4、When Muhammad Ali was 12 years old，someone stole his shiny bicycle．Ali was very angry．He told a police officer he wanted to punch the person who stole it．The officer suggested that he back up those“fighting words”by learning how to box．

During the next 25 years，Muhammad Ali would become one of the top athletes and best boxers of the 20th century．He won a gold medal at the Olympic Games．He went on to earn the title of world heavyweight boxing champion three different times．His fights were major events watched by millions of people around the world．

    Muhammad Ali was born in 1942 in Louisville，Kentucky．His parents named him Cassius Marcellus Clay，Jr．They named their son after a Kentucky statesman who had fought against slavery in the 1800s．

    Young Cassius Clay quickly made his mark in the boxing ring．He turned professional after winning a gold medal in the Olympic Games in 1960．Four years later，he knocked out Sonny Liston to earn his first world heavyweight champion title．

    After winning the title，Clay converted（使轉(zhuǎn)變）to Islam．This religion follows the teachings of the prophet（先知）Muhammad．When Clay converted，he took a new name，Muhammad Ali．

  In 1967，Ali was called on to join the United States Army．The country was fighting the Vietnam War at the time，and young men were being enlisted to take part．But Ali refused to go．He said his religion taught him to oppose all wars．Ali was sentenced to prison，fined，and stripped of his boxing title．Ali fought his conviction，but he did not regain the right to box professionally for 3.5years．

    In 1974，Ali won the world heavyweight title again by beating George Foreman．Ali defended his heavyweight title six more times before he lost to Leon Spinks in February 1978．But Ali came back to beat Spinks and regain the title seven months later．

1．Ali was sentenced to prison because______ 

A．he converted to Islam

      B．he was stripped of his boxing title

      C．he refused to join the United States Army to fight the Vietnam War

      D．he didn’t want to fight his conviction

2．The underlined word“punch”in the passage means ______

      A．catch                   B．beat                     C．charge                  D．criticise

3．It can be inferred from the passage that ______．

      A．Ali was born Muhammad Ali

      B．He earned his first world heavyweight champion title when he was twenty-two years old

      C．the major reason why Ali could become one of the top athletes mad best boxers of the 20th century is that someone stole his shiny bike when he was young

      D．Ali never lost the world heavyweight title in his lifetime