“On the first day of 2024, I saw the snows of Kilimanjaro (乞力马扎罗山),” said Xu Zhuoyuan, a 17-year-old mountain climber from Hunan.
Xu’s mountain climbing journey began on a family trip to Xizang and Sichuan four years ago. Passing by Mount Siguniang in Sichuan, she enjoyed its beauty and decided to try climbing it. She fell in love with mountain climbing right then and there.
For the next few years, Xu did hard training. She went to climb peaks (山峰) over 5,000 meters and doing daily physical exercise like running, swimming and bike riding. All that hard work got her ready for the big challenges she would face on Kilimanjaro.
Above 4,000 meters on Mount Kilimanjaro, the weather is similar to a desert, with big temperature differences. The whole climb took seven days, and staying warm and avoiding heat loss (损失) were the main challenges. Xu had to keep an eye on the temperature and change her clothes when the temperature changed.
During this experience, Xu was climbing with Xia Boyu, the first Chinese climber who reached the top of Mount Qomolangma with a prosthetic (假肢的) leg. “Every time I felt like giving up, just seeing Xia was enough to inspire me. He still kept going although he was having bloodied (流血的) legs from his prosthesis,” Xu said.
Looking ahead, Xu has set great goals for herself. She plans to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents (大陆) and visit the North and South Poles by the time she’s 18. That’s her “7+2 program”.
【小题1】The passage mainly tells the story of a young【小题2】To prepare for big challenges, Xu did daily physical exercise like
【小题3】Xu
【小题4】According to paragraph 5, why could Xia Boyu inspire Xu when she felt like giving up?
【小题5】What do you think of Xu Zhouyuan? Why?
