Question

Nathan’s second-hand bike was good enough to get him anywhere he wanted to go. Of course, it couldn’t match Tim’s in a normal speed race, but all the fancy gears (齒輪) in the world wouldn’t get you up Black Mountain. It was so steep in places that you had to get off your bike and push.

On this particular afternoon, the odds were all on Nathan’s side. First, he was stronger. Tim had always been thin, but recently he’d started to grow so fast that his arms and legs were like pieces of spaghetti. As well as being considerably fitter than his friend, Nathan knew the shortcuts up Black Mountain.

So when Nathan accepted the challenge, he was sure he’d win. He nearly always did, in competitions with Tim. That was what was strange. Tim was so competitive, and yet he wasn’t any good at physical things.

By the time the two boys were three quarters of the way to the top, Nathan was clearly ahead. While the road zigzagged back and forth up the mountainside, in certain places, there were also vertical tracks, where water rushing down the slope in winter had bitten erosion courses into the soil. These had in turn been so overgrown by bushes and long grass in the spring that they looked like tunnels through the bush. The trick was to know where you could cut off a whole bend in the road by leaving the road and pushing your bike up one of these half-hidden pathways. If you chose the wrong one you’d struggle up for ten minutes and then suddenly reach a dead end. Then there was no choice but to go back.

 

60. What did Tim challenge Nathan to do?

     A. test who had the fastest bike                 

     B. decide who was the most competitive

     C. find the secret tracks on the mountain           

     D. race to the top of Black Mountain

61. It was sometimes quicker to use the tracks rather than the road because the ___________.

     A. tracks were partly hidden.                           

     B. tracks were easier to ride bikes on.

     C. road had many bends in it.                           

     D. road was overgrown after the winter.

62. Which of the following advantages did Nathan have over Tim?

   A. Nathan had a better bike and knew the shortcuts up the mountain.

   B. Nathan was fitter and knew the quickest ways up the mountain.

   C. Nathan was stronger and more competitive than Tim.

   D. Nathan was stronger and had a better bike.

63. The quotation “ the odds were all on Nathan’s side” means that __________.

   A. Tim would not try very hard in the race

   B. Tim had not yet grown as big as Nathan

   C. Nathan had a greater chance of winning the challenge

   D. Nathan had more friends who thought he would win

Answer 1

60.  D.  從第一段中我們得知：Nathan 的二手車盡管能帶他走到任何地方，但不能跟Tim 的自行車相比較。但更好的車也不能帶你上Black Mountain, 因?yàn)橛行┑胤椒浅６�，只能跳下自行車推著走。這一段已經(jīng)引出了自行車。然后第三段告訴我們，Nathan 接受了挑戰(zhàn)，最后一段又說“技巧就在識(shí)別哪里可以繞過一個(gè)大彎推著自行車走一條隱藏的小路”.  綜合這些信息，我們可以推斷挑戰(zhàn)就是比賽騎自行車上這座山。

61.  C.  最后一段說到tracks 經(jīng)常會(huì)被bushes and long grass 所覆蓋，看上去像地下通道一樣。但如果你能識(shí)別這些通道就能繞過road 上的a whole bend 就能取勝。所以可以推知 C。

62.  B.  第二段講到“第一：Nathan 比Tim 強(qiáng)壯”；最后一句又說到“不僅比他的朋友強(qiáng)壯，Nathan 知道通往Black Mountain 的捷徑”。所以可以得出 B。

63.  C.  第二段講了Nathan 的兩個(gè)優(yōu)勢，所以這句話的意思應(yīng)該是：“Nathan 的勝算比較大。”