At the end of 2023, Hefei held a marathon. Among so many runners, ____1____ old couple caught the attention of many people. They ____2____ (be) 86-year-old Hu Yingfu and 77-year-old Wang Zhangmin. Hu finished the half marathon in 2 hours and 21 minutes, and his wife, Wang, completed it in 2 hours and 23 minutes.

In fact, this wasn’t the ____3____ (one) time that the couple had taken part in the marathon. In 1997, the couple joined a running club. At first, they started running ____4____ (keep) fit. But over time, they found it was a relaxing sport and became more interested in it. In 2004, they took part in a marathon for the elderly. To ____5____ (they) surprise, Wang won the fourth place.

In April 2011, the couple finished their first half marathon ____6____ (safe) in Yangzhou. In December of the same year, they finished the full marathon in Shanghai. At that time, Hu was 74 years old, and Wang was 65 years old.

Since then, the couple have started their “marathon journey”. Over next ten years, they have taken part in many ____7____ (race) across the country every year. And they have completed ____8____ (many) than 100 marathon events.

For years, they have been running 10,000 meters every day. They have covered over 40,000 kilometers ____9____ won 203 medals in many national sports events.

Through running, the couple have made friends _____10_____ other runners, and influenced by them, more and more young people have joined running.

1.1.

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B

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D

解析：选an。冠词用法。空格后 “old couple”（老年夫妇）为可数名词复数，此处表 “一对”，且 “old” 以元音音素 /əʊ/ 开头，需用不定冠词 an 修饰，故填 an。

2.2.

A

B

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D

解析：选are。主谓一致。主语 “They” 指代前文的 “old couple”，为复数，全文时态以一般现在时为主，描述客观事实，故填 are。

3.3.

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B

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D

解析：选first。序数词用法。空格前有定冠词 “the”，结合语境 “这并非第一次参加”，需用基数词 one 的序数词形式 first，表 “第一次”，故填 first。

4.4.

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B

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D

解析：选to keep。非谓语动词（不定式表目的）。此处 “跑步” 的目的是 “保持健康”，不定式 to do 可表目的，故填 to keep。

5.5.

A

B

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D

解析：选their。形容词性物主代词。“to one’s surprise” 为固定搭配，意为 “令某人意外的是”，they 的形容词性物主代词为 their，指代 “这对夫妇的”，故填 their。

6.6.

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D

解析：选safely。副词修饰动词。空格处需修饰动词 “finished”（完成），形容词 safe 的副词形式为 safely，表 “安全地完成”，故填 safely。

7.7.

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B

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D

解析：选races。名词复数。空格前有 “many”（许多）修饰，可数名词 race 需用复数形式 races，表 “多项赛事”，故填 races。

8.8.

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D

解析：选more。形容词比较级。空格后有 “than”（比），为比较级的标志词，many 的比较级为 more，“more than” 意为 “超过”，故填 more。

9.9.

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D

解析：选and。连词用法。空格前后 “have covered over 40,000 kilometers”（总里程超 4 万公里）与 “won 203 medals”（斩获 203 枚奖牌）为并列关系，需用连词 and 连接，故填 and。

10.10.

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D

解析：选with。固定搭配。“make friends with sb.” 为固定搭配，意为 “与某人交朋友”，故填 with。