Once there was a piano player in a bar(酒吧). People came just to hear him play. But one night, a lady asked him to sing a song.
‘I don’t sing,’ said the man.
But the lady told the waiter, ‘I’m tired of listening to the piano. I want the player to sing!’
The waiter shouted across the room, ‘Hey, friend! If you want to get your money, sing a song!’
So he did. He had never sung in public before. Now he was singing for the very first time! Nobody had ever heard the song Mona Lisa sung so beautifully!
He had talent(天赋) he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar. But once he found, by accident, that he could sing well, he went on working hard and became one of the best-known singers in the US. His name was Nat King Cole.
You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel that your talent is great, but it may be better than you think. With hard work, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may have no success at all if you just sit on your talent.
【小题1】The lady asked the player to sing a song because ______________.

Americans love sports . But this hobby sometimes has serious results—at least to the players. For example, when people play tennis, sometimes they hurt their elbow（肘部）. Also it is easy to hurt a knee in a football game. These injuries（毁伤）happen while the player is having fun, but they still hurt.
A few months ago, Kathleen Simmons, who loves playing volleyball, hurt her knee in a volleyball game. Her doctor told her that she needed a very difficult operation（手术）or she might not be able to play again. She felt very sad
Then Simmons learned about “video operation”. With the help of this new science in medicine, doctors can now repair many injuries.
For this operation, her doctor didn’t have to open her knee. Instead he put a very small camera lens（镜头）inside her knee. The lens sent back pictures, which appeared on a television screen. As he worked, he could see the inside of her knee on the TV. With the help of the large pictures on the screen, the doctor knew exactly what to do when he was making the repairs.
Simmons started walking five days after her operation. “My knee hurt a lot the first few days,” she said. “But I felt better very quickly.” Now, six months after her operation, Simmons can do everything she did before her injury. “It feels like a new knee,” she said. “I can even play volleyball again.”
【小题1】Do Americans love sports?
【小题2】What sport is Simmons interested in?
【小题3】What did the doctor put inside Simmons’ knee?
【小题4】What problem may people have when they play sports?
【小题5】Can Simmons do everything like before?