A
Thirteen, for me, was a challenging year. My parents divorced and I moved to a new town with my father, far from my old family and friends. I was terribly lonely and would cry myself to sleep each night. To ease my sadness, my father purchased an old horse for me at a local auction. I named him Cowboy.
Cowboy was undoubtedly the ugliest horse in the world. But I didn't care. I loved him beyond all reason.
I joined a riding club and suffered rude comments and mean snickers about Cowboy's looks. I never let on about how I felt, but deep inside, my heart was breaking. The other members rode beautiful, registered horses.
When Cowboy and I entered the events where the horse is judged on appearance, we were quickly shown__the__gate. No amount of preparation and love would turn Cowboy into a beauty. My only chance to compete would be in the speed events. I chose the jumping race.
One girl named Becky rode a big brown horse in the race events. She always won the blue ribbons. Needless to say, she didn't feel threatened when I competed against her at the next show. She didn't need to. I came in next to last.
The stinging memory of Becky's smirks (得意的笑) made me determined to beat her. For the whole next month I woke up early every day and rode Cowboy five miles to the arena(竞技场). We practised running and jumping for hours in the hot sun and then I would walk Cowboy home totally exhausted.
All of our hard work didn't make me feel confident by the time the show came. I sat at the gate and sweated it out while I watched Becky and her horse charge through the course and finish in first place.
My turn finally came. I put on my hat, rubbed Cowboy's neck and entered the arena. At the signal, we dashed toward the first fence, jumped it without trouble and raced on to the next one. Cowboy then flew over the second, third and fourth fences like a bird and I turned him toward the finish line.
As we crossed the line, the crowd was shocked into silence. Cowboy and I had beaten Becky and her fancy horse by two seconds!
I gained much more than a blue ribbon that day. At thirteen, I realised that no matter what the odds, I'd always come out a winner if I wanted something badly enough to work for it.
( C )21．The underlined expression “shown the gate” in Paragraph 4 most probably means “________”.
A．told how to enter the arena
B．shown how to make the horse beautiful
C．removed from the competition early
D．told to enter the events
( D )22．Why was the writer not confident of victory?
A．He was an inexperienced rider.
B．He believed he was unpopular with the crowd.
C．He had not practised enough.
D．He thought his horse wasn't as good as the others'.
( D )23．What did the writer learn from his experience?
A．Life can sometimes be unfair.
B．One should not make judgements based on appearance.
C．A positive attitude will bring success.
D．Anything is possible if one tries hard enough.
( C )24．The best title for the story is ________．
A．Neck and Neck
B．A Horse's Tale
C．A Run to Remember
D．A Difficult Age
答案及解析：
【语篇解读】文章讲述了作者艰难地训练马匹，最后参加比赛获得第一名的故事。这个故事告诉我们只要努力，一切皆有可能。
21．C 词义猜测题。由第四段中的“No amount of preparation and love would turn Cowboy into a beauty.(再多的准备工作和爱也不会把Cowboy变得美丽)”可知，Cowboy不漂亮，不能参加评价外貌的比赛。所以shown the gate意思是“劝退”。C项“早点退出比赛”与之意思相近。故选C项。
22．D 细节理解题。由第三段中的“The other members rode beautiful, registered horses.”可知，作者没有信心赢得比赛是因为他认为自己的马没有别人的好。故选D项。
23．D 推理判断题。由倒数第一段中的“At thirteen, I realised that no matter what the odds, I'd always come out a winner if I wanted something badly enough to work for it.”可判断出，作者从这次经历中意识到：如果一个人足够努力，一切皆有可能。故选D项。
24．C 主旨大意题。文章讲述了作者艰难地训练马匹，最后参加比赛获得第一名的故事。C项“一次难忘的比赛”为短文最佳标题。故选C项。
