Portland Trail Blazers’ player Damian Lillard has been named by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to replace injured Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin in the 2015 NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 15 in New York City, making him joined on the West team by another Trail Blazers’ player LaMarcus Aldridge, an All-Star for the fourth season. 

Damian Lillard had said he was displeased about not being named an All-Star by the coaches. Silver previously replaced Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant with Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, further increasing Lillard’s anxiety about the selection process. It’s reasonable for him to feel disrespected because he produces at a high level. He averages 21.6 points and 6.3 assists a game for the 34-17 Blazers. Many people believed he deserved to be there, so they were surprised at his initial exclusion even though there are so many outstanding backcourt players in the Western Conference. 

The commissioner's selection may ease that pain. However, a Blazers fan Josh Thatcher may be crying.

When Damian Lillard was left off the team and he expressed how bad it was for him and how upset he felt, a Portland fan Josh Thatcher was right there with him but it’s even worse for him—he had bet on the Internet On Saturday, Jan. 29 that he would eat a shoe if Lillard didn’t make the All-Star team.

Josh Thatcher is a man of his word. He posted a video to his Instagram page last Saturday. It recorded the process that he ate a shoe. Thatcher got a used baby shoe from a Goodwill thrift store, boiled it and then made it into pieces. Next he mixed some pieces with fruit and pressed the mixture into juice. At the end of the video he drank the juice. It’s as part of a larger smoothie（一种饮料）, but this is still a pretty incredible commitment to one’s word.

Thatcher needn’t have eaten that shoe. But how could he predict another Western Conference player should go down and Lillard later made the team as an injury replacement?  

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1.When will the 2015 NBA All-Star Game be held?

A On Saturday.

B On Sunday.

C On Friday.

D On Tuesday.

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。原文第一段提到全明星赛在2月15日举办，第四段提到Josh Thatcher在1月29日星期六立了一个赌约。推算可知2月15日是星期二。

2.Who will play in the All-Star Game?

A Blake Griffin.

B Adam Silver.

C DeMarcus Cousins.

D Kobe Bryant.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据第二段中的“Silver previously replaced Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant with Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins”可知C正确。其他三个人中，Adam Silver是NBA总裁，Kobe Bryant和Blake Griffin因伤退出，都不会上场打比赛。

3.From the passage we know Lillard was selected to the All-Star Game before because ________.

A he didn’t play well

B no all-star players got injured

C there were many great players

D he was dissatisfied with coaches

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。此题可以用排除法解题。第二段介绍了利拉德本赛季所取得的成绩及人们对他的评价，所以A错误；在已有一名全明星球员受伤的情况下，他也没有能够顶替对方，所以B错误；利拉德是在没有被教练投票选为全明星后才感到不爽，D属于本末倒置。利拉德没能入选全明星说明其他得到认可的球员入选了，所以C正确。

4.What does the underlined words in the fourth paragraph “the team” refer to?

A The Trail Blazers team.

B The West All-Star team.

C The Sacramento Kings team.

D The Los Angeles Clippers team.

解析：选B。B 词义理解题。全文只提到利拉德一开始被NBA全明星赛排斥在外，因此 team指的是全明星队。所以B正确。

5.We can infer the author thinks Josh Thatcher is a/an_______ person.

A considerate

B optimistic

C reliable

D incredible

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。根据倒数第二段的“Josh Thatcher is a man of his word”可知作者认为Thatcher是一个信守承诺的人，而且从“It’s as part of a larger smoothie, but this is still a pretty incredible commitment to one’s word”中的“incredible commitment”可知作者高度评价他的这种品质，由此可推知作者认为Thatcher是一个可信赖的人。