subscription to Skipping Stones and five books.
Send your award entries and submissions by e-mail or post to the address below,
P. o Box 3939
Eugene. OR 97403 USA.
In fo@Ski ppingStones.Org
1. Which of the following works are not accepted?| A．Works presented in May. | B．Works including 10 art pieces. |
| C．Works written in Chinese. | D．Works from youth organizations. |
| A．In June. | B．In July. | C．In August. | D．In October. |
| A．$ 2. | B．$ 3. | C．$ 5. | D．$7. |
7 . As we know, the 2020 Summer Olympic Games is delayed to 2021 for Convid-19.
It's Tokyo's second time hosting a Summer Olympics, 57 years after their first time in the spotlight. These Games will see the introduction of some exciting new sports to the lineup (阵容), too: skate boarding will make its Olympic debut, as well as karate (空手道), surfing and sport climbing.
There will be plenty of classics to watch as well, from the ever — popular swimming and gymnastics (体操) events to track and field (田径) and team sports. And while Olympic trials have yet to take place, we'll most likely be seeing the return of superstars like the 2016 gymnastics standout Simone Bilesimming record — setter Katie Ledecky and track star Sydney McLaughlin, who was just 16 when she competed in the Rio Olympics and has been on the rise ever since.
The 2020 Summer Olympics will begin on July 23, 2021 and run until Aug 8, 2021, with the opening ceremony on July 23 and the closing ceremony on Aug 8. In between, audiences around the world will tune in to two weeks of nonstop sports. Most of the big swimming events will take place over the first week. while the track and field competitions ramp up (进展) in the second half.
For the second time in its history, Tokyo is hosting the summer Olympics they first hosted back in 1964. (Japanhas also been home to two Winter Olympics, at Sapporo in 1972and Nagano in 1998.) Tokyo is the first city in Asia to host an Olympics twice.
There are many changes to the Olympics this year. The biggest change to the Olympics for 2020 is the addition of the five new sports and the return of baseball (absent in 2016), plus a few new events, like the three-on-three basketball competition.
One change sure to receive a lot of attention are the adjusted gymnastics team rules: instead of fielding a team of five athletes, each country will be whittled down to four all-around contestants (参赛者), with two more teammates added to compete only in individual events.
1. How long will the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games last?| A．One week. | B．17 days. |
| C．24 days. | D．One month. |
| A．Gymnastics team rules have been changed. |
| B．Baseball will be absent in the 2020 Summer Olympics |
| C．Four new sports will be added to the 2020 Summer Olympics |
| D．Most of the big swimming events will take place over the second week. |
①swimming ②gymnastics ③surfing ④skateboarding ⑤karate ⑥track and field
| A．①④⑤ | B．④⑤⑥ |
| C．①③⑥ | D．①②⑥ |
| A．be added to | B．be shifted to |
| C．be reduced to | D．be expanded to |
8 . Figure skating(花样滑冰), as we know it, got its start in the mid-19th century when an American named Jackson Haines combined dancing and skating for the first time. Americans did not accept Jackson’s technique at that time.
In single skating, each skater performs a short routine of required steps.
A panel of mine judges scores the quality of each figure skating performance, but only scores of seven judges are used. To determine which judge’s scores will be used, there is a random draw before each event. Skaters are given a grade for each step, jump, spin, or any other element that is part of their routine. They also receive an overall score for each performance.
| A．Therefore he moved to Vienna, Austria. |
| B．Jackson tried to teach Americans his technique. |
| C．Ice dance is performed by one male and one female, too. |
| D．Figure skating is one of the most popular games in the world. |
| E．The person or team with the highest total score is the winner. |
| F．Figure skating became an Olympic sport before there were Winter Games. |
| G．They are jumps, spins, and combinations, as well as a longer free-stating routine. |
9 . Alysa Liu is an ice skater. In 2016, the then 10-year-old girl became the youngest intermediate figure skating （花样滑冰）champion in U.S. history. In 2018, Liu became the youngest to compete in and win the U.S. junior championships.
In January, 2019, she made history again at the Geico U.S. Women's Figure Skating Championships. At the championships, things were initially going well for the defending U.S. champion Bradie Tennell. But later Tennell had a falling in her performance. Meanwhile, Liu became the first and youngest U.S. woman to land three triple axels （三周半跳）in competition.
Though Liu made them look, easy, triple axels are extremely challenging. The skater has to jump from the outside edge of one skate, turning in the air. "Double" or “triple" refers to the number of rotations （旋转）the skater completes before landing. The term is a little misleading given that the skater has to do an extra half rotation, meaning that for a triple, the skater is actually completing 3.5 rotations. To be successful, the skater has to have both incredible body strength and control.
When asked about her great performance, Liu thought it was not worth showing off. And she was enthusiastic about preparing for bigger games. But Liu was ineligible to compete at the 2019 World Figure Skating Championships in Japan due to the minimum age requirement of 15. However, that didn't bother her.
Liu fell in love with ice skating during her first lesson at a center. She showed such talent that Laura Lipetsky, who was teaching the group lessons, asked her father to let her receive private lessons. Lipetsky said, “She wanted to learn, and I wanted to guide." The two have been inseparable since then. In 2017 Laura sent Liu to the University of Delaware for a certain analysis that researchers have created to help outstanding American skaters improve their jump techniques.
Liu has been homeschooled since the age of 10. She gets her homework done between daily practices, and usually eats dinner in the car on her way home. Though that might appear to be a lot for someone so young, Liu takes it happily.
1. What achievement did Alysa make at the age of 13?| A．She won the U.S. junior championships. |
| B．She was allowed to compete in the 2019 championships in Japan. |
| C．She became an intermediate figure skating champion. |
| D．She defeated the defending U.S. champion Bradie Tennell. |
| A．The requirements for figure skating. |
| B．The difficulty of carrying out triple axels. |
| C．The skills needed in skating rotations. |
| D．The differences between double axels and triple axels. |
| A．Lacking time. | B．Lacking confidence. |
| C．Having no qualification. | D．Showing little enthusiasm. |
| A．She was good at teaching group lessons. |
| B．She instructed Liu's father in figure skating. |
| C．She made a contribution in Liu's progress in sports. |
| D．She obtained great support from Liu and her father. |
10 . A country famous for its Alps and its skiers has a new champion. His name is Dominic Thiem, awakening from an unlucky start to win his first Grand Slam title（大满贯冠军）on his fourth try and becoming the first Austrian to win the US Open（Tennis Championships）.
Showing world-class resilience（韧性）in a 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 victory over his longtime friend Alexander Zverev of Germany, the third-ranked Thiem made history, winning the first Open final to be decided by a fifth-set tiebreaker（决胜局）. He joins Thomas Muster, who won the French Open in 1995, as the only Austrian to win a major tennis championship.
Thiem, of course, is also the first man from any nation to take a major title before no fans, during the COVID-19.
Thiem soldiered through the toughest test of all, a match that took 321 points and four hours and one minute to decide. His cheerfulness and relief were noticed as he collapsed to the court, but it was a little bittersweet, considering that his opponent was a good friend.
"It's amazing how this journey brought us to share this moment with you," Thiem said during the award ceremony. I think we both deserved it…You' re going to make it 100 percent. You're going to make your parents proud."
Zverev, on his chair, was fighting tears. When it was time to talk, he congratulated Thiem and said, "I wish you would have missed a little bit more so I could have held that prize up, but here I am giving the silver medalist speech. "He continued. Now he was really crying.
1. What do we know about Dominic Thiem from the first two paragraphs?| A．Thiem was a skier to show world-class resilience. |
| B．Thiem beat his longtime friend Zverev twice to win the game |
| C．Thiem took the lead throughout the game. |
| D．Thiem won US Open to get his first Grand Slam title. |
| A．turned up | B．carried on |
| C．broke down | D．showed off |
| A．regretful | B．delighted |
| C．annoyed | D．awkward |
| A．Be nice-you won't finish last. | B．Be confident-you can make it. |
| C．Be determined-you will shine. | D．Be modest-you deserve the best. |
