阅读理解。
I climbed the ladder, heard my dive announced, and began the moves that would push me into
the air. Pushing off the diving board with my legs, I lifted my arms and shoulders back, and knew
immediately I would be close to the board and might hit my hands. I tried to correct myself as I
turned, spreading my hands wide apart. Then I heard a strange sound and my body lost control.
Moments later I realized I had hit my head on the board.
At the beginning, I felt embarrassed. I wanted to hide, to get out of the pool without anyone
seeing me. Next I felt intense fear. Had I cut my head? Was I bleeding? Was there blood in the pool?
Swimming to the side, I noticed many shocked faces. People were worried about my head; I was
worried about something far more threatening. An official examined my head. In a hurry, I pushed
him away, and everyone else who approached me. "Don't touch me!" I felt like screaming. "Get away
from me!"
These were the trials (选拔赛) for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea. Until this dive, I had been
ahead. But now, something else was more significant than winning. I might have endangered other
divers' lives if I had spilled blood in the pool. For what I knew--- that few others knew - was that I
was HIV-positive.
According to my mother, my natural parents were Samoan (萨摩亚人) and only teenagers when
I was born, so they gave me up for adoption. When I was only eighteen months old, I started gym
classes. At ten, I explored doing gym exercises off the diving board at the pool.
Because of my dark skin, kids at school called me names. My diving made me feel good about
myself when my peers made me feel stupid. At sixteen, I knew I had a shot at the 1976 Olympics.
Everyone was alarmed when I hit my head on the board in Seoul. Regardless, I made it to the
finals. During my last dive in the finals, I enjoyed for the last time the quietness underwater and then
swam to the side of the pool. The crowd cheered, and I knew I'd won-two gold medals. AIDS
forced me to stop diving; I had to give up diving professionally after the Olympics.
1. Immediately before he hit his head on the board, the writer ______.
A. climbed the ladder
B. started the moves that would push him into the air
C. knew he was too close to the board
D. corrected his actions when he turned
2. The writer pushed away everyone who came near to him because ______.
A. he hated them
B. he was HIV- positive and feared that others would be infected if they touched his bleeding head
C. he felt embarrassed and wanted to hide without anyone seeing him
D. he felt like screaming
3. The writer's natural parents put him up for adoption because ______.
A. they were too young to raise him
B. they were too poor to raise him
C. they didn't love him
D. they were Samoan
4. According to the passage, the writer's diving gave him the sense of being ______.
A. stupid
B. strong
C. successful
D. lonely
5. After he hit his head on the board at the trails, the writer ______.
A. practiced less
B. was scared and gave up diving forever
C. lost the chance to compete at the finals
D. still got the chance to compete at the finals
