I. Reading Comprehension (5 points)
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Decide whether the following statements are true or false. Choose “T” for True and “F” for False. (1 point each )
1．Competition in Olympic sports is supposed to be fair. However, in judged sports, fairness is impossible. Therefore, judged sports should be banned from the Olympic games. A judged sport is any sport that requires judges to determine a winner. For example, gymnastics, figure skating, half pipe (snowboarding), and diving are all judged sports.
The writer believes judged sports should be eliminated from the Olympics.
T
F
2．Why do I believe that judged sports should be eliminated from the Olympics? First of all, judges don’t see everything. For example, a mistake in figure skating can happen in a fraction of a second. If a judge blinks or looks away for a moment, he or she might miss the mistake and give the skater a higher score than the skater deserves.
One reason that judged sports should not be allowed in the Olympics is that judges can have different opinions.
T
F
3．Second, two judges can disagree about which athlete gave the best performance. In sports in which the difference between gold and silver is usually a few hundredths of a point, this kind of subjectivity is unacceptable. Can anyone really say with certainty that a gymnast who receives a score of 9.825 is a better gymnast than one who scores 9.823?
One argument against banning judged sports from the Olympics is that people should stop arguing about it.
T
F
4．A lot of people claim that judged sports are subjective and should not be allowed in the Olympics. They feel that only sports that are measured objectively for things like speed, such as swimming, track, and skiing, should be allowed because judges can’t be objective and fair. I disagree with these people. Why? I believe that no sport is 100% fair and objective.
The writer here believes all sports are objective.
T
F
5．Some athletes may win because their equipment is better than their opponents’ equipment. For example, in the 2000 summer Olympics, some swimmers wore controversial high-tech suits. The maker of the suit claimed that the fabric could make a swimmer 3% faster. No one could prove that this was true, but they couldn’t prove that it wasn’t true either.
The equipment can be one reason that decides athletes’ sports scores.
T
F
6．II. Vocabulary Skills（2 points）
Match the following vocabulary items on left with their possible explanations on right. ( 0.4 points each)
contribute
co-worker
intermission
promotion
progress
