Paula Radcliffe, chasing a third London marathon title, says she has became a stronger person after her terrible experience at the 2004 Athens Games.

Radcliffe, who failed to complete the Olympic marathon and the 10,000m last August, said: "Athens made me a stronger person and it made me care less about criticism"

"In the past I wanted to please everyone, but now I am going to listen even more to the people around me."

She didn't care about criticism made at the weekend by Liz McColgan, who felt Radcliffe should have rested and let her body recover after her failure in Athens.

"Liz is someone I look up to but she hasn't spoken to me since last year and if she really cared for me, I'm sure she would have contacted me."

Instead Radcliffe won the New York City marathon just 11 weeks after Athens.

"In New York I wasn't in my best state but I did know I was good enough to win the race."

Radcliffe insisted her only goal in Sunday's race would be winning a third title and not chasing world records.

However, Radcliffe has not ruled out in the future chasing her "final" world record time and questioned sayings that marathon runners have the ability in their career to produce only four or five world-class times.

"I don't think that ——although I can't put a number on it," said. Radcliffe. "That changes from person to person."

Radcliffe is sure she can better her winning London 2003 performance at some point in the future. Following a successful three-month training period in the United States, the 31-year-old will chase a third title on Sunday after her first victory in 2002 and again 12 months later.

Radcliffe clocked a time of 2:18:56 in her first 42.2-kilometre race three years ago.

Afterwards she set a "mixed course" mark of 2:17:18 five months later in Chicago before lowering that to a time of 2:15:25 in the 2003 London event.

1.Radcliffe’s failure in Athens made her___________.?

A. develop respect for Liz?   B. love people around her more?

C. rest for five months?      D. face criticism calmly?

2.Which of the following is true according to the passage??

A. Radcliffe broke the world record in the New York City marathon.?

B. Radcliffe didn’t fully recover before the New York City marathon.?

C. Radcliffe won her first marathon title in the New York City marathon.?

D. Radcliffe had a 3-month training before the New York City marathon.?

3. By saying “I can’t put a number on it,” Radcliffe means she’s not sure ___________.?

A. if she has the ability to set a new world record?

B. if she can win another race though she has won many times?

C. how many times a marathon runner can set the world record?

D. if she has the ability to produce four or five world-class times?

4. According to the text, Radcliffe has won ___________ London marathon title(s).?

A. one　　　　　B. two?             C. three          D. four

5.What can we learn from Radcliffe’s story??

A. Practice makes perfect.?            B. Well begun is half done.?

C. Where there is a will, there is a way.?  D. A friend in need is a fried indeed.

 

There was a story many years ago of a school teacher----Mrs.Thompson. She told the children on the first day that she loved them all the same. But that was a lie. There in the front row was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. He didn't play well with the other children and he always needed a bath. She did not like him.

Then Mrs. Thompson got to know that Teddy was actually a very good boy before the death of his mother. Mrs. Thompson was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when, like all her other students, Teddy brought her a Christmas present too. It was his mother's perfume(香水）.

Teddy said, "Mrs.Thompson, today you smell just like my Mom used to." After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she stopped teaching reading, writing and math. Instead, she began to teach children.

Mrs.Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy.The boy's mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he improved. By the end of the sixth grade, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class.

Six years went by before she got a note from Teddy. He wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. He went to college. Mrs.Thompson got two more letters from him with the last signed, Theodore F. Stoddar, M. D. (医学博士）.

The story doesn't end there. On his wedding day, Dr.Stoddard whispered in Mrs.Thompson's ear," Thank you, Mrs. Thomson, for believing in me. You made me feel important and showed me that I could make a difference."

Mrs. Thompson , with tears in her eyes, whispered back,"Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you.

1.What did Mrs.Thompson do on the first day of school?

A．She made Teddy feel ashamed

B．She asked the children to play with Teddy.

C．She changed Teddy's seat to the front row.

D．She told the class something untrue about herself.

2. What did Mrs. Thompson find out about Teddy?

A．He often told lies.	B．He was good at math
C．He needed motherly care	D．He enjoyed playing with others

3.In what way did Mrs. Thompson change?

A．She taught fewer school subjects.

B．She became stricter with her students.

C．She no longer liked her job as a teacher.

D．She cared more about educating students.

4.Why did Teddy thank Mrs.Thompson at his wedding?

A．She had kept in touch with him.

B．She had given him encouragement.

C．She had sent him Christmas presents.

D．She had taught him how to judge people.

 

One cold night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco．There I was walking home around one o clock m the morning after a   36  practice at the theatre With he opening night only a week away, I was still learning my lines by heart. I was having   37 handling my part-time job at the bank in the daytime and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about  38 both acting and San Francisco. I had  39 too much of city life.

As I walked down the  40 streets under the tall buildings, I felt very small and cold, so I began  41 both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible robbers. Very few people were still out  42 a few homeless people under blankets.

About a block from my  43 , I heard a sound behind me. I   44  quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me  45 so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I   46  what the noise had been. It had been my wallet  47 to the sidewalk.

Suddenly I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to where I’d heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk   48 for 15 minutes, my wallet was   49 to be found.

Just as I was about to quit the  50 , I heard the garbage truck stop to the sidewalk next to  51 .when a voice came from the inside, “Alisa Camcho?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened and out jumped a small blonde man with an  52 look in his eyes. “Is this  53  you’re looking for?” He asked, holding up something like a wallet.

It was already 3 a.m. by the time I got into bed. I couldn’t get much sleep, but I had got my wallet back. I also had got back some  54 of city life. I realized the city couldn’t be a bad place  55 people were willing to help each other.

1.	A．comfortable B．serious C．tiresome D．fortunate

 

2.	A．comfort '' B．desire C．pain D．trouble

 

3.	A．setting up B．giving up C．holding up D．picking up

 

4.	A．expected B．changed C．controlled D．possessed

 

5.	A．deserted B．crowded C．blank D．narrow

 

6.	A．running B．jumping C．moving D．marching

 

7.	A．towards B．except C．including D．between

 

8.	A．bank B．theatre C．apartment D．office

 

9.	A．stood B．walked C．turned D．left

 

10.	A．satisfied B．confused C．frightened D．annoyed

 

11.	A．turn out B．figure out C．give out D．pull out

 

12.	A．belonging B．adding C．sticking D．falling

 

13.	A．gratefully B．anxiously C．skilfully D．delightedly

 

14.	A．nowhere B．anywhere C．everywhere D．somewhere

 

15.	A．instruction B．training C．search D．acting

 

16.	A．it B．him C．someone D．me

 

17.	A．amused B．unpleasant C．uneasy D．embarrassed

 

18.	A．what B．who C．whichever D．whomever

 

19.	A．production B．judgment C．friendship D．appreciation

 

20.	A．as soon as B．as long as C．as far as D．as well as

 

根据所给中文或首字母写出相应单词的正确形式。

1. When I began to sing, he laughed and made me e____________.

2. He said that he p_________ to stay at home rather than go with us.

3. He has been practicing these days, in p______________ for the match.

4. The club is for t______________ who are between 13 and 19 years old.

5. Mr. Tang enjoys writing. His works have e__________ him many good friends.

6. We are kept i___________ of what is happening in the world by reading newspapers and watching television.

7. I’ve tried, but I can’t open the door _________（无论如何）.

8. The tall man _______（弯腰） forward to listen to the little girl.

9. The center has over 300 scientists _____________(致力于) to doing research into DNA.

10. Taking weight-loss pills proves to be dangerous, as it _____________(包含) some chemicals which cause one’s liver to fail.

 

根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中的两项为多余选项。

There was a park near my home. But I didn’t go there very often. Many people said there was nothing special. One afternoon I went into the park and found it was really small. I walked quickly because there wasn’t much to see. I walked for some time and found myself standing in front of two paths.1. I found that the two paths were different from each other.

The left one was wide and clean. There were lots of flowers on both sides of the path. Though the flowers weren’t very beautiful, they made me feel good. I decided to take this path. But wait! I looked at the right one. The path didn’t look nice.  2.  Grass grew everywhere. For a long time I couldn’t make up my mind.

 3. It wasn’t nice , but I didn’t want to give up. At last, I came to the end of the path. Ah! There was a small garden there. It was beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful garden I had ever seen. 4.  

Many people told me that there was nothing much to see in the park. Now I’d like to tell them that if they had followed the right way, they would have felt differently. But when I told them about what I had seen in the park, they just smiled at me without saying a word. I knew they didn’t believe me. They couldn’t even remember that path because it was so small.

 5. Don’t be afraid to choose a different path. You may get a big surprise!

A．There is nothing that I want to see.

B．It looked like it had not been cleaned for months.

C．After a while a strange feeling made me follow the dirty path.

D．“ Which way should I go?” I asked myself. I looked at one way, then the other.

E. I told them what happened.

F. My trip to the park that day made me understand something about life.

G. There were trees, flowers and chairs. I thought it was the nicest part of the park.