Liu Xiang was born on July 13, 1983, in Shanghai, China. He is a hurdling athlete (跨栏运动员).
"He kept running and jumping every day when he was a child. He never sat there quietly," said his
mother. In Grade Four, Liu tried high jump. He was never afraid to try. He was always the first to try
a higher jump. He would jump again and again until he made it!
     Later, people said he was not tall enough for high jump. His parents wanted him to stop doing it.
"I told my mother that I wanted to take part in the Olympics," Liu said. Luckily, in 1998, Liu met his
coach (教练) Sun Haiping. Sun thought he could be No.1. He asked Liu to run the 110-meter hurdles.
"I showed that Asian people could run fast, too," said Liu. He equaled the world record ( 平世界纪录)
of 12.91 seconds held since 1993 by Colin Jackson of Wales. Liu has won a gold medal at the 2004
Summer Olympics in the 110- meter hurdles event. It was the first men's athletic gold for China in the
Olympics. On July 12, 2006, Liu broke the men's world record with a time of 12.88 seconds, breaking
the record he shared with Britain's Colin Jackson.

1. Liu Xiang was born in the city of ______.

A. Beijing    
B. Shanghai    
C. Guilin        
D. chongqing

2. Liu Xiang was too ______ to do the high jump.

A. tall        
B. high        
C. little        
D. short

3. Liu met his coach Sun Haiping when he was ______ .

A.14          
B. 15        
C. 16          
D. 17

4. Liu's speed (速度) at the 2004 Summer Olympics was ______.

A. 12.91      
B. 12.88    
C. 12.61      
D. 12.96

5. On July 12,2006, Liu  ______ in the 110-meterhurdles.

A. broke the rules            
B. set a new world record
C. equaled the world record    
D. did badly