阅读理解。 The crowd stopped their talks as

题目：

阅读理解。

     The crowd stopped their talks as the runners came to the starting line. At this moment, all eyes were

on two people. Mark, the favorite for the gold medal, and Jim, a new face to all.

     Mark had won a lot of competitions in 3000 meters and was thought to be the finest runner in the country.

Until a few months before, Jim was almost unknown outside his hometown. But he had won one competition

after another, which was a big surprise. Many people thought Jim would also do very well this time. It was

going to be an exciting race.

     Bang! The race started. For the first half, Jim ran with Mark in the leading group. At 1700 meters, Jim

was about one meter behind Mark. Suddenly, the crowd stopped cheering. Mark fell and lay on the grass. He

tried to get up, but his hand had been injured and was out of the race.

     The crowd believed that Jim had tripped (绊倒) Mark and they began to shout at him. Jim looked back

and slowed down. Then _____. But the race was over for Jim, too. He was far behind others now. Jim was

very unhappy because of what had happened.

     Later, after the judges (裁判) had studied the video of the race, they decided that Jim had done nothing

wrong. Jim went to see Mark and said,"I'm sorry for..." "It's not your fault. I got injured myself in the leg.

Such a thing never happens to me. I've got to see the doctor."

     The two went on to become good friends and were often seen training together.

1. Why was the race going to be exciting?

A. Because it was a 3000-meter race.

B. Because there were only two runners in the competition.

C. Because both Mark and Jim were very good runners.

D. Because a large crowd of people came to watch the competition.

2. The crowd stopped cheering suddenly because ________.

A. it began to rain heavily

B. Mark fell and lay on the grass

C. Jim was about one meter behind Mark

D. Jim ran with Mark in the leading group

3. Which of the following can be put in the blank (空白处) in Paragraph 4?

A. he went on with the race

B. the doctors came to help

C. The judges told him to stop

D. he didn't know what had happened