After winning the women’s wheelchair race 1,500m-T54 at the 4th Asian Para Games in Hangzhou on Oct. 23, 26-year-old Zhou Zhaoqian from China said it’s her best-ever birthday present. In the leading group from the start, Zhou followed the first two athletes closely, who are also from China. She accelerated in the last 300 meters, and finally sealed the victory with 3 minutes and 31.43 seconds, just 0.02 seconds ahead of the silver medalist.

In the wheelchair race, athletes do not rotate (转动) the wheels with their hands. Instead, they hold their hands tightly like fists and “hit” them on the wheels to make them run at a high speed. “This event relies entirely on upper limb strength, and we train physical fitness and core strength through the bench press (卧推) and horizontal bars,” Zhou explained. In addition to maintaining center of gravity balance, they also need to quickly tap the steering wheel to make the wheelchair turn without speed decrease. “This event has similarities with sports such as swimming and cycling,” she added.

“The 1,500m is not my strongest event. I was lucky enough to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympics, and this time I think I won with luck again.” No matter how much she emphasizes fortune or tries to show humility, the calluses (老茧) in her hand let people know the effort she has put in. Zhou, who has already qualified for the Paris Paralympic Games, will also participate in the wheelchair races of the 100m, 400m, and 800m events at Hangzhou. “I hope to improve my form by participating in more competitions,” she said. 

As this is her first time to visit Hangzhou, which has left a very deep impression on her, Zhou gave a thumbs-up and said, “The scenery and people here in Hangzhou are even better than expected, absolutely amazing!”

1.What does the underlined word “accelerated” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A Stood up.

B Sped up.

C Slipped away.

D Slowed down.

解析：选B。B 词义猜测题。根据第一句的“After winning the women’s wheelchair race”，第二句的“In the leading group from the start, Zhou followed the first two athletes closely”以及后文的“and finally sealed the victory with 3 minutes and 31.43 seconds, just 0.02 seconds ahead of the silver medalist”可知，在当天比赛开始的时候，周召倩紧跟在前两名同样来自中国的运动员后面，而在比赛后半段，排在第三位的周召倩突然加速开始超越，超过了前面的两个人夺得冠军。故选B。

2.What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?

A How athletes do wheelchair races.

B What is needed in the wheelchair race.

C Why wheelchair race is similar to cycling.

D How to drive a wheelchair smoothly and safely.

解析：选A。A 段落大意题。根据第二段中的描述“In the wheelchair race, athletes...”以及“In addition to maintaining center of gravity balance, they also need to...”可知，本段主要描述轮椅竞速运动员们是如何进行比赛的。故选A。

3.What does the writer think of Zhou Zhaoqian?

A She is lucky.

B She is humble.

C She is skillful.

D She is practical.

解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据第三段第三句的“No matter how much she emphasizes fortune or tries to show humility, the calluses in her hand let people know the effort she has put in.”可知，从周召倩手上的老茧可以看出她有多努力，但她一直强调自己赢得比赛靠的是运气，并且试图表现出谦逊。由此可见，作者认为周召倩很谦虚。故选B。

4.Which word can best describe Zhou Zhaoqian’s attitude to Hangzhou?

A Annoyed.

B Curious.

C Proud.

D Fond.

解析：选D。D 推理判断题。根据最后一段中的“a very deep impression”“gave a thumbs-up”以及“even better than expected, absolutely amazing”等可知，周召倩非常喜爱杭州。故选D。