阅读训练
Passage 1

Long after the World Cup was won, disappointed fans were still cursing the disputed refereeing (裁判）decisions that denied victory to their team. A researcher was appointed to study the

The researcher organized an experimental tournament (锦标赛）involving four youth teams. Each match lasted an hour, divided into three periods of 20 minutes during which different referees were in charge.

Observers noted down the referees，errors,of which there were 61 over the tournament. Converted to a standard match of 90 minutes,each referee made almost 23 mistakes,a remarkably high number.

The researcher then studied the videotapes to analyse the matches in detail. Surprisingly,he found that errors were more likely when the referees were close to the incident. When the officials got in right9they were,on average, 17 meters away from the action. The average distance in the case of errors was 12 meters. The research shows the optimum (最佳的）distance is about 20 meters.

There also seemed to be an optimum speed. Correct decisions came when the referees were moving at a speed of about 2 meters per second. The average speed for errors was 4 meters per second.

If FIFA,football s international ruling body, wants to improve the standard of refereeing at the next Cup,it should encourage referees to keep their eyes on the action from a distance, rather than rushing to keep up with the ball,the researcher argues.

He also says that FIFA’s insistence that referees should retire at age 45 may be misguided. If keeping up with the action is not 80 important,their physical condition,is less critical.

1. The word “officials” (Line 3,Para.4) most probably refers to____

A. the researchers involved in the experiment
B. the inspectors of the football tournament
C. the referees of the football tournament
D. the observers at the site of the experiment
参考答案
【讲解答案】
C 猜测词义最根本的方法是根据该词出现的上下文，即该词的语境。该词上下文提到：当 referees离incident靠得比较近时，可能出现误判，而当officials判罚正确时，他们距离犯规地点 平均有17米。显然，officials就是指上文的referees。故C正确。