Parkour is a sport with the aim of moving from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible using chiefly the abilities of the human body. It’s more similar to martial arts (武術(shù)) than to a sport. Parkour focuses on how any obstacle is dealt with, whether the obstacle is either physical or mental.
Inspiration for parkour came from the “Natural Method of Physical Culture” developed by Georges Hebert in the early twentieth century. French soldiers in Vietnam were inspired by Heber’s work and created what is now known as parcours du combatant (障礙訓(xùn)練課程). David Belle, who was introduced to this method by his father Raymond Belle, a Vietnamese soldier who had practiced it, had taken part in activities such as martial arts and gymnastics, and sought to apply his athletic skill in a manner that would have practical use in life.
After moving to Lisses, David Belle continued his journey with others. “From then on we developed,” says Sebastien Foucan, who helped to spread parkour, “and really the whole town was there for us; there for parkour.”
Over the years as devoted practitioners (實(shí)踐者) improved their skills, their moves continued to grow in scale, so that building-to-building jumps and drops of over a storey(樓層) became common in media description, causing much misunderstanding on the nature of parkour.”
Although many practitioners say parkour isn’t an extreme sport, it does carry risk with it. The practice of running, jumping, and leaping from a variety of urban structures (roof tops, staircases, raised surfaces, walls, etc.) and landing on concrete, of course, carries the potential for injury. Some of the most common injuries include sprained (扭傷的) ankles and injuries to the knees.
According to one practitioner, “One of the biggest differences between parkour and other so-called ‘extreme’ sports is that it is not concerned only with physical skills, but also with one’s mental and spiritual pleasure.”
1.    The second paragraph is mainly about _______.
A. Belle’s devotion to parkour                           B. the origin of parkour
C. the use of parkour during wartime             D. the practical use of parkour in life
2.    What do we know about David Belle?
A. He used to be a French soldier in Vietnam.
B. His attitude toward Hebert’s work was negative.
C. He and Foucan held different views on parkour.
D. He attempted to make full use of his athletic skill in life.
3.    What do we infer from the passage?
A. The practitioners think parkour is worth the risk.
B. Parkour needs specially designed training places.
C. The practitioners are often blamed by the media.
D. Parkour was developed in the early twentieth century.
4.    Parkour requires _______.
A. only the abilities of human body      
B. move from one point to another
C. the ability to deal with mental problems 
D. the ability to remove obstacles physically and mentally
5.    According to the passage, which of the following is parkour?
A.           B.    
C.        D.

Many of us have heard of the saying: everything is possible if you can just believe. But few of us really know the power of faith and perseverance(堅(jiān)定).  South African swimmer Natalie du Tiot embodies(體現(xiàn))those virtues.
Du Tiot, 24, became the first swimmer to compete in both the Olympic Games and the Paralympics (殘奧會(huì))in Beijing. Although she finished 16^th in the tough 10km marathon in the able-bodied Games, she has collected three golds in the Paralympics so far.
One of the most successful disabled athletes of all time, Natalie du Tiot was already a promising swimmer when she lost her leg in a motorcycle accident in 2001, at just 17.
“There are a lot of dark moments,” she said, “There are some days when I cry. But I try to remember that better days are ahead. You just go on.”
Within a few months, she was back in the swimming pool.
She still completes and still succeeds. The only difference is she has switched to longer events—from 200m and 400m individual medley to 800m and 1,500m freestyle—to make up for her loss of speed with only one leg. But she made no adjustment to her mental look(精神面貌).
“Going out in the water, it feels as if there’s nothing wrong with me. It doesn’t matter if you look different. You’re still the same as everybody else because you have the same dream.”
She is the owner of many world records, and she also won gold when competing against able-bodied swimmers in the 1,500m freestyle at the All African Games in 2007.
But there is no magic recipe(秘訣) for success. It all comes down to hard work and determination. “She is stubborn, which is good and bad,” said her coach Karoly Von Toros. “Good for the swimming, but bad for the coach.”
There is a poem that hangs on her wall that reads:
The tragedy (悲劇)of life does not lie in not reaching your goals;
The tragedy of life lies in not having goals to reach for.
【小題1】 Natalie du Tiot is a vivid example that____________________.

In white shirt, blue pants, black cloth shoes and two pigtails, Jingqiu gives off an air of great "pure beauty" in Zhang Yimou’s new movie Under the Hawthorn Tree, which tells the story of the sad romance of Jingqiu and a handsome young man named Laosan set at the end of　the "cultural revolution" (1966-- 1976).
Before it was released, moviegoers foresaw what this "pure beauty" could be. Director Zhang complained of how long it had taken him to find the right girl for the part of Jingqiu -- a character so innocent. She believes that simply lying on the same bed as a man will make her pregnant.
It was 18-year-old Zhou Dongyu who stood out from the crowd. According to Zhang, Zhou has "eyes that are clear like a fountain on a mountainside". Born to an ordinary worker's family, the Shijiazhuang girl was in her final year of high school and working hard for a place in an art college.
"If you have fair skin and clear eyes, as Jingqiu does, it is easy to look pure. Girls today wear so many jewels and make-up--that's the reason Zhang was not interested," said Du Yanlai, 17, of Chengdu.
While some teenagers consider such "pure" beauty illusory, others believe that it speaks of something soulful.
Purity is all about an innocence that shines through from within, thinks 16-year-old Tan Mengxi of Nanjing. "Being pure can be simple, not having complicated thoughts and being inexperienced. However, it doesn't mean an ignorant or native person. So, a person is pure in his or her nature if he or she is always enthusiastic and able to deal with difficult matters independently. This purity doesn't pass with time, "she said.
【小題1】What's the real purity according to Tan Mengxi?

John H. Johnson was born in a black family in Arkansas City in 1918. His father died in an accident when John was six. He was reaching the high school age, but his hometown offered no high school for blacks.
Luckily he had a strong-willed caring mother. John remembered that his mother told him many times, “Son，you can be anything you want really to be if you just believe.” She told him not to depend on others，including his mother. “You have to earn success,” she said. “All the people who work hard don’t succeed, but the only people who do succeed are those who work hard.”
These words came from a woman with less than a third grade education. She also knew that believing and hard work don’t mean everything. So she worked hard as a cook for two years to save enough to take her son, who was then 15，to Chicago.
Chicago in 1933 was not the promised land that black southerners were looking for. John’s mother and stepfather could not find work. But here John could go to school, and here he learned the power of words — as an editor of the newspaper and yearbook at Du Sable High School. His wish was to publish a magazine for blacks.
While others discouraged (使氣餒) him, John’s mother offered him more words to live by: “Nothing beats a failure but a try.” She also let him pawn（典當(dāng)）her furniture to get the ＄500 he needed to start the Negro magazine.
It is natural that difficulties and failures followed John closely until he became very successful. He always keeps his mother’s words in mind: “Son, failure is not in your vocabulary!”
Now John H. Johnson is one of the 400 richest people in America — worth $150 million.
【小題1】 John’s father died in ________.