American sportsThe United States is a sports-loving nation. Sports in America take a variety of forms: organized competitive struggles, which draw huge crowds to cheer their favorite team to victory, and hunting and fishing. Most sports are seasonal, so what is happening in sports depends upon the time of year. Some sports are called spectator(观众) sports, because the number of watchers is greatly more than the players in the game.Baseball is the most popular sport in the US, it is played throughout the spring and summer, and professional baseball teams play well into the fall. Although no other game is exactly like baseball, perhaps the one that is most nearly like it is the English game of cricket(板球).Football(橄榄球)is the most popular sport in the fall. The game started as a college sport more than 75 years ago. It is still played by almost every college and university in the country. And the football stadiums in some of the largest universities seat as many as 80,000 people. The game is not the same as European football or soccer. In American football, there are 11 players on each team, and they are dressed with helmets(头盔)because injuries are likely to occur in this game.Basketball is the winter sport in American schools and colleges. Like football, basketball started in the US and is not popular in other countries. Many Americans prefer it to football because it is played indoors throughout the winter and because it is a faster game. It is a very popular game with high schools, and in more than 20 states, state-wide high school matches are held yearly..Other spectator sports include wrestling, boxing, and horse racing. Although horses-racing fans call themselves sportsmen, the accuracy of the term is questionable, as only the jockeys(赛马师）who ride the horses in the races can be considered athletes. The so-called sportsmen are the spectators, who do not primarily(主要地)see the horses race, but to bet(打赌)upon the result of each race. Betting is the attraction of horse racing.There are more spectators than players in the game of boxing.

American sportsThe United States is a sports-loving nation. Sports in America take a variety of forms: organized competitive struggles, which draw huge crowds to cheer their favorite team to victory, and hunting and fishing. Most sports are seasonal, so what is happening in sports depends upon the time of year. Some sports are called spectator(观众) sports, because the number of watchers is greatly more than the players in the game.Baseball is the most popular sport in the US, it is played throughout the spring and summer, and professional baseball teams play well into the fall. Although no other game is exactly like baseball, perhaps the one that is most nearly like it is the English game of cricket(板球).Football(橄榄球)is the most popular sport in the fall. The game started as a college sport more than 75 years ago. It is still played by almost every college and university in the country. And the football stadiums in some of the largest universities seat as many as 80,000 people. The game is not the same as European football or soccer. In American football, there are 11 players on each team, and they are dressed with helmets(头盔)because injuries are likely to occur in this game.Basketball is the winter sport in American schools and colleges. Like football, basketball started in the US and is not popular in other countries. Many Americans prefer it to football because it is played indoors throughout the winter and because it is a faster game. It is a very popular game with high schools, and in more than 20 states, state-wide high school matches are held yearly..Other spectator sports include wrestling, boxing, and horse racing. Although horses-racing fans call themselves sportsmen, the accuracy of the term is questionable, as only the jockeys(赛马师）who ride the horses in the races can be considered athletes. The so-called sportsmen are the spectators, who do not primarily(主要地)see the horses race, but to bet(打赌)upon the result of each race. Betting is the attraction of horse racing.The spectators for horse-racing are mainly to see the interesting race.

On board the Central America, a ship on her way from Havana to New York, were no fewer than 491 passengers. Most of them were miners(矿工)returning with their gold to their homeland. At the start of the voyage, the sky had been cloudless and the wind fair. Three days later, however, the ship was rolling in a storm.Soon water poured in the engine-room and up out the fires. This left the ship helpless, with her engines stopped. In spite of all efforts, the depth of the water down below slowly increased. It became clear to all that nothing could save the ship, and that she would soon go to the sea bottom.Just at that moment, a strange sight was seen on board, some of the miners collected their gold and stored it in their belts. They hoped to take it with them wherever they were going. But others knew that the ship would sink and didn’t want to weigh themselves down with the heavy metal. So they threw it onto the floor.Unusual courage was shown by nearly all on board. The captain moved about the ship encouraging all. He sometimes gave orders in attempts to save his ship, and sometimes kept silent, always determined. But all his efforts failed.Fortunately, when all hope had gone, another ship, the Marie of Boston, appeared on the scene. The Marie had also suffered heavily in the storm, but her captain immediately arranged to move the people in boats form the Central America to his own ship. The huge waves made the work painfully slow, but there was no disorder: everyone waited patiently. Finally, all passengers were saved.The word “fair” (Line 3, Para.1) most probably means ____________.

On board the Central America, a ship on her way from Havana to New York, were no fewer than 491 passengers. Most of them were miners(矿工)returning with their gold to their homeland. At the start of the voyage, the sky had been cloudless and the wind fair. Three days later, however, the ship was rolling in a storm.Soon water poured in the engine-room and up out the fires. This left the ship helpless, with her engines stopped. In spite of all efforts, the depth of the water down below slowly increased. It became clear to all that nothing could save the ship, and that she would soon go to the sea bottom.Just at that moment, a strange sight was seen on board, some of the miners collected their gold and stored it in their belts. They hoped to take it with them wherever they were going. But others knew that the ship would sink and didn’t want to weigh themselves down with the heavy metal. So they threw it onto the floor.Unusual courage was shown by nearly all on board. The captain moved about the ship encouraging all. He sometimes gave orders in attempts to save his ship, and sometimes kept silent, always determined. But all his efforts failed.Fortunately, when all hope had gone, another ship, the Marie of Boston, appeared on the scene. The Marie had also suffered heavily in the storm, but her captain immediately arranged to move the people in boats form the Central America to his own ship. The huge waves made the work painfully slow, but there was no disorder: everyone waited patiently. Finally, all passengers were saved.Some miners threw their gold onto the floor because they__________.

On board the Central America, a ship on her way from Havana to New York, were no fewer than 491 passengers. Most of them were miners(矿工)returning with their gold to their homeland. At the start of the voyage, the sky had been cloudless and the wind fair. Three days later, however, the ship was rolling in a storm.Soon water poured in the engine-room and up out the fires. This left the ship helpless, with her engines stopped. In spite of all efforts, the depth of the water down below slowly increased. It became clear to all that nothing could save the ship, and that she would soon go to the sea bottom.Just at that moment, a strange sight was seen on board, some of the miners collected their gold and stored it in their belts. They hoped to take it with them wherever they were going. But others knew that the ship would sink and didn’t want to weigh themselves down with the heavy metal. So they threw it onto the floor.Unusual courage was shown by nearly all on board. The captain moved about the ship encouraging all. He sometimes gave orders in attempts to save his ship, and sometimes kept silent, always determined. But all his efforts failed.Fortunately, when all hope had gone, another ship, the Marie of Boston, appeared on the scene. The Marie had also suffered heavily in the storm, but her captain immediately arranged to move the people in boats form the Central America to his own ship. The huge waves made the work painfully slow, but there was no disorder: everyone waited patiently. Finally, all passengers were saved.When faced with the danger, the captain of the Central America_________.

On board the Central America, a ship on her way from Havana to New York, were no fewer than 491 passengers. Most of them were miners(矿工)returning with their gold to their homeland. At the start of the voyage, the sky had been cloudless and the wind fair. Three days later, however, the ship was rolling in a storm.Soon water poured in the engine-room and up out the fires. This left the ship helpless, with her engines stopped. In spite of all efforts, the depth of the water down below slowly increased. It became clear to all that nothing could save the ship, and that she would soon go to the sea bottom.Just at that moment, a strange sight was seen on board, some of the miners collected their gold and stored it in their belts. They hoped to take it with them wherever they were going. But others knew that the ship would sink and didn’t want to weigh themselves down with the heavy metal. So they threw it onto the floor.Unusual courage was shown by nearly all on board. The captain moved about the ship encouraging all. He sometimes gave orders in attempts to save his ship, and sometimes kept silent, always determined. But all his efforts failed.Fortunately, when all hope had gone, another ship, the Marie of Boston, appeared on the scene. The Marie had also suffered heavily in the storm, but her captain immediately arranged to move the people in boats form the Central America to his own ship. The huge waves made the work painfully slow, but there was no disorder: everyone waited patiently. Finally, all passengers were saved.The rescue work was made painfully slow mainly because__________.

On board the Central America, a ship on her way from Havana to New York, were no fewer than 491 passengers. Most of them were miners(矿工)returning with their gold to their homeland. At the start of the voyage, the sky had been cloudless and the wind fair. Three days later, however, the ship was rolling in a storm.Soon water poured in the engine-room and up out the fires. This left the ship helpless, with her engines stopped. In spite of all efforts, the depth of the water down below slowly increased. It became clear to all that nothing could save the ship, and that she would soon go to the sea bottom.Just at that moment, a strange sight was seen on board, some of the miners collected their gold and stored it in their belts. They hoped to take it with them wherever they were going. But others knew that the ship would sink and didn’t want to weigh themselves down with the heavy metal. So they threw it onto the floor.Unusual courage was shown by nearly all on board. The captain moved about the ship encouraging all. He sometimes gave orders in attempts to save his ship, and sometimes kept silent, always determined. But all his efforts failed.Fortunately, when all hope had gone, another ship, the Marie of Boston, appeared on the scene. The Marie had also suffered heavily in the storm, but her captain immediately arranged to move the people in boats form the Central America to his own ship. The huge waves made the work painfully slow, but there was no disorder: everyone waited patiently. Finally, all passengers were saved.The text is mainly about__________.

A good lessonAfter living in Europe for seven years, my parents decided that my family would move to the United States. We all looked forward to this. What would people think of us? For me, I hoped to be the hero of the class.I was not disappointed. All my classmates admired my experience, and I quickly became well known as “the French guy”. I was very popular for a time. However, I was not interested in many things my classmates did, and it was hard for me to connect with them. I enjoyed listening to classical music, never watch TV, and almost never watched movies.I didn’t have a common background with my friends because I grew up in Europe. I had few friends, and fewer good friends. When I look back now, I realize I was a bit of an idiot to many people around me. I kept talking proudly about my experience. And I thought myself better than those around me because I lived in Europe but they didn’t.I had decided I wanted better friends when my parents said that we were going to move again! I saw this as a perfect chance to get better friends, where people did not know of my unkind past.When we moved to California, I didn’t show off as I had done for five years. I didn’t tell everyone that I lived in Europe. I still listened to classical music, but I just kept my music to myself. Sure enough, I found that people like someone who is not typical but does not boast about it.Nothing can replace good friends, and if I had to control my temper and pride, it was well worth it.When I first moved to the US, I was very popular because of my _________.

A good lessonAfter living in Europe for seven years, my parents decided that my family would move to the United States. We all looked forward to this. What would people think of us? For me, I hoped to be the hero of the class.I was not disappointed. All my classmates admired my experience, and I quickly became well known as “the French guy”. I was very popular for a time. However, I was not interested in many things my classmates did, and it was hard for me to connect with them. I enjoyed listening to classical music, never watch TV, and almost never watched movies.I didn’t have a common background with my friends because I grew up in Europe. I had few friends, and fewer good friends. When I look back now, I realize I was a bit of an idiot to many people around me. I kept talking proudly about my experience. And I thought myself better than those around me because I lived in Europe but they didn’t.I had decided I wanted better friends when my parents said that we were going to move again! I saw this as a perfect chance to get better friends, where people did not know of my unkind past.When we moved to California, I didn’t show off as I had done for five years. I didn’t tell everyone that I lived in Europe. I still listened to classical music, but I just kept my music to myself. Sure enough, I found that people like someone who is not typical but does not boast about it.Nothing can replace good friends, and if I had to control my temper and pride, it was well worth it.I had few good friends partly because I _______.

A good lessonAfter living in Europe for seven years, my parents decided that my family would move to the United States. We all looked forward to this. What would people think of us? For me, I hoped to be the hero of the class.I was not disappointed. All my classmates admired my experience, and I quickly became well known as “the French guy”. I was very popular for a time. However, I was not interested in many things my classmates did, and it was hard for me to connect with them. I enjoyed listening to classical music, never watch TV, and almost never watched movies.I didn’t have a common background with my friends because I grew up in Europe. I had few friends, and fewer good friends. When I look back now, I realize I was a bit of an idiot to many people around me. I kept talking proudly about my experience. And I thought myself better than those around me because I lived in Europe but they didn’t.I had decided I wanted better friends when my parents said that we were going to move again! I saw this as a perfect chance to get better friends, where people did not know of my unkind past.When we moved to California, I didn’t show off as I had done for five years. I didn’t tell everyone that I lived in Europe. I still listened to classical music, but I just kept my music to myself. Sure enough, I found that people like someone who is not typical but does not boast about it.Nothing can replace good friends, and if I had to control my temper and pride, it was well worth it.The phrase “an idiot” (line 2, para.3) most probably was _______.