泽熙美文Reading Comprehension
Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Clubs have both taken the opportunity to travel to Spain this month to train in less testing weather conditions than those which have, quite literally, already blown around the UK in January of 2007.
Each group of athletes has been focused on training to the maximum, working on technique and molding themselves into two potential fighting units per Club for the 2007 Boat Race, sponsored by Xchanging. One set will be in the Blue Boat for each club and one set will race as reserves in Isis, for Oxford, and Goldie, for Cambridge.
In these modern times, the Head Coach for each club has a huge input on selection even though the crew is still named by the President. Just twenty years ago the balance was not quite the same.
The year 1987 will always be remembered in the history of this great Race as the year of the “mutiny” at Oxford It is a tale which has since been retold and reworked in both a book and a movie.
This was the season for which mature Scottish student, Donald Macdonald, was elected President, having already won a Blue in 1986. Macdonald reappointed Daniel Topolski (now a renowned rowing journalist and broadcaster) as Chief Coach.
Part of the 1986/87 squad at Oxford included American Chris Clark, now a coach at an American University, and four fellow US internationals.
Allegedly, a split appeared in the squad between the American quintet, all experienced and leading oarsmen, and those rowers closest to Macdonald. The Scot’s group were happy to follow Topotski’s regime whilst the others were not so sure.
Following a contentious seat racing trial in January of 1987, Topolski decided to move Clark to the bow-side of the beat. Clark disagreed. Topolski held firm. As a result Clark and his “group” within the squad decided not to row and sought a takeover.
The squabble was played out extensively in the U.K. national media and caught the public imagination. Macdonald sought support from the college captains and eventually won a vote of confidence by 28 votes to 11.
Without the Americans, the Oxford crew was immediately considered a lost cause. Cambridge were overwhelming favorites to win.
As it turned out, though, this was a Race which would prove why sport, and particularly The Boat Race, can be so fascinating.
1. The phase “blown around” underlined in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
A.discuss
B.walk around
C.doubt
D.sweep
正确答案：D
[解析] 本题为词义题。blown around指“(风)吹遍，刮遍某个地方”，这里在具体语境中是指英国各地都遭遇了坏天气，因此D项“(风、浪等迅猛地)扫过，掠过(某地)”语义最为接近。
A项“讨论”、B项“四处走”、C项“怀疑”，均不符合题意。
[参考译文] 2007年1月，牛津和剑桥的划船俱乐部均抓住了机会在本月前往西班牙训练，英国本月的天气状况给训练带来了很大的困难，而西班牙的天气状况则适宜很多。
各组运动员均全神贯注训练以达到最好的状态。每个俱乐部分成实力相当的两个小组，他们不断打磨技术，备战由Xchanging公司赞助的2007年大学生划船大赛。牛津大学的俱乐部叫“伊西斯(Isis)”，剑桥的为“戈尔迪(Goldie)”，每个俱乐部均有一组登上“蓝船”进行比赛，另一组则作为后备力量。
在当代，尽管俱乐部成员照旧由主席指定，挑选总教练仍是一笔巨大的投入，20年前情况则不太相同。
1987年是该大赛历史上被永远记住的一年，人们称之为“牛津内乱之年”，当年的故事被写成书、拍成电影。不断被重写翻拍。
那年的赛季，一个名叫唐纳德·麦克唐纳(Donald Macelonald)的苏格兰成人学生被选为俱乐部主席，他是1986年划船大赛的“蓝奖”获得者。麦克唐纳重新聘请丹尼尔·托波尔斯基(Daniel Topolski)为主教练，托波尔斯基现在已是赫赫有名的赛艇记者和播音员。
1986和1987年俱乐部成员还包括一个美国人克里斯·克拉克(Chris Clark)，现为一美国大学教练，以及另外4个美国国际选手。
据说，当时美籍成员都是经验丰富的顶尖桨手，而俱乐部内其他的一些桨手则与麦克唐纳较为亲近，两拨人员之间产生了嫌隙。苏格兰成员十分乐意跟随托波尔基的指导，其他人则不是那么乐意。
1987年1月。在极具争议的定座试赛后，托波尔斯基决定将克拉克移到船舷位置，克拉克不同意，但托波尔斯基也坚持他的决定。最终克拉克和他的“团体”决定罢赛并要求由他们来接管俱乐部。
这场争端经英国国家媒体一炒作，闹得沸沸扬扬，引起了公众广泛关注。麦克唐纳寻求大学队长们的帮助，最终以28比11赢得了信任投票。
失去美国队员后，人们认为牛津大学船队必败无疑，而剑桥船队将取得压倒性胜利。
但最后结果出人意料，这也说明了为什么运动，尤其是划船大赛这么有吸引力。
2. It can be inferred that “Isis” and “Goldie” are the names of two ______.
A.places
B.teams
C.races
D.clubs
正确答案：D
[解析] 由第2段最后一句可知，每个大学的俱乐部内都会分出两队，一队上船比赛，一队留在俱乐部内作为后备，即留在”Isis” and “Goldie” ，因此 “Isis” and “Goldie” 为两个俱乐部的名字，选D项。
A、B、C三项均不符合文意，都可排除。
3. According to the passage, in crew-naming, the President ______.
A.has no influence in the Head Coach’s opinion
B.gives little care to the idea of the Head Coach
C.is the only one to make decisions
D.had greater say 20 years ago than today
正确答案：C
[解析] 由第3段第1句提到，在当代，俱乐部成员“照旧”由主席指定，is still说明以前成员也是由主席指定，因此C项正确。
A项“对主教练的观点完全无影响”、B项“甚少重视主教练的意见”在文中均无提及。D项“20年前的话语权比现在强”，既然俱乐部成员以往也是主席指定，现今也是由主席指定就无话语权的强弱对比之分，因此D项也排除。
4. The word “It” underlined in Paragraph 4 refers to ______
A.the year 1987
B.Club
C.Oxford
D.a book and a movie
正确答案：A
[解析] 由第4段最后一句可知这里It指代的就是前一句提到的1987年这个在划船比赛的历史上值得被铭记的年份，因此选A项。
B、C两项均不符合文意直接排除。D项具有一定干扰性，但细读可发现，是It(1987年事件)被改编成了a book and a movie(书和电影)，同样不符合题目要求。
5. The word quintet in Paragraph 7 refers to ______.
A.three people
B.four people
C.five people
D.six people
正确答案：C
[解析] 根据文意可知，quintet实际上是指第6段提到的“克拉克和其他4个美国队员”，一共5人，因此C项正确。
A、B、D三均不符合文意。
6. The split seemed to be caused by the disagreement between ______.
A.Topolski and Clark
B.Macdonald and Clark
C.Macdonald and Topolski
D.the Scottish students and the American oarsmen
正确答案：D
[解析] 本题问牛津大学俱乐部的内战是由于哪两方的分歧而引起的。第7段提到苏格兰桨手与教练更为亲密，而美国桨手则不然，两个“小团体”于是产生了嫌隙，因此D项正确。
A、B、C三项均不符合文意，但A项干扰项较强，因为文中提到了Topolski和Clark在座位安排方面产生了分歧，但该事件仅是内部嫌隙的具体表现之一，因此D项更符合。
7. The word “squabble” underlined in Paragraph 9 is closest in meaning to ______.
A.argument
B.controversy
C.dispute
D.debate
正确答案：A
[解析] 本题为近义词辨析题。squabble指“口角，小争吵”，文中具体指Topolski和Clark关于座位安排的分歧导致“内乱”的这场争执，因此A项一
