坚定的梦想无可动摇，爱尔兰雪橇手从零开始的奥运之旅
Elsa Desmond knows she is not going to win a medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics. She is not even expecting to place in the top half of the competitors. But Desmond is competing as the first women’s luge(无舵雪橇) Olympian from Ireland. And she feels like she has already won. In the sport of luge, athletes race small sleds down an ice track at very high speeds. Luge athletes are called sliders.
Desmond will not be in China for long. She competed on Monday in the opening night in the women’s luge event and she is expected to leave on Friday. She plans to return to work in Ireland on Saturday as a doctor. She has delayed parts of her job to compete in the Olympics. “As the founder of the modern Olympics said, ‘It’s not about who wins, it’s about the fight to get there,’” Desmond said.
Although she will not win in Beijing, she has already won some fights. She had been given many reasons why she could not compete: she is too short, she did not start sliding at a young age, and she could not balance a medical job with competing in a sport. The biggest difficulty simply might have been that Ireland did not have a luge organization. So, she started one herself. And now, officially, she is a luge Olympian.
She was the 26th sled to cross the line in the first run of the women’s race on Monday night. At that point, she was in 26th place—faster than none of the other athletes. That did not matter to her. She celebrated with a large smile on her face. By the end of the night, she was the last in the competition in the 34th place. “I have another job, I have to self-fund, I have all these really visible challenges,” Desmond said. “But I think everyone’s worked as hard as they can to be here.”
Desmond got the honor of representing her country in Beijing. She also was given the honor of being one of two people holding Ireland’s flag during the opening ceremony on Friday.
1.Which of the following titles is NOT fit for Elsa Desmond?
A A single loser.
B A woman doctor.
C A luge Olympian.
D A perseverant slider.
解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据全文可知，埃尔莎·德斯蒙德是爱尔兰第一位冬奥会无舵雪橇参赛选手，同时她又是一名医生，尽管奥运成绩不理想，但她绝不是一名失败者。故选A。
2.What’s Desmond’s next arrangement after the competition?
A She will enhance intensity of training.
B She will continue to engage in medical career.
C She will have several days off for a good rest.
D She will sum up experience and strive to fight again.
解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据第二段的“She plans to return to work in Ireland on Saturday as a doctor.”可知，德斯蒙德是一名医生，她计划周六返回爱尔兰工作。故选B。
3.What can we know from the third paragraph?
A Desmond was unable to forgive her failure.
B Desmond was well-prepared for the competition.
C There is still no luge organization in Ireland now.
D People thought Desmond unable to compete in Beijing.
解析：选D。D 推理判断题。根据第三段的“She had been given many reasons why she could not compete...”可知，有人给了她许多无法参加比赛的原因，也就是有很多人认为她不能参加北京冬奥会。故选D。
4.What can be learned from Desmond’s experience?
A It is important for an athlete to win in every aspect.
B What matters is not winning but participating.
C We’d better conserve strength and store up energy.
D Success comes from striving upwards with strict demands.
解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据第四段的“That did not matter to her.”以及“But I think everyone’s worked as hard as they can to be here”可知虽然埃尔莎·德斯蒙德的奥运成绩不理想，但她认为这并不是最重要的，重要的是已尽她所能做到最好，并享受这一过程，正如奥林匹克精神所推崇的那样——重在参与！故选B。