A Leap（跳跃）to Honor

Leaping on a narrow balance beam（平衡木） is not easy. But Lola Walter, a 13-year-old gymnast, is an expert at it.

To perfect her skills, Lola    36    for four hours a day, five days a week. At the state championships in March, she finished seventh out of 16 girls.

That’s especially impressive.     37     she is legally blind, born with a rare condition that causes her eyes to shift constantly. She often sees double and can’t _38      how far away things are.

When she was little, her mom     39    that even though she couldn’t see     40    , she was fearless. So her mom signed her up for gymnastics when she was three. She loved the     41     right away and gymnastics became her favorite.

Though learning gymnastics has been more    42    for her than for some of her tournaments, she has never

quit. She doesn’t let her _43      stop her from doing anything that she wants to.

She likes the determination it takes to do the sport. Her biggest      44_ is the balance beam. Because she has double vision, she often sees to beams. She must use her sense of touch to help her during her routine. Sometimes she even closes her eyes. “You have to  45_ your mind that it’ll take you where you want to go.” says Lola.

To be a top-level gymnast, one must be brave. The beam is probably the most     46     for anyone because it’s four inches wide. At the state competition, Lola didn’t fall     47    the beam. In fact, she got an 8.1 out of 10---- her highest score yet.

Lola doesn’t want to be   48     differently from the other girls on her team. At the competitions, the judges don’t know about her vision _49     _. She doesn’t tell them, because she doesn’t think they need to know. Her mom is amazed by her _50  attitude.

Lola never thinks about     51__. She is presently at level 7 while the highest is level 10 in gymnastics. Her

    52 is to reach level 9. She says she wants to be a gymnastics coach to pass down what she’s learned to

other kids     53     she grew up.

Lola is     54 of all her hard work and success. She says it’s helped her overcome problems in her life

outside gymnastics, too. Her     55     for others is “just believe yourself”.

36. A. runs B. teaches C. trains  D. dances

37. A. since   B. unless  C. after   D. though

38. A. tell B. guess   C. assume  D. predict

39. A. suspected   B remembered   C. imagined D. noticed

40. A. deeply  B. well C. ahead   D. closely

41. A. task B. sport   C. event   D. show

42. A. boring  B. enjoyable   C. different   D. unsatisfactory

43. A. talent  B. quality C. nature  D. condition

44. A. doubt   B. advantage   C. challenge   D. program

45. A. examine B. express C. open D. trust

46. A. fearful B. harmful C. unfair  D. inconvenient

47. A. to  B. on   C. off  D. against

48. A. greeted B. treated C. served  D. paid

49. A. pains   B. stresses C. injuries D. problems

50. A. positive B. friendly C. flexible D. caution

51. A. defending   B. quitting C. winning D. bargaining

52. A. standard B. range   C. view D. goal

53. A. until   B. as   C. when D. before

54. A. proud   B. tired   C. ashamed D. confident

55. A. plan B. advice  C. reward  D. responsibility

第三部分：阅读理解 （共两节，20 分）

第一节（共 15 小题；每小题 2 分，共 30 分）

阅读下列短文：从每题所给的 A、B、C、D 四个选项中，选出最佳选项，将正确的选项涂在答题卡上。

A

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56. What is mainly discussed in paragraph 2?

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C. the appearance of the EP    D. the material of the EP

57. From the pa