William Lindesay has been interested in the Great Wall of China since seeing it in a school atlas(地图册) as a child in England. He can vividly recall seeing in the “Oxford School Atlas” the Great Wall with its battlement symbol. From that moment, he had in his mind that when he grew up he’d go to China and walk along the Great Wall from end to end.
Lindesay’s about 3, 000 km solo run along the Great Wall began in 1987. Running the length of the wall was a brave expedition(探险), venturing(敢于去) into sparsely populated regions where there was little chance of help if the runner had an accident. During another trip, Lindesay and his team ventured deep into the Gobi Desert. The explorers almost died from dehydration(脱水). In total, Lindesay estimated in an interview that he had spent about 1, 600 days of his life on the great Wall in all seasons.
Lindesay and his wife, Wu Qi, whom he got to know and fell in love with during his trips in China, had a farmhouse at the foot of the wall. During his exploration, he noticed some sections of the wall were badly damaged and covered with litter. Modernization and development were making the situation even worse. “Some people say it will take generations to change; I say we don’t have generations of time. It’s got to be much quicker,” he said. Lindesay always carries a garbage bag with him in the wilderness, picking up litter along the way. Lindesay uses a garbage bag as his calling card. The cloth bag bears a set of nine simple guidelines in Chinese, which calls on people to obey while traveling or camping outdoors: “Take your own garbage home”“ Pick up litter left by others”“Don’ t damage plants or flowers, or pick fruit” and lots more.
【小题1】What inspired William Lindesay's dream of exploring the Great Wall?
| A．Seeing a movie about the Great Wall. |
| B．Experiencing a war for the Great Wall. |
| C．Surfing a website about the Great Wall. |
| D．Admiring the Great Wall in the school atlas. |
【小题2】What does the underlined word “sparsely” mean?
| A．Remotely. | B．Rarely. | C．Frequently. | D．Largely. |
【小题3】What worsened the situation of the Great wall?
| A．The destroyed ecosystems. |
| B．Waste caused by farms |
| C．The increasing tourists. |
| D．Modernization and development. |
【小题4】What sort of man is William Lindesay?
| A．Adventurous and caring about the environment. |
| B．Determined and grateful to his wife. |
| C．Warm-hearted and polite to his teammates. |
| D．Considerate and optimistic about the life. |
