In the past ten years, America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) has grown increasingly dependent on the rest of the world to supply players.

    When Michael Jordan and Larry Bird won gold in Barcelona in 1992, the Americans were praised for teaching the world how to play basketball. This season, however, 20 percent of NBA rosters will be filled by non-Americans. NBA commissioner David Stem happily embraces the trend. On a visit to Paris in October, Stern outlined his vision for the future, which is likely to see Europe hosting NBA games by 2010.

    The NBA is now planning to take China by storm.

    “Our experience in China has been that it is going to be explosive in its growth,” said Stern. The strategy in China is television. “We’ve made 14 deals in China with local and national networks on cable and satellite.” The success of Chinese centre Yao Ming has paved the way for the NBA marketing blitz in China. The NBA, which is broadcasted in more than 200 countries in 42 languages, will put that to the test in October 2004 when the Houston Rockets play two pre-season games against the Sacramento Kings in Beijing and Shanghai. The NBA knows that it needs a global market to compensate for tough times on home soil.

“It doesn’t matter where the players come from, all the NBA teams now know that they have to scout internationally,” said Terry Lyons, the NBA’s vice-president of international public relations. “It has increased the level of competition here.” As Frenchman Tony Parker and Argentine Emanuel Ginobili showed in winning championship rings with the San Antonio Spurs last season, many people can earn the respect of their American peers. Others, such as the Houston Rockets’ Chinese centre Yao Ming — number one draft pick in 2002 — and the Detroit Pistons’ 18-year-old Serb Darko Milicic — number two overall in this year’s draft — are iconsin-waiting. It is the ultimate revolution — the rest of the world teaching the US how to play basketball.

Notes:

roster  n. 花名册

strategy  n. 战略,策略

scout  vt. 寻找,觅得

icon  n. 偶像

ultimate  adj. 最后的,根本的

Choose the best answers according to the above:

According to the report,       ___.

A. Michael Jordan is still playing a very important role in NBA

B. the part played by the foreign players in NBA will be great

C. Yao Ming is to play two pre-season games in NBA

D. European countries will host the 2004 NBA games

The underlined phrase “take China by storm” has the meaning of       ___.

A. NBA intends to make China its “marketing center”

B. NBA is planning to set up some training centers in China

C. there’ll be a big storm when NBA comes to China to play against the Sacramento Kings

D. the NBA’s live basket games will be broadcasted on all the TVs in China

. What seems to be the biggest change that is happening to NBA?

A. NBA is expecting more foreign players to join the league.

B. China’s rapid development in sports affects NBA.

C. Yao Ming has taken the place of Michael Jordan.

D. The NBA will stop teaching the world how to play basketball.

When the writer talked of “home soil”, he was referring to        __.

A. farms in the States             B. native Americans 

C. the NBA training center         D. the USA

Which of the following can be used as the best title for the passage?

A. The Non-American Basketball Players    B. NBA Is Coming to China

C. The Foreign Ties That Bind the NBA      D. NBA Is Making Big Progress


B
He was an old man who fished alone in a boat in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boys parents had told him that the old man was now definitely salao and he finally would be so. The boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week. It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff(鱼钩) and harpoon(鱼叉) and the sail that as rolled around the mast(桅杆). The sail was patched with flour bags and, rolled, it looked like the flag of permanent defeat.
The old man was very thin with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches(斑点) of the skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handing heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert. Everything about him was old expect his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.
“Santiago,” the boy said to him as they climbed the bank from where the boat was pulled up. “I could go with you again. We’ve made some money.” The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.
“No,” the old man said. “But we have. Haven’t we?
“Yes,” the boy said. “Can I offer you a beer on the Terrance and then we’ll take the stuff home.”
“Why not?” said the old man, “between fisherman.”
55. The underlined word “salao” in the first paragraph probably means ________.
A. lonely               B. unlucky             C. selfish               D. stubborn
56. The boy left the old man and went in another boat to fish because _______.
A. the old man preferred to fish alone  B. the old man was poor
C. the boy’s parents ordered him to     D. the old man’s sail suggested a permanent defeat
57. After reading this passage, we may safely conclude that ________.
A. the old man was insistent and not afraid of failure
B. the boy’s papa had confidence in everything
C. the old man caught big fishes because he had some doubts about the old man
D. the boy obeyed his father because he had some doubts about the old man
58. What might happen after the last paragraph?
A. The old man and the boy might go to fish with other fishermen.
B. The old man might go to have a drink with the boy.
C. The old man and the old might go to enjoy beer at the old man’s home.
D. The old man might go to tell the boy’s papa about the secrets between fishermen.

“It hurts me more than you” and “This is for your own good” — these are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin, clean my room, stay home and do homework.

That was before we entered the permissive period in education in which we decided it was all right not to push our children to achieve their best in school. The schools and the educators made it easy for us. They taught that it as all right to be parents who take a let-alone policy. We stopped making our children do homework. We gave them calculators, turned on the television, left the teaching to the teachers and went on vacation.

Now teachers, faced with children who have been developing at their own pace for the past 15 years, are realizing we’ve made a terrible mistake. One such teacher is Sharon Klompus who speaks of her students “so passive” and wonders what has happened. Nothing is demanded of them, she believes. Television, says Klompus, contributes to children’s passivity. “We’re talking about a generation of kids who've never been hurt or hungry. They have learned somebody will always do it for them, instead of saying  'go and look it up’, you tell them the answer. It takes greater energy to say no to a kid.”

Yes, it does. It takes energy and it takes work. It’s time for parents to end their vacation and come back to work. It's time to take the car away, to turn the TV off, to tell them it hurts you more than them but it's for their own good. It's time to start telling them no again.

1.Children are becoming more inactive in study because _______.

A.they watch TV too often

B.they have done too much homework

C.they have to fulfill too many duties

D.teachers are too strict with them

2.By “permissive period in education” (L.1, Para. 2) the author means a time _______.

A.when everything can be taught at school

B.when every child can be educated

C.when children are permitted to receive education

D.when children are allowed to do what they wish to

3.The main idea of the passage is that _______.

A.parents should leave their children alone

B.kids should have more activities at school

C.it's time to be more strict with our kids

D.parents should always set a good example to their kids

 

“It hurts me more than you,” and “This is for your own good.” There are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin, clean my room, stay home and do homework.

    That was before we entered the permissive(自由的) period in education in which we decided it was all right not to push our children to achieve their best in school.The schools and the educators made it easy on us.They taught that it was all right to be parents who take a let-alone policy.We stopped making our children do homework.We gave them calculators, turned on the television, left the teaching to the teachers and went on vacation.

    Now teachers, faced with children who have been developing at their own pace for the past 15 years, are realizing we’ve made a terrible mistake.One such teacher is Sharon Clomps who says of her students—“so passive” —and wonders what has happened.Nothing is demanded of them, she believes.Television, says Clomps, contributes to children’s passivity.“We’re talking about a generation of kids who’ vet never been hurt or hungry.They have learned somebody will always do it for them, instead of saying ‘go and look it up’, you tell them the answer.It takes greater energy to say no to a kid.

    Yes, it does.It takes energy and it takes work.It’s time for parents to end their vacation and come back to work.It’ s time to take the car away, to turn the TV off, to tell them it hurts you more than them but it’ s for their own good.It’s time to start telling them no again.

1.We learn from the passage that the author’s mother used to lay emphasis on(强调:重视)_______.

    A.natural development                  B.education at school

    C.discipline                           D.learning Latin

2.Children are becoming more inactive in study because _______.

    A.they watch TV too much               B.they have to fulfill too many duties

    C.they have done too much homework     D.teachers are too strict with them

3.By “permissive period in education” the author means a time _______.

    A.when everything can be taught at school

    B.when children are permitted to receive education

     C.when children are allowed to do what they wish to 

    D.when every child can be educated 

4.The main idea of the passage is that _______.

    A.It’s time to be more strict with our kids

    B.parents should always set a good example to their kids

    C.parents should leave their children alone

    D.kids should have more activities at school

 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网