CHAPTER ONE Reading Page 2.

MY FAVOURITE SPORT SKIING.

Skiing is my favourite sport.

even though I have only skied for four days in my whole life!

Last year my father promised that if my brother did well in his exams.

he would take us for a special holiday.

When Victor got straight'A's.

Dad said, ' How about a weekend visit to the Botanical Gardens? ' But my mother said,

' No, you promised a special holiday.

I think you ought to keep your word. ' And, despite the expense, he did.

Victor's dream was to see some real snow.

So in the Christmas vacation we flew to Seoul.

and then took a shuttle bus to Muju Resort.

As it climbed through the mountains, we saw the snow on the trees.

I was dying to get out and play with it!

At last we reached the resort, and scrambled out of the bus quickly.

No one in my family had ever touched snow before.

We were all like little children.

we picked up, made snowballs, and threw them at each other!

Then we noticed that the tour guide was watching us, with a smile on his face.

' I think we should go and check in at the hotel now '.

my dad said, and so we did.

Our room overlooked one of the ski slopes.

The slopes were floodlit, and we watched people skiing until 10 p.m..

We could not wait to try it ourselves.

The next day we had our first skiing lesson.

We rented our ski suits, boots and skis, and then went outside onto the snow.

Wearing skis for the first time makes you feel very strange.

Suddenly you find you can not even walk.

Our instructor took us onto a gentle slope, and showed us some basic skills.

If you want to go up a hill, you have to stand sideways, and go up step by step.

If you want to stop, you must point the tips of your skis together.

But the tips must not cross, or you will fall.

To be honest, that first lesson was not a great success.

and I spent a lot of time sitting down!

However, the next day I definitely improved.

I only fell over a few times, and I managed to do a few longer runs.

I felt so pleased with myself, and the instructor congratulated me.

so I felt great.

Although it was very cold, I spent most of that holiday skiing.

It was the most wonderful time of my life.

But it was all over too soon.

I have decided to do a part time job this summer.

and perhaps I can earn enough money for another super skiing holiday.

LISTENING SKILLS Page 7, Understanding numbers.

Listen to the speakers on the recording.

Extract the numbers which are needed to complete these tables.

1.The school table tennis competition was again kingly contested.

with over fifty entries.

In the semifinals, Alex beat John in a close match.

winning in two sets by the score of. 18 and. 19.

In the other Semifinal.

Mark recorded a much easier victory defeating Raymond. 3, and. 8.

Mark went on to take the boys title, beating Alex in the best of three sets.

He lost the first set. 21, but fought back to take the next two sets. 13 and.

2.This table shows some of the developments of the Olympic Games.

The first of the modern games was hold in Athens in 1896.

Just thirteen countries took part.

and there were only nine sports.

Although there were three hundred and eleven male competitors.

there were no women at all.

At the's Los Angeles Games of 1932.

thirty seven countries competed in fifteen different sports.

There were 1, 281 male athletes, but just 127 women.

In Helsinki in 1952 the number of countries had risen to 69, but there were only seventeen sports.

Although the number women athletes had climbed to 518.

they were still after numbered by the male competitors, the numbered 4, 407.

Even in the Barcelona Olympics of 1992.

in which 168 countries competed in 26 different sports.

the number of male and female athletes was not nearly equal.

there were 6, 658 men.

but less than half as many women, who numbered 2, 708.

3 I 'm just writing a notice about the's Club Table Tennis Tournament.

Let's see, I reckon down the events, the cost is forty0five yuan per entry. What else do I need to put on it.

What's the deadline for entries?

A. Oh, that's the 7th of May.

We must type all the entries by then.

The matches up to the finals will be played between the 14th of May.

and the 30th of June.

B. What about the finals?

A. They 'll be played on the 6th of July.

Shall I put the schedule down?

B. Yes, you should.

A. Right.

Well, the Women's final will start at about one forty0five.

and the Men's final will start about two thirty.

We put that one last because it can take a long time.

We 'll have the boys'and girls'finals earlier.

at. 00 noon and one o'clock respectively.

There, it's that all?

B. That's good!

But I suggest you give a full number in case anyone has inquiries.

A. That's a good idea!

They can phone Maggie Zhu in the office, what's her number?

B. It's 28862311.

4 Hello, John.

How did you get on in the athletic meeting, yesterday?

B. Very well, thank you.

A. do not be shy.

Tell me all about your results.

B. Well, I was first in the 100m, I ran my best time ever 13.89 seconds.

And I was third in the 200m with a time of 27.37 seconds.

I did not do so well in the 400m though.

I came sixth in one minute three point zero eight seconds.

A. That's really good!

Did you take part in any of the field events?

B. Yes, I won the long jump, with a jump of four point one five metres.

and I was sixth in the high jump, I only jumped 1.42 metres.

that was my worst result.

A. Congratulations!

I think you did really well.

SPEAKING page 13, A Saying contracted forms.

When you have to read a dialogue.

you must read contracted forms as contracted forms.

Do not read them as complete words.

Do not read I 've as I have.

Exercise A1, I 'm I 'll I 've it's.

it 'll he's he 'll she's.

she 'll you 're you 'll you 've.

we 're we 'll we 've they 're.

they 'll they 've he 'd she'dI'd they 'd can not could not.

would not do not did not.

is not was not.

Exercise A2, 1

I 'll see you at the game tonight, will not I?

No, I can not come, I 'm afraid.

I 've lots of homework.

Who's playing?

It's South China and Eastern.

You must come!

It 'll be very exciting!

You 're right.

I 'll finish my homework tomorrow.

We 'll watch the game together.

2 Kate is not absent, is she?

She said she 'd play in the game today.

No, she told me that she would not play.

In fact, she said she could not play, because she's injured.

She's hurt her ankle.

Oh, no!

Then you 'll have to play instead.

Me? But I 've never played hockey before.

do not worry.

You 'll soon learn!

MORE LANGUAGE INPUT( 1).

Reading page 16, Faster, higher, stronger.

At the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

the number of participant that completed for medals in athletics alone reached 2000.

This was the largest number ever reordered in Olympic history.

Athletics usually refers to sports in four areas.

track, field, road and combined events.

There are lots of track events at the Olympics.

They include sprints, middle distance.

and long distance running, hurdling, relays, etc.

Field events, however, are often not so closely linked with speed.

They occlude long jump triple jump, high jump people, pole vault, short0put, discus and javelin, to name just a few.

The marathons and race walks belong to road events.

which often test the limits of people's endurance.

In the combined events.

the athletes are required to complete in a series of track and field events.

The points are based on their performance in each event.

and the person with the most points wins.

Athletics is, in many ways, the best embodiment of the Olympic motto.

' Faster, higher, stronger '.

The many wonders and achievements in athletics always inspire people.

to pursue the true spirit of sportsmanship.