6．The rats in Newtown were                     ．

    A．as big as cats                                           B．as dangerous as dogs

    C．large and many                                          D．knocked down by the people there

5．From the story，we know that                     ．

    A．Liu Xiang was not the first Chinese to win the sprint（疾跑）gold medal in Athens

    B．if Liu Xiang reached the finish line in l 3 seconds．he woo Id break the world record

    C．the Chinese people can run as fast as the people in the other country

    D．Liu Xiang didn't want to take part in the Olympic Games in 2008

（B）

    Today Newtown is a very clean place．But many years ago，there were millions of rats（老鼠）in Newtown．They attacked（袭击）the cats and dogs．Sometimes a lot of them knocked down a man or woman walking home at night．The rats were very big in size and they hurt many people．

    The government（政府）ordered（命令）everybody to kill rats．Most people were lazy，80 they did not kill many．Then the government decided to pay some money for each dead rat．That made the people very happy．They killed thousands of rats every day．A government officer put all the dead rats in a big pile（堆）．Sometimes a man brought hundreds in one day．

    After two weeks there were not many rats in the city，but people still brought many rats to the government office．The government officer thought that people were stealing（偷）dead rats from the pile．He ordered his men to dig a deep hole and put the rats in it．Soon there were no more rats，and the government did not pay any more money．

4．What does Liu Xiang think of being a sports player?

    A．It is just a job for him．

    B．It can bring him fl lot of money．

    C．It is what he loves．

    D．It can bring him a lot of honor（荣誉）．

3．Why did Liu Xiang give up jumping? Because                    ．

    A．a bone test showed he wouldn't become tall enough to be a high jumper

    B．his parents stopped him from jumping

    C．he was satisfied（满足）after winning the national jumping champion for his age group

    D．the famous coach Sun Haiping changed his and his parents' ideas

2．What does the underlined word “persuaded” mean in Chinese?

A．支持                   B．说服                   C．教育                      D．阻止

1．At what age did Liu Xiang win the Olympic championship?

A．12                       B．15                       C．21                       D．22

    Since his return from Athens。Liu Xiang has been at the centre of a media circus（媒体焦点）． He has been to many press appearances and meetings．After Liu got the gold medal，he became well known all over the world．But Liu thinks 2004 is just the beginning，and he expects to be at his peak（顶峰）in the summer games in Beijing in 2008．Liu Xiang said，“For some players，it's just a job．For me，it's what I love．”

 “I never thought I could run under l 3 seconds，and I never thought l would break the Olympic record，”said Liu in tears，“I am very，very excited．This is a wonder．I'm proud not just for myself and for Chinese but for Asia．My race went wonderfully from start to finish．Liu added，It is an amazing（惊奇的）experience being the Olympic champion．1 want to thank my coach and my friends for all their help．I think today we Chinese have showed the world we can run as fast as anybody else．”

    When Liu was a grade four student in a primary school，he was chosen by the Junior Sports School of Putuo District in Shanghai to practice jumping．But when a bone test showed he would not become a tall man，Liu was asked to give up practicing after one year although he had won the national championship for his age group．Liu's parents also wanted him to give it up and study more at school，but Liu decided to continue practicing jumping．

    In l 998 when Liu Xiang，aged l 5，met the famous coach Sun Haiping，his career changed  greatly．Sun believed Liu Xiang was a rising star and after visiting Liu's parents several times，finally he persuaded them to let Liu practice the 110m hurdles．

When Liu Xiang crossed the finish line far ahead of the other players，in a world record--equaling time of 12.91 seconds，many fans burst into tears．It was Liu's first Olympics and he won the gold medal．