When I was a girl of 10， I joined the school cross-country team and practiced twice a week， on the 1，8-km course I‘d never really run before and I thought the course would be easy. It was a real shock I ran out of breathe(喘氣)within the first few minutes. I never realized how tiring running could be but I didn’t t think about give up.

 

　　Over time， I did get a little bit faster. However， I was really slow. In races， I would finish close to last. I‘d always have to stop more than once， especially in the longer races， which were 2. 5 to 2. 8 km. After every race， I‘d go home and cry. But 1 still didn‘t stop running， holding onto that picture of crossing the finishing line and finally doing well.

 

　　Then one of my friends joined the team， too. She could run easily and even came in the 18th in a big race! I felt so slow and my confidence(自信) was lower than ever. I became so nervous when I thought of the races that I wanted to give up badly.

 

　　Still. I refund to. Finally. 1 realized that the reason I was to nervous was that I was always worried that I wasn‘t ready for them. So a few weeks before the next 2. 8-km race. I practiced running almost 3 km every day. which helped me improve my pace(步伐).

 

　　When the time came for the big race， all that practicing really paid off. I stopped only once and my pace was so much better.

 

　　I realized that I’d finally gotten happiness with running. But the funny thing was. It didn‘t come from doing better， Instead， it came from the fact that I hid tried harder and never given up.

 

　　1. Before she took the 1.8-km course， the writer________.

 

　　A. knew a lot about it 　　B. wanted to be a great runner

 

　　C. practiced running every day 　　D. never thought running so tired

 

　　2. The writer was nervous about the race because she_______.

 

　　A. had to stop to drink water 　　B. was worried she wasn’t ready

 

　　C. run slower than anyone else 　　D. could find no coach to help her

 

　　3. The underlined phrase ”paid off” probably mean “______”.

 

　　A. brought good results 　　B. coat a lot 　　C. saved much time 　　D. came to fail

 

　　4. It can be inferred(推斷) from the passage that the writer______.

 

　　A. got angry with her friend 　　B. wasn‘t pleased with herself

 

　　C. was a person with a strong mind 　　D. had no Interest In running

 

　　參考答案：本文敘述了作者在參加越野訓練的經歷和感受，通過作者堅持不懈的努力，最終取得了成功。通過這個故事它告訴我們，做任何事情，要相信自己，永不放棄。

 

　　1.D 細節理解題。由第一段第一句“...on the 1，8-km course I‘d never really run before and I thought the course would be easy. ”可知，作者原以為越野賽跑是很容易的事，故選D。

 

　　2.B 細節理解題。由第四段第二句“I was to nervous was that I was always worried that I wasn‘t ready for them.”可知答案選B。

 

　　3.A 詞義猜測題。根據語境，我們可猜測：當大賽臨近時，我所有的練習都得到了“回報”，故選A。

 

　　4.C 推理判斷題。從全文可以看出，作者是一個有主見的人。

 

　　Think back to a time in your life when you tried something new.

 

　　When I was a teenager I volunteered to pass out water at a local race. I was so excited to see all the different runners who passed by and quickly took a cup of water. Some ran past， some walked past and a few wheeled past.

 

　　I saw so many types of people doing it. I thought maybe I could do it too! The next year I decided to run for the race， but I had little running practice. I just wanted to finish.

 

　　On the day of the race， it was terribly hot. After running for about 5 miles. I was thinking， “I must be crazy. Why did I do this? What was I thinking?” And at one moment， I said to myself， “I am never doing this again!”

 

　　That first 10 km race was quite an experience. I jogged(慢跑)，I walked， I jogged and walked. At times， I didn’t know if I could finish.

 

　　Near the end， a 70-year-old man ran past me， very fast， and I felt a little embarrassed(尷尬的)that I was more than 50 years younger than he and I couldn’t even keep up with him. But then I realized something. He was running his race and I was running mine. How often in life do we compare(比較)ourselves to others when we really shouldn’t? I decided that I would not give up on running races， and that one day I would be one of those 70-year-old men who were still running.