Over time， I did get a little bit faster. However， I was really slow. In races， I would finish close to last. I‘d always have to stop more than once， especially in the longer races， which were 2. 5 to 2. 8 km. After every race， I‘d go home and cry. But 1 still didn‘t stop running， holding onto that picture of crossing the finishing line and finally doing well.

　　Then one of my friends joined the team， too. She could run easily and even came in the 18th in a big race! I felt so slow and my confidence(自信) was lower than ever. I became so nervous when I thought of the races that I wanted to give up badly.

　　Still. I refund to. Finally. 1 realized that the reason I was to nervous was that I was always worried that I wasn‘t ready for them. So a few weeks before the next 2. 8-km race. I practiced running almost 3 km every day. which helped me improve my pace(步伐).

　　When the time came for the big race， all that practicing really paid off. I stopped only once and my pace was so much better.

　　I realized that I’d finally gotten happiness with running. But the funny thing was. It didn‘t come from doing better， Instead， it came from the fact that I hid tried harder and never given up.

　　四川中考英語(yǔ)閱讀練習(xí)題目：

　　1. Before she took the 1.8-km course， the writer________.

　　A. knew a lot about it 　　B. wanted to be a great runner

　　C. practiced running every day 　　D. never thought running so tired

　　2. The writer was nervous about the race because she_______.

　　A. had to stop to drink water 　　B. was worried she wasn’t ready

　　C. run slower than anyone else 　　D. could find no coach to help her

　　3. The underlined phrase ”paid off” probably mean “______”.

　　A. brought good results 　　B. coat a lot 　　C. saved much time 　　D. came to fail

　　4. It can be inferred(推斷) from the passage that the writer______.

　　A. got angry with her friend 　　B. wasn‘t pleased with herself

　　C. was a person with a strong mind 　　D. had no Interest In running

　　四川中考英語(yǔ)閱讀練習(xí)答案：

　　1.D 細(xì)節(jié)理解題。由第一段第一句“...on the 1，8-km course I‘d never really run before and I thought the course would be easy. ”可知，作者原以為越野賽跑是很容易的事，故選D。

　　2.B 細(xì)節(jié)理解題。由第四段第二句“I was to nervous was that I was always worried that I wasn‘t ready for them.”可知答案選B。

　　3.A 詞義猜測(cè)題。根據(jù)語(yǔ)境，我們可猜測(cè)：當(dāng)大賽臨近時(shí)，我所有的練習(xí)都得到了“回報(bào)”，故選A。

　　4.C 推理判斷題。從全文可以看出，作者是一個(gè)有主見(jiàn)的人。