Born in 1949, Diana Nyad took an early interest in swimming as a sport and was a Florida State High School swimming champion. Like many young athletes, she had Olympic dreams, but a serious illness kept her from competing in the Games. The disappointment didn’t stop her from going forward. Instead, she became interested in marathon swimming. A brilliant athlete, she was well-conditioned for spending long periods of time in the water. As a long-distance swimmer, she would compete against herself and the obstacles presented by distance, danger, cold, and exhaustion.
For ten years Nyad devoted herself to becoming one of the world’s best long-distance swimmers. In 1970, she swam a ten-mile marathon in Lake Ontario, setting the women’s record for the course. In 1972 she set another record by swimming 102.5 miles from an island in the Bahamas to the coast of Florida. Then she broke a third record when swimming around Manhattan Island in 1975.
Nyad attempted to swim the distance between Florida and Cuba in 1978. Though the span of water is less than 100 miles wide, it is rough and dangerous. After battling the water for two days, she had to give up for the sake of her own health and safety. Even so, she impressed the world with her courage and strong desire to succeed. For Nyad her strength of purpose was just as important as reaching Cuba. That is how she defined success. It did not matter that her swim came up short; she believed she had touched the other shore.
When Nyad ended her career as a swimmer, she continued to try new things---travelling the world as a reporter, writing books and giving public speeches about her life. Diana Nyad works to inspire others, just as she did when she swam the waters of the world.
小题1: What prevented Nyad from taking part in the Olympic Games? (No more than 5 words)
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小题2:What does the underlined word “obstacles” mean? (1 word)
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小题3:What achievement did Nyad make in 1970? (No more than 10 words.)
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小题4:Why did Nyad believe that she had touched the other shore? (No more than 10 words)
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小题1:A serious illness(did).
小题2:Difficulties/Problems/Troubles/Challenges
小题3:She swam a ten-mile marathon and set women’s record.
Or: She swam a ten-mile marathon, setting the women’s record.
Or: She set the women’s record for a ten-mile marathon swimming.
小题4:Because she had tried her best ( to fulfill the task .)
Or: Her strength of purpose was as important as reaching Cuba.
题目分析：本文叙述了一位名叫Nyad的游泳运动员顽强奋斗的故事。她因为得了疾病没法参加奥运会的游泳比赛。但是她没有放弃，继续努力，参加马拉松游比赛，并在1970年在女子马拉松游泳比赛中创造了新的记录。后来，她开始旅行，写书，她的作品激励着其他人继续前进。
小题1:根据第一段的but a serious illness kept her from competing in the Games. 可知一种严重的疾病阻止 Nyad参加奥运会比赛。因此此处问题的答案是A serious illness(did).
小题2:根据第一段的by distance,（距离） danger（危险）, cold（寒冷）, and exhaustion（精疲力尽）这些都是阻碍人前进的困难或麻烦。因此obstacles 的意思是Difficulties/Problems/Troubles/Challenges
小题3:根据第二段的In 1970, she swam a ten-mile marathon in Lake Ontario, setting the women’s record for the course. She swam a ten-mile marathon and set women’s record.可知她在1970年在女子马拉松游泳比赛中创造了新的记录。因答案是She swam a ten-mile marathon, setting the women’s record.或者 She set the women’s record for a ten-mile marathon swimming.
小题4:根据第三段的For Nyad her strength of purpose was just as important as reaching Cuba. 可知她虽然没有到达对岸，但是她的努力仍然很重要。因此问题的答案是Because she had tried her best ( to fulfill the task .)或者 Her strength of purpose was as important as reaching Cuba.
