There is a saying in France that states, "The government could fall, the Louvre （卢浮宫）could be broken into or creatures from other planets could land on earth, but if any of these things happened during the Tour de France, no one would notice．" The Tour de France is the most famous cycling race in the world．It begins in July and runs for three weeks．Cyclists who race in the Tour de France ride in six legs or stages of the race, and they have between one to four days of rest between each leg of the race．The rider who completes all six legs of the race in the shortest overall time wins．
The Tour de France began as a publicity stunt（惊人的表演） for the French sports newspaper, L’Auto．Hcnri Desgranges, who worked for L’Auto, came up with the idea for "the greatest bike race in the world, "and on July 1,1903, the first Tour de France began．Sixty cyclists began that first leg of the race which started in front of the Alarm Clock Cafe just outside of Paris．This first leg took them 467 kilometers to Lyon．The first Tour de France received an astonishing 2,000 francs．Maurice Garin, the most popular cyclist in France at that time, won the first Tour de France．It took him 94 hours and 33 minutes to ride all 2,428 kilometers of the race．This time was three hours faster than the second -place rider．Over the weeks during which the race was run, the idea of the Tour de France slowly caught the imagination of the people of France．The race has been run every year since that time, except during the years of World War I and World War Ⅱ．
The Tour de France has developed several special honors for which racers compete．Above all, the highest honor is the " yellow jersey"．Mr．Desgranges introduced the yellow jersey in 1919 to show the leading racer each rider's total time in order to find the racer with the lowest time．That racer wears the yellow jersey during the day's race．Other honors include the "green jersey " which is given to the rider who sprints the best by riding the fastest over short distances, and the "polka dot jersey" for the best rider in the mountains along the route．
小题1:Who wins the Tour de France?
| A．The first cyclist to finish the race． |
| B．The cyclist with the most points． |
| C．The cyclist with the polka dot jersey． |
| D．The cyclist with the shortest overall time． |
小题2:Henri Desgranges was
.
| A．a photographer | B．a famous cyclist |
| C．the man who first won the Tour de France |
| D．the man who first thought of the Tour de France |
小题3:How many stages make up the Tour de France?
小题4:The yellow jersey is worn by____.
| A．the fastest daily cyclist | B．the fastest overall cyclist |
| C．the youngest cyclist | D．the champion from the previous year |
