After the Summer Olympics are over, when all the athletes 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 Paralympics athletes did not take part.
She is a British athlete by the name of Tanni Grey-Thormpson. Born with spine hifida (脊椎裂) which left her paralysed from the waist. Tanni used a wheelchair from the age of 7. at first, she did not like sports, 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 she began to love 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 100metres 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 Barcelonn. 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 success had 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 want to see…. 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 series of Paralympics- a top level 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.”
小题1:Which of the following sports did Tanni like before thirteen?
A．Basketball
B．Swimming.
C．Tennis.
D．Horse-riding.小题2:When did Tanni win her first Olympic gold medal?
A．In 1984.
B．In 1988.
C．In 1992.
D．In 2007.小题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小题4: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.
小题1:D
小题2:C
小题3:C
小题4:D
题目分析：本文介绍了著名的残疾人运动员Tanni Grey-Thormpson以及她在残疾人奥运会上所取得的辉煌成绩。
小题1:D 细节题。根据第2段3,4行at first, she did not like sports, apart from horse-riding, which gave her a sense of freedom.说明在13岁之前，她喜欢骑马，故D正确。
小题2:C 细节题。根据第4段2,3行Even greater success followed at the 1992 Barcelonn. Paralympics. Tanni won gold in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres relay, setting two world records in the process.说明在1992年的巴塞罗那残疾人奥运会上他第一次获得了金牌，故C正确，
小题3:C 推理题。根据本句I train 50 weeks of the year and that keeps me prepared for whatever distance I want to see….说明这里的that就是指每天的训练，能让他为一切做好准备，故C正确。
小题4:D 推理题。根据文章内容可知在残疾人奥运会上她取得了很大的成功的原因是在第五段的I train 50 weeks of the year and that keeps me prepared for whatever distance I want to see….说明他天天都进行训练，做出了刻苦的努力，故D项正确。
点评：本文介绍了著名的残疾人运动员Tanni Grey-Thormpson以及她在残疾人奥运会上所取得的辉煌成绩。本文考查了细节题为主，在解答这类问题时要求学生抓住题干文字信息，采用针对性方法进行阅读，因为这类题的答案在文章中可以直接找到。