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After the Summer Olympics are over, when all the athletes and viewers have gone home and the television audience has switched off, another group of athletes and fans will arrive at the host city, and another competition will begin. These are the Paralympics, the games for athletes with a disability. But in Beijing in 2008, for the first time, one of the greatest paralympians will not be taking part.
She is a British athlete by the name of Tanni Grey-Thompson. Born with spine bifida （脊椎裂） which left her paralysed from the waist down. Tanni used a wheelchair from the age of 7. At first, she was not keen on sport, apart from horse-riding, which gave her a sense of freedom. But in her teens, she started taking sports more seriously. She tried swimming, basketball and tennis. Eventually she found athletics, and never looked back.
Indeed, Tanni’s athletic career took off. In 1984, when she was 15, she pulled off a surprise victory in the 100 metres at the Junior National Wheelchair Games.
In 1988, Tanni went to her first Paralympic Games in Seoul. She won bronze in the 400 metres. Even greater success followed at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics. Tanni won gold in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres relay, setting two world records in the process. In the same year she achieved the first of her six London Wheelchair Marathon victories.
Tanni’s enduring success has been part motivation （动机），part preparation. “The training I do that enables me to be a good sprinter （短跑运动员） enables me to be good at a marathon too. I train 50 weeks of the year and that keeps me prepared for whatever distance I went to race...I am still competing at a very high level, but as I get older things get harder and I want to retire before I fall apart. ”
Indeed Tanni retired finally after the Visa Paralympic World Cup in 2007. Her wish is to coach young athletes for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
In spite of ups and downs, she never takes her fate lying down. In her splendid life, she has won an amazing eleven gold medals, four silvers and one bronze in a series of Paralympics—a top lever athletic career covering two decades. She has won the London Wheelchair Marathon six times, more than any other competitor, and she has set over thirty world records.
What advice does she have for young athletes? “Work hard at your studies, and then train, train, and train again. ”
1. Which of the following sports did Tanni like before thirteen?
A. Basketball.
B. Swimming.
C. Tennis.
D. Horse-riding.
2. When did Tanni win her first Olympic gold medal?
A. In 1984.
B. In 1988.
C. In 1992.
D. In 2007.
3. The underlined word “that’’ in the 5th paragraph refers to ______.
A. fifty weeks’ training
B. being a good sprinter
C. training almost every day
D. part motivation and part preparation
4. What’s the right order of the events related to Tanni?
a. She works as a coach.
b. She took up athletics.
c. She won four gold medals in Barcelona.
d. She competed in the first Paralympic Games.
e. She achieved a victory in her first London Wheelchair Marathon.
A. b-d-c-e-a
B. a-d-b-c-e
C. a-d-c-e-b
D. b-d-a-e-c
5. What can we learn from Tanni’s success?
A. Union is strength.
B. Never too late to learn.
C. Well begun is half done.
D. No pains, no gains.
viewer n . 观众
switch off 切断，关掉
host city 主办城市
Paralympics n . 残奥会
disability n . 伤残，无力
paralysed adj . 瘫痪的，麻痹的
apart from 除了……之外
pull off 努力实现，赢得
enduring adj . 持久的，永久的
ups and downs 高低，起伏，兴衰，沉浮
1. After the Summer Olympics are over, when all the athletes and viewers have gone home and the television audience has switched off, another group of athletes and fans will arrive at the host city, and another competition will begin.
本句有两个时间状语，分别由after和when引导，主句采用了并列句结构，由and连接。句中的viewers指的是现场观众，television audience则是指电视机前的观众。
（参考译文） 在夏季奥运会结束后，当所有运动员和观众回家、电视观众关掉电视机的时候，另一群运动员和粉丝们将会抵达主办城市，另一场竞赛将会开始。
2. The training I do that enables me to be a good sprinter （ 短跑运动员 ） enables me to be good at a marathon too.
本句是个绕口令式的复合句，“I do”和“that enables me to be a good sprinter”同为定语，修饰training，主句的谓语动词也是enable，marathon意思是马拉松赛跑。
（参考译文） 我所做的训练能够使我成为一名优秀的短跑运动员，也能够使我擅长马拉松赛跑。