A
Long ago, poems were recited out loud instead of being written down. When the Greeks first started the Olympics, they held poetry contests as well as athletic competitions.
Now, poetry competitions have been revived. This year 120,000 high school students competed in the first Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, performing poems from memory for $100,000 in prizes.
The first competitions were held in classrooms. The winners went on to schoolwide contests, and then they competed in city and state competitions. Finally, the 50 state champions, along with the District of Columbia champion, came to Washington, D．C., last
week for the ultimate showdown. After the 51 champions competed against one another, 12 went on to the finals. Then the field was narrowed to five. The final five had one last chance to “perform” a poem. The overall champ, Jackson Hille, a high school senior from Ohio, won a $20,000 scholarship.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation started Poetry Out Loud because they realized that hearing a poem performed is a different experience from reading it on a page.
It's not just a matter of saying the words in the right order. It's the tone of voice, the pauses, the gestures, and the attitude of the person performing that bring the words to life. “Each time we hear somebody recite a poem, we understand again what we found fresh and interesting about it，” says National Public Radio broadcaster Scott Simon, master of ceremonies for the finals. Hearing it in a new voice offers something new to the listener.
Not only do the people hearing poems have a new experience, memorizing and presenting poems helps the participants understand those poems in a new way. Another benefit of a competition such as Poetry Out Loud is that the participants learn publicspeaking skills that can help them for life.
语篇解读：诗歌仅仅在书上阅读是远远不够的，通过朗诵和聆听，同一首诗歌会给人带来全新的感受。
1．From the first paragraph, we can know .
A．the Greeks were the first to write pomes
B．the Olympics used to start with poem reciting
C．poems were spread orally in the past
D．athletes were asked to recite poems before competing
解析：选C 推理判断题。从第一段中的第一句可知，在很早以前诗歌只是口头朗诵的，故可知当时诗歌的传播方式为口头传授，故选C。
2．How many rounds of competitions did the champions take before they went to Washington, D. C．？
A．Three. B．Four.
C．Five. D．Six.
解析：选B 细节理解题。从第三段的介绍中可知，参赛者经过在班里、在学校，然后在市里和州里的比赛后，才来到华盛顿进行比赛。故B项正确。
3．According to the passage, hearing a poem recited by different people can .
A．bring a new life to listeners
B．help listeners find their interest
C．make listeners learn the words
D．offer something new to listeners
解析：选D 细节理解题。从倒数第二段中的叙述中可知，朗诵诗歌可以给听者带来新的感受。故选D。
4．One benefit the participants get from poem recitation competitions is that they can .
A．become skilled in speaking in public
B．write good poems themselves
C．change their attitudes towards life
D．make friends with many great poets
解析：选A 细节理解题。从文章最后一句话可知，参赛者通过参加诗词背诵比赛可以学会在公共场合说话的技巧。故A项正确。
