A
It is quite apparent that competition surrounds every aspect of human life whether in the United States or the Amazon rain forest.Without it we would not have grown into primates(灵长目动物)．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.
The 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 prizes.Perhaps the ecological definition — the simultaneous(同时的)demand by two or more organisms for limited environmental resources，such as nutrients，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，friendship coexists with competition even though at times the relationship is rough.In fact，in some circumstances，competition is too much of a burden for friendship to bear，causing it to fall apart.College admission is the final high school objective.Threeyears 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 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.Healthy，friendly competition can have only benefits，but when it becomes too fierce，jealousy(妒忌)can tear friendship apart.Yet，despite all this，without competition，we would be lost.
【语篇解读】 本文是一篇议论文。文章主要论述了友谊和竞争之间的关系，健康的竞争促进友谊，而恶性的竞争则破坏友谊。
1．What does the ecological definition mainly explain?
A．How friends compete with each other.
B．How to win the competition.
C．What the result of competition is.
D．What competition exactly is.
D [细节理解题。分析第二段最后一句可知，该句的主干是Perhaps the ecological definition better explains it，其中“it”指代的是前一句中的“competition”。两个破折号之间的内容解释“the ecological definition”。句意：两个或者更多的生物体同时对有限的生态环境资源有需求，如营养物质、生存空间、光——这一生态学定义更好地解释了竞争(的含义)。故选D项。]
2．According to the author，what causes the high school students to compete?
A．The number of them is too large.
B．Friendship is a burden for them.
C．They know the laws of nature well.
D．They are divided into different groups.
A [细节理解题。根据第三段内容可知，高中生活与自然界一样有一系列的规则，这与达尔文关于进化、人口过多和竞争的理论相似。也正是因为学生人数众多，为了区分，所以对学生进行了排名、分类。再加上考大学这一高中生活的最终目标的压力，高中生之间的竞争就不可避免地产生了。故选A项。]
3．Which best describes the relationship of friendship and competition?
A．Friendship is always based on competition.
B．The degree of competition is vital to friendship.
C．Competition is terribly harmful to friendship.
D．Competition is a result of lost friendship.
B [推理判断题。根据最后一段中的“Healthy，friendly competition can have only benefits，but when it becomes too fierce，jealousy(妒忌)can tear friendship apart.”可知，健康的、友好的竞争对友谊有好处，而过于激烈的、存在妒忌的竞争会使友谊破裂。因此竞争的度对友谊是至关重要的。故选B项。]
4．What does the author think of “competition”？
A．The results of competition are out of control.
B．Competition becomes fiercer in high school.
C．Competition is certain to happen in high school.
D．Friendship is not as important as competition in high schools.
C [细节理解题。根据最后一段第一句“Nevertheless，by necessity，competition between students exists in all aspects of high school life.”可知，作者认为高中生活的各个方面存在竞争是必然的。故选C项。]
