SYDNEY: As they sat sharing sweets beside a swimming pool in 1999 , Shane Gould and Jessicah Schipper were simply getting along well , chatting about sport , life and “ anything else that came up . ”
Yet in Sydney next month , they will meet again by the pool , and for a short time the friends will race against each other in the 50-meter butterfly(蝶泳)in the Australian championships at Homebush Bay .
Gould , now a 47-year-old mother of four , has announced she will be making a return to elite competition(顶级赛事)to swim the one event , having set a qualifying(合格的)time of 30.32 seconds in winning gold at last year’s United States Masters championships . Her comeback comes 32 years after she won three golds at the Munich Olympics .
Schipper , now a 17-year-old from Brisbane with a bright future of going to Athens for her first Olympics , yesterday recalled(回忆)her time with Gould fie years ago .
“ I was at a national youth camp on the Gold Coast and Shane had come along to talk to us and watch us train , ” Schipper explained . “ It seemed as if we had long been good friends . I don’t know why . We just started talking and it went from there . ”
“ She had a lot to share with all of us at that camp . She told us stories about what it was like at big meets like the Olympics and what it’s like to be on an Australian team . It was really interesting . ”
Next time , things will be more serious . “ I will still be swimming in the 50m butterfly at the nationals , so there is a chance that I could actually be competing against Shane Gould , ” said Schipper , who burst onto the scene at last year’s national championships with second places in the 100m and 200m butterfly .
1. What is the passage mainly about ?
A. Stories happening in swimming competitions .
B. Two women swimmers winning Olympic golds .
C. Lessons learned from international swimming championships .
D. Friendship and competition between two swimmers .
2. Gould and Schipper are going to ________ .
A. talk about sport and life B. go back to elite competition
C. set a qualifying time and win gold D. take part in the same sports event
3. Gould won her three Olympic golds when she was ________ .
A. 15 B. 17 C. 22 D. 30
4. The underlined word “ it ” in the fifth paragraph probably refers to ________ .
A. the Olympics B. the youth camp
C. the friendship D. the Australian team
5. What Schipper said showed that she ________ .
A. was no longer Gould’s friend B. had learned a lot from Gould
C. was not interested in Gould’s stories D. would not like to compete against Gould