I was eight years old then. Looking __36__ I remember the time in a baseball field passing the team that we had just __37__ . We shook their hands and said, "Good game!"

It is __38__ to do that when you win! When you lose, you have a tendency(倾向) to slap (拍) the hand — instead of shaking it — and __39__ the ground instead of the eyes. This is not only true for an eight-year-old; it is true for adults, too.

A few years ago, in a softball league, we lost 15 games! And we thought it was __40__ . But during the " Good game" handshake after each __41__, I looked each player in the eyes and shook their hands. I couldn't look my opponents (对手) in the eyes and congratulate them on a good __42__ when I was eight. Somehow I took the loss as a __43__ on my self-worth and felt my self-confidence had been slapped; __44_- I did what most eight-year-olds do and I slapped the opponents' hands, not giving them the satisfaction of a shake. I was wrong to do this. I'm happy today as a(n) __45__ that I have learned this __46__ : There is something to be said for losing well.

__47__ it is a baseball game or an important examination, you can __48__ a lot about a person by now they deal with defeat. The person who deals with defeat as an __49__ blow is not allowing the event to define (定义) him, while someone who cannot __50__ defeat is allowing the event to __51__ his self-worth. In my opinion, when you __52__ in something— though it may be __53__ — look at your opponents in the eyes, and shake their hands in a __54__ way as you say, "Good game!" __55__ to allow the event to define your life. You might find yourself winning the next game.

Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton folding bicycle, once said that the perfect portable bike would be “like a magic carpet…You could fold it up and put it into your pocket or handbag”. Then he paused: “But you’ll always be limited by the size of the wheels. And so far no one has invented a folding wheel.”
It was a rare — indeed unique — occasion when I was able to put Ritchie right. A 19th-century inventor, William Henry James Grout, did in fact design a folding wheel. His bike, predictably named the Grout Portable, had a frame that split into two and a larger wheel that could be separated into four pieces. All the bits fitted into Grout’s Wonderful Bag, a leather case.
Grout’s aim: to solve the problems of carrying a bike on a train. Now doesn’t that sound familiar? Grout intended to find a way of making a bike small enough for train travel: his bike was a huge beast. And importantly, the design of early bicycles gave him an advantage: in Grout’s day, tyres were solid, which made the business of splitting a wheel into four separate parts relatively simple. You couldn’t do the same with a wheel fitted with a one-piece inflated （充气的） tyre.
So, in a 21st-century context, is the idea of the folding wheel dead? It is not. A British design engineer, Duncan Fitzsimons, has developed a wheel that can be squashed into something like a slender ellipse （椭圆）. Throughout, the tyre remains inflated.
Will the young Fitzsimons’s folding wheel make it into production? I haven’t the foggiest idea. But his inventiveness shows two things. First, people have been saying for more than a century that bike design has reached its limit, except for gradual advances. It’s as silly a concept now as it was 100 years ago: there’s plenty still to go for. Second, it is in the field of folding bikes that we are seeing the most interesting inventions. You can buy a folding bike for less than £1,000 that can be knocked down so small that it can be carried on a plane — minus wheels, of course — as hand baggage.
Folding wheels would make all manner of things possible. Have we yet got the magic carpet of Andrew Ritchie’s imagination? No. But it’s progress.
【小题1】We can infer from Paragraph 1 that the Brompton folding bike        .

When I was born, my parents immediately noticed something wrong. My feet were deformed (畸形的), pointing inward and curling under. I wore casts (石膏) and foot braces (支架) in my first two years to correct the problem. Yet I learned to balance and walk in casts. Soon after the last set of casts came off，Mom enrolled me in dance classes as therapy for my feet. I, however，quickly decided to try something else. Not far from my house was an ice rink (溜冰场) in the mall. There，local skaters would perform ice shows. I wanted to try skating.

I started taking group skating lessons. Performing on ice came naturally. For me，skating has never been about beating others. It’s been about being my personal best. I progressed through various levels rapidly and gave my first ice performance at age seven. Soon I started winning local and regional competitions. That’s because being on the ice has always been the one place I can truly express my emotions. The ice is like home.

I began seriously training when I was nine years old. After graduating from girls’ high school，I moved to Canada. Saying goodbye to my family and friends made me homesick，but I knew deep down that I had to leave and train full－time to give my dreams a chance at reality.

I went to compete in the Olympic Games in 1992.I was the first of the final six skaters on the ice. My long performance started well，but I slipped while landing one of my easiest triple jumps，and my hand touched the ice. I didn’t want to make two mistakes in a row，so next I did a jump with just two spins to play it safe. As I neared the end，I had one more jump. I landed it perfectly.

When medals were awarded，I found myself on the top step，the gold hanging around my neck and America’s national anthem playing. Words can’t describe the overwhelming mixture of emotions I felt.

1.The author was enrolled in dance classes to________.

2.When the author says “The ice is like home”，she really means she________.

3.The author moved to Canada after graduating from girls’ high school because________.

4.What do we learn about the author’s performance in the 1992 Olympic Games?

5.By her own experience，the author intends to tell us________.

My father had returned from his business visit to London when I came in, rather late, to supper. I could tell at once that he and my mother had been discussing something. In that half-playful, half-serious way I knew so well, he said, "How would you like to go to Eton?"

"You bet," I cried quickly catching the joke. Everyone knew it was the most expensive, the most famous of schools. Besides, even at 12 or 13, I understood my father. He disliked any form of showing off. He always knew his proper station in life, which was in the middle of the middle class, our house was medium-sized; he had avoided joining Royal Liverpool Golf Club and went to a smaller one instead; though once he had got a second-hand Rolls-Royce at a remarkably low price, he felt embarrassed driving it, and quickly changed it for an Austin 1100.

This could only be his delightful way of telling me that the whole boarding school idea was to be dropped. Alas! I should also have remembered that he had a liking for being different from everyone else, if it did not conflict（冲突） with his fear of drawing attention to himself.

It seemed that he had happened to be talking to Graham Brown of the London office, a very nice fellow, and Graham had a friend who had just entered his boy at the school, and while he was in that part of the world he thought he might just as well phone them. I remember my eyes stinging（刺痛） and my hands shaking with the puzzlement of my feelings. There was excitement, at the heart of great sadness.

"Oh, he doesn't want to go away," said my mother, "You shouldn't go on like this.” “It's up to him," said my father. "He can make up his own mind." Ks5

1. His father sold his Rolls-Royce because ________.

A. it made him feel uneasy             B. it was too old to work well

C. it was too expensive to possess     D. it was too cheap

2.The writer's father enjoyed being different as long as ________.

A. it drew attention to him            B. it didn't bring him in arguments

C. it was understood as a joke     D. there was no danger of his showing off K

3.What was the writer's reaction to the idea of going to Eton?

A. He was very unhappy.           B. He didn't believe it.

C. He was delighted.               D. He had mixed feelings.

4.We can know from the passage that ________.

A. Children who can go to Eton are very famous

B. Children can go to Eton if they will

C. It is very difficult for a child to get admitted by Eton

D. Children don't have the right to decide whether they will go to Eton

阅读理解（共14小题；每小题2分，满分28分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的（A、B、C和D）四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项标号涂黑。

A

I was in a terrible mood. Two of my friends had gone to the movies the night before and hadn’t invited me. I was in my room thinking of ways to make them sorry when my father came in. “Want to go for a ride, today, Beck? It’s a beautiful day.” ks5*u

“No! Leave me alone!” Those were the last words I said to him that morning.

    My friends called and invited me to go to the mall with them a few hours later. I forgot to be mad at them and when I came home to find a note on the table. My mother put it where I would be sure to see it. “Dad has had an accident. Please meet us at Highland Park Hospital”.

    When I reached the hospital, my mother came out and told me my father’s injuries were extensive. “Your father told the driver to leave him alone and just call 911, thank God! If he had moved Daddy, there’s no telling what might have happened. A broken rib（肋骨）might have pierced（穿透）a lung...”

My mother may have said more, but I didn’t hear. I didn’t hear anything except those terrible words: Leave me alone. My dad said them to save himself from being hurt more. How much had I hurt him when I hurled those words at him earlier in the day?

    It was several days later that he was finally able to have a conversation. I held his hand gently, afraid of hurting him.

    “Daddy… I am so sorry…”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll be okay. ”

    “No,” I said, “I mean about what I said to you that day. You know, that morning?”

    My father could no more tell a lie than he could fly. He looked at me and said. “Sweetheart, I don’t remember anything about that day, not before, during or after the accident. I remember kissing you goodnight the night before, though. ”He managed a weak smile.

    My English teacher once told me that words have immeasurable power. They can hurt or they can heal. And we all have the power to choose our words. I intend to do that very carefully from now on.

1. The author was in bad mood that morning because _______.

  A. his father had a terrible accident

  B. he couldn’t drive to the mall with his friends

  C. his friends hadn’t invited him to the cinema

  D. his father didn’t allow him to go out with his friends

2.Why did the author say sorry to his father in the hospital?

  A. Because he didn’t go along with his father.

  B. Because he was rude to his father that morning.

  C. Because he failed to come earlier after the accident.

  D. Because he couldn’t look after his father in the hospital.

3. The reason why the author’s father said he forgot everything about that day is that _______.

  A. he had a poor memory             B. he didn’t hear what his son said

  C. he just wanted to comfort his son                  D. he lost his memory after the accident

4. What lesson did Beck learn from the matter?

  A. Don’t treat your parents badly.

  B. Don’t hurt others with rude words.

  C. Don’t move the injured in an accident.

    D. Don’t be angry with friends at small things.