Kyle Cassidy and three other members of the Annenberg Running Group were stretching on the grounds of the University of Pennsylvania, waiting for a few latecomers. The Penn colleagues and other community members meet three days a week for a nearly 30-minute jog and an occasional lecture. That’s right—during some runs, one of them delivers a talk. Topics range from the brain to Bitcoin.
But on this day last January, it would not be their normal run. The first clue that something was unusual was the man who sprinted past them. “What an amazing speed!” Cassidy told Runner’s World admiringly. Cassidy discovered why the sprinter was so fleet of foot when another man ran by, yelling, “Help! He took my phone and laptop!”
At that very point, the group did what running clubs do: They ran, trailing the suspect down the streets of Philadelphia until he ducked into a construction site. Cassidy ran around to the far side of the site to cut the thief off while the others wandered the neighborhood hoping he had thrown the loot in a backyard.
No luck. So they decided to ask residents whether they’d seen the guy. When they knocked on the door of one row house, they were in for a surprise. They didn’t know he had hidden behind a bush by that very house. As the owner opened the door, the suspect rushed out from behind the bush and right into the arms of campus police, who’d joined the chase shortly behind the runners.
The members of this running group are not hard-core athletes. But they do understand the benefit of a little exercise. “Running is typically a useless sport where you turn fat cells into heat,” Cassidy told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “But occasionally it can be useful, and here was one of those opportunities.”
【小题1】Why do the group members gather together?| A．To do some stretching. | B．To have a regular run. |
| C．To deliver a lecture. | D．To cover some topics. |
| A．pushed | B．rushed | C．jumped | D．escaped |
| A．the help of the runners | B．the owner of the row house |
| C．the joint efforts of the people | D．the campus police on guard |
| A．Athletic and generous. | B．Courageous and ambitious. |
| C．Thoughtful and strict. | D．Helpful and humorous. |
