Question

    Eliud Kipchoge’s extraordinary sub-two-hour marathon in Vienna on Saturday is one of the greatest sporting achievements—recording a time that has never been achieved before, again. It is a time on the fringes (边缘) of what scientists believe is humanly possible.

“It is a great feeling to make history in sport after Sir Roger Bannister in 1954. I am the happiest man in the world to be the first human to run under two hours and I can tell people that no human is limited,” Kipchoge said afterwards.

Is he right? Where are the limits of human ability? And how close are we to reaching them?

Raph Brandon, head of science for England cricket, distinguishes between achievements which are constrained (限制) by human anatomy (解剖学), and those which require human determination or skill.

“When Bolt ran 9.58 in Berlin 10 years ago, if you analyse the split times it’s very hard to imagine where the improvement comes from,” said Brandon, “The Usain Bolt 100m or the two-hour marathon, they’re in that category.”

Multi-day, ultra-endurance events, such as Thomas’s cross-Channel swim, are different, Brandon said.

“They need determination, psychology and bloody-mindedness to go that little bit further. Those people will continue to do unique things because you’re not really taking the body to its anatomical limit. It’s more a question of how much you’re prepared to consume and exhaust yourself.”

And there’s a third category, those sporting endeavours (努力) that rely on hand-eye coordination: the goal tallies of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, and the batting of Virat Kohli Steve Smith or Don Bradman, who trained by hitting a golf ball with a stump against a wall to become the best batsman ever to play Test cricket.

Equipment has been a factor for many sports. NFL receivers wear gloves that enable them to make improbable one-handed catches. The GB cycling team swept the board at the Olympics because of their amazing new clothing tech.

The line between what is fair and unfair is blurry. Kipchoge’s sub-two-hour run will not be officially recognized. He ran behind a car which beamed a green laser on to the ground in front of him. Teams of pacemakers, 41 in total, ran in a v-formation to protect him from headwinds (逆风). He wore specially designed shoes and the time and date of the event were picked only after detailed weather forecasting.

Jo Davies, a sport psychologist, says recent studies have shown athletes can push themselves harder because of their perception of exhaustion.

Other research published this year which looked at athletes who had won multiple gold medals found that they were different in several important ways. They had often had a shocking and upsetting life experience and had suffered significant setbacks in their performance during their careers, as well as personality traits of determination, perseverance and perfectionism.

So whether or not those limits have been reached, there will be no shortage of people prepared to try to go beyond them.

1.Why is Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-two-hour marathon considered extraordinary?

A.It was made in Vienna on a weekend.

B.It pushed the limits of human ability.

C.It proved that there was no boundary of his achievements.

D.It was greater than the record kept by Sir Roger Bannister.

2.The Usain Bolt 100m and the two-hour marathon belong to the same category in that ________.

A.they need great determination or skills B.they can be achieved via equipment

C.they rely on hand-eye coordination D.they are reaching anatomical limit

3.Kipchoge’s sub-two-hour marathon will not be officially recognized because ________.

A.he was followed by pacemakers B.he was caught in headwinds

C.he got much special help D.he didn’t run on the picked day

4.It can be inferred from the last three paragraphs that ________.

A.Jo Davies believes that athletes make progress in the same way

B.anatomical limit prevents athletes from having sad life experience

C.an athlete who has suffered setbacks will win gold medals

D.whether an athlete can succeed or not may depend on himself

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.C

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇议论文。文章介绍了埃利乌德·基普乔奇周六在维也纳成功进行了长达两小时的马拉松比赛，刷新了人类能力的极限从未有过的记录。这一行为引起了人们的议论，因为基普乔奇借助了许多特别的帮助，他们认为基普乔奇的马拉松比赛不会得到官方认可。

1.

细节理解题。根据第二段中I am the happiest man in the world to be the first human to run under two hours and I can tell people that no human is limited,我是世界上最快乐的人，我是第一个跑两小时以内的人，我可以告诉人们没有人是有限的，可知，埃利乌德·基普乔奇长达两小时的马拉松被认为是非同寻常的，因为它推动了人类能力的极限。故选B项。

2.

细节理解题。根据第五段中“The Usain Bolt 100m or the two-hour marathon, they’re in that category.”“尤塞恩博尔特100米或两个小时的马拉松都属于这一项。”可知，尤塞恩·博尔特(Usain Bolt)的100米和两个小时的马拉松属于同一类别，因为它们都达到了解剖学上的极限。故选D项。

3.

推理判断题。根据倒数第四段中Kipchoge’s sub-two-hour run will not be officially recognized. He ran behind a car which beamed a green laser on to the ground in front of him. Teams of pacemakers, 41 in total, ran in a v-formation to protect him from headwinds (逆风). He wore specially designed shoes and the time and date of the event were picked only after detailed weather forecasting.基普乔奇的不到两小时的跑步将不会得到官方承认。他跟在一辆车后面，那辆车把绿色的激光照射在他前面的地上。总共41支起搏器队伍排成v形队形，以保护他不受逆风影响。他穿着特别设计的鞋子，比赛的时间和日期是在经过详细的天气预报后才确定的。可知，由于得到了很多特别的帮助，基普乔奇长达两小时的马拉松比赛不会得到官方认可。故选C项。

4.

推理判断题。根据倒数第三段Jo Davies, a sport psychologist, says recent studies have shown athletes can push themselves harder because of their perception of exhaustion.运动心理学家乔•戴维斯表示，最近的研究表明，运动员会因为感觉筋疲力尽而更加努力地锻炼自己；倒数第二段中Other research published this year which looked at athletes who had won multiple gold medals found that they were different in several important ways.今年发表的另一项研究对多枚金牌的运动员进行了研究，发现他们在几个重要方面是不同的；最后一段So whether or not those limits have been reached, there will be no shortage of people prepared to try to go beyond them.因此，无论是否达到了这些限制，都不会缺少准备尝试超越它们的人。可知，从最后三段可以推断出一个运动员能否成功可能取决于他自己。故选D项。