B
Paula Radcliffe，chasing a third London marathon title，says she has become a stronger person after her terrible experience at the 2004 Athens Games.
Radcliffe，who failed to complete the Olympic marathon and the 10,000 m last August，said，“Athens made me a stronger person and it made me care less about criticism.”
“In the past I wanted to please everyone，but I am going to listen even more to the people around me.”
She did not care about criticism made at the weekend by Liz McColgan，who felt Radcliffe should have rested and let her body recover after her failure in Athens.
“Liz is someone I look up to but she has not spoken to me since last year and if she really cared for me，I am sure she would have contacted me.”
Instead Radcliffe won the New York City marathon just 11 weeks after Athens.
“In New York I was not in my best state but I did know I was good enough to win the race.”
Radcliffe insisted her only goal in Sunday's race would be winning a third title and not chasing world records.
However，Radcliffe has not ruled out in the future chasing her‘final'world record time and questioned saying that marathon runners have the ability in their career to produce only four or five worldclass times.
“I do not think that—although I_cannot_put_a_number_on_it.”said Radcliffe.“That changes from person to person.”
Radcliffe is sure she can better her winning London 2003 performance at some point in the future.Following a successful threemonth training period in the United States，the 31yearold will chase a third title on Sunday after her first victory in 2002 and again 12 months later.
Radcliffe clocked a time of 2：18：56 in her first 42.2kilometre race three years ago.
Afterwards she set a“mixed course”mark of 2：17：18 five months later in Chicago before lowering that to a time of 2：15：25 in the 2003 London event.
40.Radcliffe's failure in Athens made her________.
A.develop respect for Liz
B.love people around her more
C.rest for five months
D.face criticism calmly
解析 细节理解题。由it made me care less about criticism可知。
答案 D
41.Which of the followings is TRUE according to the passage?
A.Radcliffe broke the world record in New York City Marathon.
B.Radcliffe did not fully recover before the New York City marathon.
C.Radcliffe won her first marathon title in the New York City marathon.
D.Radcliffe had a 3month training before the New York City marathon.
解析 细节理解题。由I wasn't in my best state可知。A、C两项文章并没有提到，D项应是在London marathon之前。
答案 B
42.By saying“I can not put a number on it.”Radcliffe means she is NOT sure________.
A.if she has the ability to set a new world record
B.if she can win another race though she has won many times
C.how many times a marathon runner can set the world record
D.if she has the ability to produce four or five worldclass times
解析 推理判断题。由上文提到的world record time可知，数目指的是次数。
答案 C
