单选题 Is athletic expertise attained or innate? Those who have suffered the tongue-lashing of a cruel games master at school might be forgiven for doubting the idea that anyone and everyone is capable of great sporting achievement, if only they would put enough effort into it. Practice may make perfect, but not all are built in ways that make it worth bothering in the first place.
The latest evidence of this truth has been gathered by Sabrina Lee of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and Stephen Piazza at Pennsylvania State University. They have looked at the physical structure of short-distance runners and found that their feet are built differently from those ofcouch potatoes.
Dr. Lee and Dr. Piazza already knew that short-distance runners tend to have a higher proportion of fast-contracting muscle fibres in their legs than more sedentary folk can muster. They suspected, though, that they would find differences in the bone structure as well. And they did.
They looked at seven university sprinters who specialize in the 100-metre dash and five 200-metre specialists, and compared them with 12 non-athletic university students of the same height. In particular, they looked at the sizes of bones of the toes and heel. They also used ultrasonic scanning to measure the sliding motion of the Achilles tendons of their volunteers as their feet moved up and down. This allowed them to study the length of the lever created by the tendon as it pulls on the back of the heel to make the foot flex and push off the ground.
Dr. Lee and Dr. Piazza found that the toes of their short-distance runners averaged 8.2cm in length, while those of common people averaged 7.3cm. The length of the lever of bone that the Achilles tendon pulls on also differed, being a quarter shorter in short-distance runners.
These findings suggest short-distance runners get better contact with the ground by having longer toes. That makes sense, as it creates a firmer platform to push against. In a short-distance running race, acceleration off the block is everything. Cheetahs, the champion of short-distance runners of the animal kingdom, have non-flexible claws that give a similar advantage.
It is possible—just—that the differences in physical structure are the result of long and rigorous training. But it is unlikely. Far more probable is that the old saying of coaches, that great short-distance runners are born not made, is true. Everyone else, games masters included, should just get used to the idea.

单选题 According to the passage, those who have doubted the idea that anyone can achieve in sports should______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。第一段第二、三句提到：如果有人曾经因为不相信只要足够努力，任何人都能在体育上取得非凡成就这一观点而在学校里受到体育老师的粗暴训斥，现在他可能会获得原谅了。熟也许能生巧，但不是所有人天生都值得费心去大量练习。由此可以看出，作者认为由于不是每人都有天赋，因此应该原谅那些不相信熟能生巧的人，不应该强迫没有天赋的人练习。因此C是正确选项。

单选题 Which ofthe followings is NOT included in the latest evidence gathered by Dr. Lee and Dr. Piazza?

单选题 The purpose of using ultrasonic scanning was______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。根据第四段最后两句话“他们还用超声波扫描测量了志愿者的脚上下移动时跟腱的滑动。这样他们就能研究出跟腱拉伸脚跟后部以使足部弯曲、蹬离地面时所形成的杠杆的长度”以及第五段最后一句“跟腱拉仲时形成的骨骼杠杆长度也不一样，短跑运动员的骨骼杠杆长度要短四分之一”可知，使用超声波扫描的目的是测量跟腱拉伸所形成的骨骼杠杆长度，以便进行比较，因此应该选择D项。

单选题 According to Dr. Lee and Dr. Piazza, which of the followings are NOT different?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 是非判断题。第三段第一句提到“李博士和皮亚扎博士早已发现，和长期静坐不动的人相比，短跑运动员的腿部有更多的快速收缩肌纤维”，因此排除A。第五段第一句指出“李博士和皮亚扎博士发现，这些短跑运动员的脚趾平均长度为8.2厘米，而那些普通人脚趾的平均长度为7.3厘米”，因此排除B。注意：虽然第四段第二句提到“他们特别研究了这些人的脚趾骨骼和脚跟的大小”，但全文并无一处提到脚跟大小有所不同_所以C项符合题意。根据第三段最后两句“他们怀疑他们还能在骨骼结构中找出这两类人的差异。结果他们确实找到了”，也可以排除D。