Long ago, poems were recited out loud instead of being written down. When the Greeks first started
the Olympics, they held poetry contests as well as athletic competitions.
Now, poetry competitions have been revived (恢复). This year 120,000 high school students
competed in the first Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, performing poems from memory
for $100,000 in prizes.
The first competitions were held in classrooms. The winners went on to schoolwide contests, and
then they competed in city and state competitions. Finally, the 50 state champions, along with the District
of Columbia champion came to Washington, D. C. last week for the last showdown. After the 51
champions competed against one another,12 went on to the finals. Then the field was narrowed to five.
The final five had one last chance to "perform" a poem. The overall champ, Jackson Hille, a high school
senior from Ohio, won a $20,000 scholarship.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation started Poetry Out Loud because
they realized that hearing a poem performed is a different experience from reading it on a page.
It's not just a matter of saying the words in the right order. It's the tone of voice, the pauses, the
gestures, and the attitude of the person performing that bring the words to life. "Each time we hear
somebody recite a poem, we find something fresh and interesting about it, " says National Public Radio
Broadcaster Scott Simon, master of ceremonies for the finals. Hearing it in a new voice offers something
new to the listener.
Not only do the people hearing poems have a new experience, memorizing and presenting poems
helps the participants (选手) understand those poems in a new way. Another benefit of a competition
such as Poetry Out Loud is that the participants learn publicspeaking skills that can help them for life.
1. From the first paragraph, we can know________.
A. the Greeks were the first to write poems
B. the Olympics used to start with poem reciting
C. poems were spread orally in the past
D. athletes were asked to recite poems before competing
2. How many rounds of competitions did the champions take before they went to Washington, D. C. ?
A. Three.
B. Four
C. Five.
D. Six.
3. According to the passage, hearing a poem recited by different people can________.
A. bring a new life to listeners
B. help listeners find their interest
C. make listeners learn the words
D. offer something new to listeners
4. One benefit the participants get from poem recitation competitions is that they can________.
A. become skilled in speaking in public
B. write good poems themselves
C. change their attitudes towards life
D. make friends with many great poets
5. What's the main idea of the passage?
A. Reciting poems improves your memory.
B. Remembering a lot of poems is fun.
C. Poets have a great time.
D. Poetry competitions freshen us up.
