PASSAGE 8 American Sports The 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； athletic games， played for recreation anywhere sufficient space is found； and hunting and fishing. Most sports are seasonal， so that what is happening in sports depends upon the time of year. Some sports are called spectator sports， as the number of spectators greatly exceeds the number playing 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 most nearly like it is the English game of cricket. Football is the most popular sport in the fall. The game originated 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 of 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 in padded uniforms and helmets because the game is rough and injuries are likely to occur. Basketball is the winter sport in American schools and college. Like football， basketball originated 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 horse-racing fans call themselves sportsmen， the accuracy of term is questionable， as only the jockeys who ride the horses in the races can be considered athletes. The so-called sportsmen are the spectators， who do “not assemble” primarily to see the horse race， but to bet upon the outcome of each race. Gambling is the attraction of horse racing. 1. Hunting and fishing are mainly favored by men， youngand old， in the US. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 2. The professional baseball teams that play well are allowed to play in the fall after the regular baseball seasons of spring and summer. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 3. Baseball shares many features with the English game of cricket. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 4. Football can be classified as a spectator sport. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 5. Many Americans like basketball better than football because the latter is so harsh that players have to wear special uniforms. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 6. Basketball in American is so popular with universities that nation-wide university matches are held yearly. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 7. Horse-racing fans cannot be considered sportsmen because they are spectators whose primary interest is gambling. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned KEY：CBAABCA PASSAGE 9 Why is the Native Language Learnt So Well How does it happen that children learn their mother tongue so well？ When we compare them with adults learning a foreign language， we often find this interesting fact. A little child without knowledge or experience often succeeds in a complete mastery of the language. A grown-up person with fully developed mental powers， in most cases， may end up with a faulty and inexact command. What accounts for this difference？ Despite other explanations， the real answer in my opinion lies partly in the child himself， partly in the behaviour of the people around him. In the first place， the time of learning the mother tongue is the most favourable of all， namely， the first years of life. A child hears it spoken from morning till night and， what is more important， always in its genuine form， with the right pronunciation， right intonation， right use of words and right structure. He drinks in all the words and expressions which come to him in a fresh. Ever-bubbling spring. There is no resistance： there is perfect assimilation. Then the child has， as it were， private lessons all the year round， while an adult language-student had each week a lim ited number of hours which he generally shares with others. The child has another advantage： he hears the language in all possible situations， always accompanied by the tight kind of gestures and facial expressions. Here there is nothing unnatural， such as is often found in language lessons in schools， when one talks about ice and snow in June or scorching heat in January. And what a child hears is generally what immediately interests him. Again and again， when his attempts at speech are successful， his desires are understood and fulfilled. Finally， though a child s “teachers” may not have been trained in language teaching， their relations with him are always close a personal. They take great pains to make their lessons easy. 1. Compared with adults learning a foreign language， children learn their native language with ease. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 2. Adults knowledge and metal powers hinder their complete mastery of a foreign language. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 3. The reason why children learn their mother tongue so well lies solely in their environment of learning. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 4. Plenty of practice in listening during the first years of life partly ensures children s success of learning their mother tongue. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 5. A child learning his native language has the advantage of having private lessons all the year round. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 6. Gestures and facial expressions may assist a child in mastering his native language…… A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 7. So far as language teaching is concerned， the teacher s close personal relationship with the student is more important than the professional language teaching training he has received. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned KEY：ACBABAC