Liu Xiang, a 21-year-old Chinese athlete, got the gold medal of the fascinating men’s 110m hurdles before a crowd of 70,000 at the Olympic Stadium in the 28th Olympics in Athens late Friday local time. He clocked an excellent 12.91 seconds to equal the world record set by Britain’s Collin Jackson in 1993.

It is the first gold Chinese men’s athlete has ever won from the track and field in the Olympics history. China has won over 100 gold medals from the summer Olympic Games since 1984 but its male athletes only got one medal from Olympics’ most popular sport, the track and field.

The Shanghai native, with his father a truck driver and mother an out-of-work housewife, loved sports when he was very little. Liu was selected to the Junior Sports School of Putuo District of Shanghai to practice jumping as a fourth grader in the primary school. But after a bone test showing that he will not be able to become a tall man, Liu was asked to give up sports one year later, although he had won the national champion at that level.

In 1998 when he attracted coach Sun Haiping’s attention as a 15-year-old jumper, Sun was a well-known hurdle coach and he believed a star was born at the first sight of Liu. He visited Liu’s parents several times and finally persuaded them to let Liu transfer to the 110m hurdles.

After only three years, Liu launched his career in style in the IAAF Grand Prix in Lausanne in 2001 by breaking the world youth and Asian record with a time of 13.12.

But the first warning he sent to the world was his bronze-winning feat（战绩）at the world indoor championships in Birmingham, England, last year.

In 2004, Liu won the silver in the world indoor championships in Budapest in March. Two months later, he proved the winner in a race against American great Allen Johnson in the IAAF Grand Prix in Osaka, Japan, where he clocked a new Asian record and world’s season best time of 13.06 seconds.

He went on to win two Johnson-absent races in Lille, France, on June 26 and Zagreb, Croatia, three days later. He put up an exciting show at the Golden Gala meet in Rome on July 3, when he and Johnson clocked an identical time of 13.11. Race officials had to examine a photo finish to declare Johnson the winner. Liu did a better job of clearing the hurdles than Johnson, but Johnson’s stronger start ended up making the difference. The race boosted（提高） Liu’s optimism(乐观) for the Olympics, although Johnson bettered his season best time by 0.01 second in Lausanne, Switzerland, on July 6.

The world has put the Olympics a Johnson-Liu duel but surprisingly Johnson crashed out of the Games after falling at the ninth hurdle at round 2. Johnson’s early exit paved the way for Liu’s win. He finally took the gold medal and put a Chinese man’s name on the record book.

       (chinadaily.com.cn /Xinhua)  Updated:2004-08-28  02:57

1. According to Paragraph One, which of the following is TRUE?

       A. Liu Xiang is the fastest of the mentioned athletes.

        B. Liu Xiang has set a new world record in the event of the men’s 110m hurdles.

       C. Both Liu Xiang and Jackson got a gold medal at the Athens Olympics.

       D. In the Olympics history, Liu Xiang is the fastest in this event.

2. Before the 28th Olympics in Athens,         .

       A. no Chinese athlete got a gold medal from the track and field at the Olympics

       B. there was already a Chinese male medal winner in the track and field at the Olympics

       C. Terrence Trammell got a gold medal from the men’s hurdles at the Sydney Olympics

       D. Zhu Jianhua got a bronze medal from the men’s hurdles in the 1984 Los Angeles Games

3. In the last paragraph, the underlined word “duel” most probably means “       ”.

       A. competition       B. friendship   C. partner       D. company

4. From the passage, we can conclude that          .

       A. Liu Xiang had no gift for jumping when he was a little boy

       B. Liu Xiang set a new world youth record when he was 17 years old

       C. Liu Xiang has succeeded because of his coach Sun

       D. Johnson might have won the gold medal if he had not dropped out

The Olympic Games

The ancient Olympic Games was in the year 776_BC. They were held at Olympia in Greece every four years, for almost 12 centuries, until _AD394.

The contemporary Olympics were first held in 1896, in Athens. It was a Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin, who brought the Olympics back to life. He dreamt that the Olympics would make it possible for 56. 各国人民和平相处. Now people all over the world are helping to realize this dream. Among them are many well-known athletes.

57. 中国运动员为奥运会做出了重要贡献。At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the People’s Republic of China returned to the Olympics after 32 years’ absence. I am sure the whole of China must have felt proud when Xu Haifeng won the first gold medal for his country. 58. Deng Yaping is perhaps the greatest female table tennis player in the world. At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Liu Xiang excited people all over Asia when he became the first Asian to win the gold medal in the men’s 110-metre hurdles.

59. The Chinese led the way at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, winning 51 gold medals. For the first time in history, the Chinese women’s gymnastics team won the gold medal.

These are some of the Olympic athletes who have brought joy to people across the world with their attempts to push the boundaries of human achievement. We are looking forward to seeing more of them in future Olympic Games. 60. Join us in wishing the Olympic Movement a successful future.

   The Olympic Games

The ancient Olympic Games was in the year 776_BC. They were held at Olympia in Greece every four years, for almost 12 centuries, until _AD394.

The contemporary Olympics were first held in 1896, in Athens. It was a Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin, who brought the Olympics back to life. He dreamt that the Olympics would make it possible for 56. 各国人民和平相处. Now people all over the world are helping to realize this dream. Among them are many well-known athletes.

57. 中国运动员为奥运会做出了重要贡献。At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the People’s Republic of China returned to the Olympics after 32 years’ absence. I am sure the whole of China must have felt proud when Xu Haifeng won the first gold medal for his country. 58. Deng Yaping is perhaps the greatest female table tennis player in the world. At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Liu Xiang excited people all over Asia when he became the first Asian to win the gold medal in the men’s 110-metre hurdles.

59. The Chinese led the way at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, winning 51 gold medals. For the first time in history, the Chinese women’s gymnastics team won the gold medal.

These are some of the Olympic athletes who have brought joy to people across the world with their attempts to push the boundaries of human achievement. We are looking forward to seeing more of them in future Olympic Games. 60. Join us in wishing the Olympic Movement a successful future.

PART THREE READING COMPREHENSION (30 points)

Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passages is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked with A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.