90C1-11
1. Many people in England believe that something is seriously wrong with their country because
C. their team has lost many games over the past decade.
| Quotation | Explanation | Skills tested |
| The abysmal failure of the English cricket team, doubly underlined by the latest in a series of crushing defeats by the West Indies team during the last ten years, has provoked an outburst of self- criticism, and blame in the press and the bars. What is wrong with England as a country that it cannot find eleven sportsmen to give the West Indies team a real game? (lines 1-4) | These lines show that people thought England is seriously wrong because they lost in their cricket team over the past ten years. | Reading for specific information |
2. The phrase ` a real game; in line 4 means
A. an event played by teams of roughly similar ability and performance.
This question tests the candidates' ability of use of common English expression. Option B is wrong because ` a real game' is not an official game; C is wrong because it is nothing related to career of the sportsmen; option D is wrong because it is not related to the length. `A real game' refers to similar quality which cannot see who is going to win until the very last minute.
3. The writer implies that the British government should
D. do very little or nothing to improve British sport.
| Quotation | Explanation | Skills tested |
| And what should be done about demands that the government does something about it, principally something that involves spending a lot of public money? Should the government subsidise facilities so that thousands of young men and women may devote their lives to lifting heavy iron weights, so that every four year one of their number can prove him or herself the fifth, third or even second best in the world at that particular pursuit? The sportsmen, however, argue that unless the government acts, British athletes will remain forever losers. (lines 18-23) | We see the tone of the writer is negative from the very beginning. The loss of cricket team is only one of the examples that British failed. The tone of the writer is negative, but the sportsmen do not agree with the writer. `Should' used at the beginning of the sentence shows a negative viewpoint, and the tone is strong. His viewpoint is to do nothing, is contrastive to the sportsmen that the government should act. | ¡@ Reading for tone |
4. The Australian self-image is
A. one which is contrary to actual facts.
| Quotation | Explanation | Skills tested |
| The Australians fancy themselves tough, sporty outdoor types, beating the elements at their own game. In their self-image, they somehow overlook the fact that theirs is the most urbanised society in the world and they are also the world heaviest beer drinkers.( lines 24-27) | `Overlook' suggests that something is missing, what they see is not `real', contrary to the actual facts. | Reading for specific information |
5. According to the writer, in paragraph 7, people have long regarded sport as
D. much more important than it actually is.
| Quotation | Explanation | Skills tested |
| It is vain, of course, to argue
that sport is a splendid diversion and a healthy pastime, but not an activity worthy of a
civilized individual's entire attention, efforts or ambition. Sporting achievement has
always been given more public recognition than it deserves, and an error that has lasted
thousands of years is not easily corrected. (lines 29-31) |
`Given more public recognition than it deserves' means `regards sport as much more important than it actually is. | ¡@ Reading for tone and specific information |
6. In paragraph 7, the writer believes that government should
C. do very little to help sport.
| Quotation | Explanation | Skills tested |
| Nevertheless, there is no reason for government to inflate further the importance of sport by involving themselves in the improvement of standard. (lines 31-2) | `No reason' shows the negative attitude of the writer to the reader. It matches with the tone of Q3. | Reading for tone and theme |
7. The writer suggests that nowadays competitive sport promotes
B. an unnatural and dangerous love of ones' country.
| Quotation | Explanation | Skills tested |
| When the Australian team fails at sporting competitions such as the Olympics, it is considered a national disaster, and people even think of emigrating(lines 27-28). | The writer quotes an example of the an unnatural and dangerous love of one's country. Losing a game is considered as a natural disaster which is unnatural and dangerous. The Australians even think of emigrating. | ¡@ Reading for tone. |
8. Dictators use international competitive sport for their own advantage
C. democratic leaders should do nothing to follow this lead.
| Quotation | Explanation | Skills tested |
| There is another aspect of modern sport which is however, very serious, and that is the ugly nationalism which it so powerfully encourages. The days when participation in the game was the important thing have long since gone. Hilter played an important part in the decline of modern sport, for he was among the first to realise the power of illogical argument: a German wins the 1,000 meters, therefore, Hilter's Nazi Government works.... (lines 34-40) | The writer first airs out his
viewpoint in the topic sentences, and use examples to support their arguments. In the last sentence of that paragraph, line 40, the writer states: This is a challenge democracies should ignore. `Ugly nationalism' implies dictators like Hilter use international competitive sport for glory of his own fame `A change democracies should ignore' means they should not follow the examples of dictators to use sports to arouse national feeling. |
¡@ Reading for tone. |
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9. A lot of the British public wrongly believe that
A. Britain is always better than all other countries.
| Quotation | Explanation | Skills tested |
| Good sound beatings on the sports field might eventually teach these people the fact that not everything British is best. One might go further: even after years of Thatcherite scolding, the great majority of people in Britain are still unaware of just how far behind its competitors their country has fallen(lines 43-6). | These lines show that the British still do not know that Britain is not always the best. | ¡@ Reading for specific information |
10. The writer argues that losing international sports competitions
B. is actually beneficial.
| Quotation | Explanation | Skills tested |
| ¡@ Such defeats do no harm to the national interest. And therefore to British athletes of track and field, to its players of bat and ball, I say, `Well done, boys, keep up the bad work. Your country needs you' (lines 48-50) |
Judging from line 48, and the tone of the writer speaking to the sportsmen, losing international sports competition is actually good to Britain. | ¡@ Reading for specific information and to |
11. In general, according to the writer, the UK's poor performance in competitive sport
D. is not really something to be worried about.
This question tests the candidates' ability of reading for theme and tone. Similar to Q10, poor performance in sport is not really sth to be worried about.