Sharon has been a serious runner for six years. She has completed three marathons and several shorter races. Each week she runs about 20 miles.
Her favorite shoes? A $25 pair of Champion shoes she bought at Target. “I like running in simple shoes,” she said, “The more you pay, the more trouble you get.” She is right. Money often buys higher-quality goods, but not when it comes to running shoes.
Over the last forty years, running has been popular as a leisure (闲暇的) sport. In 2009, 476,000 runners took part in a marathon. In 1976, the number was just 25,000. Sales of running shoes reached a record $ 2.36 billion in 2009, 60 percent more than ten years earlier.
But some of those dollars may not have been well spent. In 2007, Scottish researchers tested running shoes at three price levels, ranging from $80 to $150, and found that low-cost and mid-cost shoes within the same brand protected runners’ feet just as well as high-cost ones, sometimes even better.
“The common idea is that if you pay more, you will get better shoes,” said Abboud, director of the Institute of Motion Analysis and Research at the University of Dundee in Scotland, “Our research did not show that.” Professor Abboud and his colleagues have just completed a similar study, as not yet published, with nearly the same results.
If you want to run well and run safely, consider fit first and price last. “You want a shoe that helps you keep a balanced position,” said Mark Montgomery, manager of the JackRabbit Sports store in Union Square in New York, “A more expensive shoe is not always the solution.”
“The less you think about a shoe, the better,” said Ms Bakoul, a marathoner.
【小题1】According to Sharon, ________.

Dear Mary

I saw your name in the newspaper, you asked for penfriends in China. I would like to be your penfriend.

I am a thirteen- year- old boy. I live in Nanjing. I am a student at No.1 Secondary School. We study Chinese, English, Maths, Science, Art, PE and some other subjects. My favorite subjects are Maths and PE. I like playing the guitar, collecting stamps and taking photos. I like summer best because my favourite sport is swimming.

My family is not big. My grandfather, my father, my mother, and I live a happy life here. My father is an engineer, my mother is a doctor. My grandfather was a policeman and now he is retired（退休）. We live in an old house. Near our house, there is a beautiful park. Our family often take a walk in the park after supper.

I would like to know something about you and the UK. Please write to me soon. My e-mail address is yuren@163.com.My fax and telephone number is 86-25-82011853.

Yu Run              

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