1 . Future football stars

Football academies were set up by leading football clubs so their coaches could run trials to discover and train talented boys from as young as eight as potential players for their first team.

This means that in Britain there are at least 9,000 boys at any one time attending academies after school who think they are going to be a famous footballer.     1     One eight-year-old was selected for Chelsea Academy and he went from being top of his class at school to being the boy who was messing around at the back. His mother asked him why he wasn’t trying hard at school any more. His reply was that he was going to be a footballer and be rich, so he didn’t need to. In the end, he only lasted a year in the academy.     2     And he wasn’t so discouraged that he never played football again.

    3     Any sport where only a few can get to the top has many talented failures. These people are very good and do their best but finally it will not pay off because they are just not outstanding enough. In football, this effect is big because the number of players chosen by academies is so huge.     4    

This doesn’t put off all the boys who are spotted by the big football clubs and are desperate to join the academies.     5     They get to play as much football as possible. The skills become part of them, as they are with professional players, so they are automatic and the boys don’t have to think about them when they’re on the football field.

A．Unfortunately, for most this isn’t the case.

B．The benefits are still there for them of course.

C．All the big football clubs have a football academy.

D．But, luckily for him, he was still young enough to get over it.

E．But football is not alone when it comes to this kind of thing.

F．Most of these won’t get into a team and most won’t become professionals.

G．And footballers are much more likely to get injured when they play games.

2 . They are the world's fittest people. But even Olympic athletes have had their share of difficult, heart-breaking or embarrassing (令人难堪的) moments.

The 1904 Olympics, St Louis, USA

American Fred Lorz crossed the finish line of the Olympic marathon with a time of 3 hours and 13 minutes. He had beaten the second runner by 15 minutes. Lorz looked happy and fresh, and smiled for the photographers. Just before they gave him the gold medal, the race officials arrived and took away the medal, and Lorz was banned (禁止) from races for a year. Then an official told the truth. He had travelled by car for 11 miles of the marathon!

The 1908 Olympics, London, England

The Italian Dorando Pietri was one of the unluckiest marathon runners. When he arrived at the stadium, he was very tired. The people were cheering , but Pietri couldn't continue . He fell down and got up again four times. Finally, around seven metres from the finish line, he fell down again and didn't move. Worried officials ran over and picked him up. He crossed the finish line and won the gold medal. But a few hours later the Olympic officials had to take it away from him again. They said he couldn't be the winner because Olympic officials had helped him cross the line.

The 2000 Olympics, Sydney, Australia

Eric Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea became one of the most loved athletes of the 2000 Games. His race was the 100-metre freestyle swim. He jumped into the pool and started swimming. After the first 50 meters he was very tired. He went more and more slowly and almost stopped in the middle of the pool. The officials worried that he was drowning(淹死）.But Moussambani continued and finished the race with a time of 1 minute and 52 seconds, the slowest in the history of the Olympics. Still, Moussambani was happy. He had never swum in a pool of that size before.

1. Why was Lorz's gold medal taken away at the 1904 Olympics?

A．Because he broke the rules.

B．Because officials made a mistake.

C．Because officials picked him up halfway.

D．Because he beat the second runner badly.

2. What happened to Pietri at the1908 Olympics?

A．He broke a world record.

B．He finally won the gold medal.

C．He fell down after finishing the race.

D．He received help as he crossed the finish line.

3. How did people think of Moussambani?

A．They felt sorry for him.	B．They thought highly of him.
C．They showed no interest in him.	D．They had mixed feelings about him.

4. What's the best title of the passage?

A．The Suffering Moments of the Olympics	B．A Share of the Fittest People
C．The Most Loved Athletes	D．The Bad Olympics in history