The Greatest Show on Earth
The Olympic Game’s are the greatest festival of sport in the world. Every four years, a hundred or more countries send their best sportsmen to compete for the highest honors in sport. As many as 6,000 people take part in over 20 sports. For the winners, there are gold medals and glory. But there is honor, too, for all who compete, win or lose. That is in spirit of the Olympics-to take part is what matters.
The Olympic Games always start in a bright color and action. The teams of all the nations parade in the opening ceremony and march round the track. The custom is for the Greek team to march in first. For it was in Greece that the Olympics began. The team of the country where the Games are being held- the host country-marches in last.
The runner with the Olympic torch then enters the stadium and lights the flame. A sportsman from the host country takes the Olympic oath on behalf of all the competitors. The judges and officials also take an oath. After the sportsman march out of the stadium, the host country puts on a wonderful display?
The competitions begin the next day. There are usually more than twenty sorts in the Games. The rule is that there must be at least fifteen. The main events are in track and field, but it is a few days before these sports start. Each day the competitors take part in a different sport-riding, shooting, swimming, and cross-country running. Points are gained for each event. Medals are awarded for the individual winners and for national teams.
More and more women are taking part in the games. They first competed in 1900, in tennis and golf, which are no longer held in the Olympics, Women’s swimming events were introduced in 1912. But it was not until 1928 that there were any track and field events for women. Now, they compete in all but half a-dozen of the sports. In horse riding, shooting, and boat racing, they may compete in the same events as the men.
1. why is there honor for the losers as well as for the winners?
A)Because failure is the mother of the success.
B)Because losers need encouragement, too.
C)Because losers and winners should be equally treated.
D)Because what really matters is to take part in the Olympic Games.
2. Which of the following is a long-established practice in the opening ceremony?
A)Runners enter the stadium with torches.
B)Each team has to put on a wonderful display.
C)The Greek team marches in first.
D)Men and women were magnificent clothes.
3. Who takes the Olympic oath?
A)A judge from the host country.
B)An official from the host country.
C)A Greek sportsman.
D)A sportsman from the host country.
4. What the most important events in the Olympic Games?
A)The track and field events.
B)The horse-riding events.
C)The swimming events.
D)The boat-racing events.
5. When did women start taking part in Olympic Games?
A)In 1912.
B)In 1900.
C)In 1928.
D)In 1924.
KEY：DCDAB
One-room Schools One-room schools are part of the United States, and the mention of them makes people feel a vague longing for "the way things were." One-room schools are an endangered species, however. For more than a hundred years one-room schools have been systematically shut down and their students sent away to centralized schools. As recently as 1930 there were 149,000 one-room schools in the United States. By 1970 there were 1,800. Today, of the nearly 800 remaining one-room schools, more than 350 are in Nebraska. The rest are scattered through a few other states that have on their road maps wide-spaces between towns.
Now that there are hardly any left, educators are beginning to think that maybe there is something yet to be learned form one-room schools, something that served the pioneers that might serve as well today. Progressive educators have come up with progressive-sounding names like "peer-group teaching" and "multi-age grouping" for educational procedures that occur naturally in the one-room schools. In a one-room schools the children teach each other because the teacher is busy part of the Time teaching someone else. A fourth grader can work at a fifth-grade level in math and a third-grade level in English without the stigma associated with being left back or the pressures of being skipped ahead. A youngster with a learning disability can find his or her own level without being separated from the other pupils. In larger urban and suburban schools today, this is called "mainstreaming". A few hours is a small school that has only one classroom and it becomes clear why so many parents feel that one of the advantages of living in Nebraska in their children have to go to a one-room school.
1. It is implied in the passage that many educators and parents today feel that one-room schools
A)need to be shut down.
B)are the best in Nebraska.
C)are a good example of the good old day.
D)provide good education.
2. Why are one-room schools in danger of disappearing?
A)Because they all exist in one state.
B)Because they skip too many children ahead.
C)Because there is a trend towards centralization.
D)Because there is no fourth-grade level in any of them.
3. What is mentioned as a major characteristic of the one-room school in the second paragraph?
A)Some children have to be left back.
B)Teachers are always busy.
C)Pupils have more freedom.
D)Learning is not limited to one grade level at a time.
4. Which of the following can best describe the author's toward one-room schools?
A)Praising.
B)Angry.
C)Critical.
D)Humorous.
5. It can be inferred from the last sentence that parents living in Nebraska
A)don't like centralized schools.
B)received educational in one-room schools.
C)prefer rural life to urban one.
D)come from other states.
KEY：DCDAA