Eat to Excel

How fit are you? Do you look after yourself? Do you eat healthily or do you eat anything you like? Premier League football club Aston Villa are encouraging their players and local children to eat healthy food. They know that what you eat is the key to success.

How fit is a footballer?

Could you run ten kilometers in 90 minutes? A professional footballer can. Footballers have to be strong, quick, skillful and creative in their moves. Every Premier League club makes sure it has a good coaching scheme and a well-planned fitness program. They also ensure that players have the practice and training that will prepare them for matches. What else do you think clubs pay special attention to? A good stadium? Anything else? What about the food they eat?

Eating the right thing

A good diet is a fundamental part of sport these days. Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill’s sport and health experts have chosen a secret weapon --- organic food (food grown without chemicals). Fitness manager Jim Henry eats with his players and said: “I chose to switch to organic food for Aston Villa because I’ve read studies showing that organic food has higher levels of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.” He believes that the best way to get these is to eat the very best fresh food.

What to eat after the match

Head chef at Aston Villa, lan Edge, feeds players with the best food as soon as they finish an away match. He says: “Food is very important to sports stars and particularly after a game. There is an hour of opportunity when they need to eat to get the best muscle strength, so I hand out meals on the coach on the way home. If we can make one per cent difference to the players by using organic food, then it is worth it.”

Teaching healthy eating

Everyone at Aston Villa enjoys organic food at their training ground. But the club is also worried about the unhealthy diet among local children who prefer sweets and unhealthy fast food. As part of their work in the community, Aston Villa has opened up their kitchen and invited children from local schools to come and learn how to cook with the help of the Villa head chef. Villa midfielder, Nigel ReoCoker, visited the children on the opening day. “The kitchen promotes healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle.” he said.

A final word from the kitchen

Head chef Ian says: “Footballers know how important food is to their profession and nine times out of ten, they go for the healthiest option.” Do you watch your diet? If you do and you keep yourself fit, you can be a winner!

Every Premier League Club provides footballers with ______________.

A. a good coach

B. a fitness center

C. proper practice and training

D. a delicious diet

According to Jim Henry, ___________________.

A. he believes the studies he has read about organic food

B. he will only eat organic food with his players

C. he thinks food is especially important after a game

D. he chose organic food as a secret weapon for footballers

We can learn from the passage that ___________________.

A. people can make one percent difference to players by using organic food

B. only a few footballers pay attention to the healthy eating

C. footballers in Aston Villa usually eat on their way to the match

D. footballers in Aston Villa usually eat some food within an hour after a match.

Why has Aston Villa invited children from local schools?

A. Because they want to teach kids how to cook delicious food.

B. Because they want to teach kids to play football.

C. Because they are fond of the kids in the community.

D. Because they intend to promote healthy eating.

As she waited at the edge of the ice for her music to start,. Peggy took a quick look at her father standing nearby with a group of parents and teachers. He smiled at her. Then she 1._____ out at the audience, 2._____ to see her mother. These two, Alvert and Doris Flemint, had 3._____ all the way from California more than 2,000 miles away, to see their 4._____ compete in this sports meet in Cleveland, Ohio.

The music 5._____ and Peggy moved onto the ice, letting the music 6._____ her along into her turns, and she began skating with much 7._____ in herself. The cold fear she always had in the 8._____ seconds before skating onto the ice was 9._____. She was feeling the movement of the 10._____ and letting it carry her. She skated easily, 11._____ did some jumps, a final turn and her performance was 12._____.

The crowd loved it and cheered 13._____ she skated off the ice. “Nice job,” said one of the other 14._____. It was the remark that 15._____ came after a free-skating performance. But what should the 16._____ say? Standing beside her father, Peggy 17._____ for the scoring to be finished. On all sides were other young skaters, some waiting 18._____ alone, others with a parent. Shortly before 10 o’clock the results were 19._____. The new United States Women’s Figure Skating Champion was Peggy Fleming of Passdena, 20._____.

A.looked        B. watched             C. found          D. stepped

A.failing        B. looking forward       C. wanting  .      D.hoping

A.bicycled       B. driven               C. run            D. walked

A.friend         B. children              C. son            D. daughter

A.started         B. played               C. developed       D. sang

A.allow          B. set out               C. carry           D. support

A.thought        B. belief                C. success         D. design

A.following       B. last                 C. recent          D. past

A.lost            B. present              C. strong          D. gone

A.music         B. fear                 C. ice             D. audiences

A.so            B. or                   C. before          D. then

A.satisfied       B. unsatisfactory          C. finished        D. welcome

A.because       B. until                  C. before          D. as

A.skaters        B. parents                C. judges         D. parents

A.always        B. seldom                C. again          D. hardly

A players        B. audience               C. judges         D. parents

A.waited         B. looked                C. wished         D. asked

A.comfortably    B. hurriedly               C. happily        D. anxiously

A.cried out       B. let out                 C. announced      D. declared

A.England       B. Cleveland              C. Ohio           D. California

阅读理解 （共20小题; 每小题2分,满分40分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

I felt encouraged by his words and began to swim more calmly.But my clothes stuck to me like a heavy weight.I could hardly stay above the surface.

Counsel saw this.“Shall I cut them?”he asked.

With a knife he cut my clothes from top to bottom and took them of quickly while I swam for both of us.

Then I did the same for Counsel,and we continued to swim near each other.

 But we were in serious trouble.The crew（船员）might not have noticed our disappearance.

And if they had,they could not return because the rudder（舵）had broken.Counsel thought of all this,and calmly made his plans.We decided to wait for the ship as long as possible,because we had no other hope of safety.I suggested that we save our strength so that both of us would not be tired out at the same time.This was how we did it:While one of us lay on his back,quite still,with arms crossed and legs stretched out（伸直）,the other would swim and push him along.We changed every ten minutes or so.In this way we could swim for hours,perhaps till daylight.The crash（破裂声）of the ship and the whale（鲸）had appeared at about eleven o’clock.We had about eight hours to swim before daylight.This seemed possible,if the sea remained calm.

What happened to the man who told the story?

A.He and his companion got into the water to test their strength.

B.He jumped into the water to save the broken rudder.

C.He was knocked into the water by his enemy.

D.He was thrown into the sea when the ship struck a whale.

Why did the two men cut their clothes?

A.Because no people helped them to take off their clothes.

B.Because they couldn’t take off their clothes on the sea.

C.Because they wanted to get rid of their clothes quickly.

D.Because they wanted to lifebuoys（救生圈）with their clothes.

What does the word “still” in the last paragraph mean?

A.not moving                    B.even                        C.yet                          D.however

n order to save their strength,______.

A.one of them pushed the other while swimming and then they changed

B.they both swam calmly

C.they crossed their arms and stretched their legs on the water

D.they lay on their backs instead of swimming

Which one of the following is true?

A.Neither of the two men was good swimmers.

B.The sea was calm before eleven o’clock that night.

C.The story took place at night.

D.The two men had to swim eight hours to catch up with the ship.

There was once a beautiful nymph called Echo. But Echo had one failing; she was fond of talking, and whether in chat or argument, would have the last word. As she was good company , she and Zeus became good friends. However，Zeus’ wife, Hera, became jealous. She followed Zeus to the earth to find out what he was doing and Zeus asked Echo to distract Hera until he could escape. Later when Hera discovered she had been tricked, she became very angry. She turned on Echo and said, “You shall lose the use of your tongue because you cheated me. You’ll have the last word, bur no longer have the power to speak first.” So from that moment on, Beautiful Echo was hardly able to hold a conversation because she could only repeat the last words of those around her. She became very embarrassed and hid herself deep in the woods.

One day a handsome young man called Narcissus came into the woods. He had been hunting deer and lost his way. However, the moment Echo saw him, she fell in love with him. She followed him, wishing to tell him but unable o begin a conversation. Oh, how she wished she could speak first. Unfortunately, Narcissus was far too busy worrying about where his companions might be and how he could find his way home.

Eventually Narcissus, with Echo following behind along, came to a pool of water in the middle of the woods. Feeling thirsty, Narcissus bent down to drink. As he did so, he saw a beautiful creature in the water staring up at him. . He immediately bent over and said to him, “I love you!” Echo, nearby, and seeing her chance, immediately responded “…. I love you!” But it was too late. Narcissus was already in love, with himself.

`      The stranger seemed to rise up closer to Narcissus who was so involved that he entirely failed to notice Echo. “I want to stay and look at this beautiful sight forever,” he whispered dreamily to himself.”… Forever,” repeated Echo sadly. “Come her,” called Narcissus to his reflection as he moved his head and the creature seemed to move away. “…Here.” responded Echo. Narcissus bent back down to see his reflection more clearly. “So beautiful! I’ve never seen anything so beautiful!” “….So beautiful!” responded Echo truthfully.

Narcissus remained by the water refusing all Echo’s silent offers of food and drink until he died. Where he had been, a flower grew in his place, as beautiful as Narcissus himself. As for Echo, from that time forward, she also didn’t eat or drink till she turned to rocks and all that was left was her voice. Even now you can still hear Echo trying to attract Narcissus’ attention by repeating his words and still see Narcissus as a beautiful flower growing near a pool.

63. Why was Echo unable to  let Narcissus know she loved him?

A. Because she had lost the ability to speak.        B. Because she was too shy to speak first.

C. Because Hera had taken away her ability to speak first.

D.  Because Narcissus took no notice of her.

64. “The stranger” in paragraph 4 refers to ______.

A. Echo         B. A fairy in the woods.        C. Hera.         D. Narcissus himself.

65. Which of the following kinds of person can be described as a “Narcissus”?

A. A person who loves and admires himself or herself.

B. A person who’s afraid of being separated from companions.

C. A person who is too shy to have a chat with other people.

D. A person who loves to admire beautiful water flowers.

66. Which of the following is the correct order of the events?

a) Hera wouldn’t let Echo start a conversation.

b) Narcissus fell in love with his reflection in the water.

c) Echo saw Narcissus and fell in love at the first sight.

d) Echo distracted Hera to help Zeus escape.

e) Narcissus became a flower and Echo a rock.

A. a-b-c-d-e           B. d-a-c-b-e           C. d-a-b-c-e           D. c-d-a-b-e

67. What’s the best title of this passage?

A. Echo’s sacrifice.                                   B. Echo and Hera.

C. Echo and Narcissus.                       D. Narcissus’s self-love.

　                         　A

The nervous-looking young man had waited for a few moments outside the jeweler's shop before he got enough courage to enter．He was warmly greeted by a young assistant. James felt a rush blood to his face as he explained he would bring in his future wife to choose a birthday present．The assistant listened carefully and told him he'd better buy a necklace. He wasn't used to buying jewelry and was a little worried about overspending. After some discussion as to reasonable price and type（类型）, the assistant showed him dozens of necklaces and helped him to choose. At last James chose one and left the shop promising to return at five o'clock. When, half an hour later, James did return to the shop with his future wife, Laura, the assistant acted as if she had never seen him before. When she was asked to show them some necklaces, she first brought out some inexpensive ones for them to choose and then gave them the one she had prepared. A choice was soon made and they went away, satisfied. James would certainly come back to buy what he wanted when he got married.

1.A good title（题目）for this passage is ________.

　　A. A Clever Assistant     B. Buying a Birthday Present

　　C. How to Choose a Necklace      D. A Brave Young Man

2. Why did the young man look nervous?

    A. Because he had never bought jewelry before.

    B. Because he would get married.

    C. Because he didn’t have enough money to buy a satisfying present.

    D. Because he feared he would be laughed at by shop assistants.

3.The word "overspending" in this passage means ________.

　　A. spending too much money       B. spending too much time

　　C. spending more time than be planned

　　D. spending too much time and too much money

4.When James told the assistant why he wanted to buy a present, his

face________.

　　A. turned pale　　B. turned black   C. turned yellow　D. turned red

5.James would come back to buy what he wanted because ________.

　　A. the necklace was good    B. Laura liked the necklace

C. the assistant knew how to satisfy the people who came to buy things

　　D. the assistant who served James was very beautiful