A
It is quite apparent that competition surrounds every aspect of human life whether in the United States or the Amazon rainforest. Without it we would not have grown into primates (灵长类动物). Or we would probably still be struggling to sharpen a bronze tool while crawling around on four legs in search of meat. Without competition, Columbus wouldn't have discovered America and Edison would never have invented the light bulb.
Friendship, like all relationships between two people, involves competition. It isn't competition in a traditional sense because there are no goals to be scored and no prize. Perhaps the ecological definition—the simultaneous (同时的) demand by two or more organisms for limited environmental resources, such as nutrinents, living space, or light—better explains it.
As in nature, high school life is governed by a set of laws, similar to a shortened version of Darwin's theory of evolution, overpopulation, and competition. There is an abundance of high school students and to distinguish them, ranking and categorizing (分类) take place. In high school, friendships learn to coexist with competition even though at times the relationship is rough. In fact, in some circumstance, competition is too much of a burden for a friendship to bear, causing it to fall apart. College admission is the final high school objective. Four years of hard work is to achieve good grades, and a student's fate is determined not only by these achievements, but by the records of thousands of other seniors trying to achieve a similar recognition.
Nevertheless, by necessity, competition between students exists in all aspects of high school life. It sets and improves the standards in everything from sports to schoolwork. A healthy, friendly competition can have only benefits, but when it becomes too fierce, jealousy (妒忌) can tear friendships apart. Yet, despite all this, without competition, we would be lost.
本文是一篇说明文，介绍了竞争推动了人类社会的发展以及如何在竞争和友谊中寻求平衡。
1．What does the ecological definition mainly explain?
A．How to win the competition.
B．What competition exactly is.
C．What the result of competition is.
D．How friends compete with each other.
答案：B
解析：细节理解题。根据第二段中的“It isn't competition in a traditional sense because there are no goals to be scored and no prize. Perhaps the ecological definition—the simultaneous (同时的) demand by two or more organisms for limited environmental resources, such as nutrinents, living space, or light—better explains it.”可知，这不是传统意义上的竞争，因为没有目标，没有奖励，或许生态定义能更好地解释竞争是什么，两个破折号之间解释了竞争的生态定义。故B项正确。
2.According to the writer, what causes the high school students to compete?
A．They know the laws of nature well.
B．Friendship is a burden for them.
C．The number of them is too large.
D．They are divided into different groups.
答案：C
解析：细节理解题。根据第三段中的“There is an abundance of high school students and to distinguish them, ranking and categorizing (分类) take place.”可知，造成高中生竞争的原因是高中生数量过于庞大，故C项正确。
3．Which best describes the relationship of friendship and competition?
A．Friendship is always based on competition.
B．Competition is a result of lost friendship.
C．Competition is terribly harmful to friendships.
D．The degree of competition is vital to friendship.
答案：D
解析：推理判断题。根据最后一段中的“A healthy, friendly competition can have only benefits, but when it becomes too fierce, jealousy (妒忌) can tear friendships apart.”可知，健康、友好的竞争能带来好处，但当竞争过于激烈时，妒忌会把友谊撕裂，由此推知竞争的程度对友谊至关重要，故D项正确。
4．What does the author think of “competition”？
A．Competition is certain to happen at school.
B．The result of competition are out of control.
C．Competition becomes fierce in high school.
D．Friendship is not as important as competition at school.
答案：A
解析：细节理解题。根据最后一段中的“Nevertheless, by necessity, competition between students exists in all aspects of high school life.”可知，作者认为学生之间的竞争必然存在于高中生活的各个方面，故A项正确。
