C. spent most of his time training with his team

D. threw himself wholeheartedly into his training

26. Why did the author say "I knew we didn't belong there"?

A. Because he wanted his team to give up the race.

B. Because he knew his team could cross the finishing line.

C. Because he realized his team wasn't prepared for the race.

D. Because he wasn't satisfied with what his team had achieved.

27. What can we learn about the Eco-Challenge that the author attended in Australia?

A. It was a 300-mile race.

B. It was held at the weekend.

C. It only allowed men to attend.

D. It actually lasted a day and a half.

　　In a faraway area in northern Mexico, there lives a native Indian group called the Tarahumaras (塔拉乌马拉族). Besides owning some cooking tools and farming equipment, the Tarahumaras exist much as they did before the Spanish arrived in the 1600s. They live in caves or in small houses made of stone and wood, and they eat what little they can grow on the dry land.

　　Ten years ago, linguist (语言学家) James Copeland entered the world of the Tarahumaras to study their language and culture. Since then, he has been visiting the Tarahumaras three or four times a year. Tarahumara is not a written language, so part of Copeland's project was to learn to speak Tarahumara so that he could deal directly with the people. "There are no language police," Copeland says. "Children are seldom corrected by their parents. They learn by observation of speech in conversations and by imitation."

Copeland learned the language through his frequent exposure (暴露) to it and by analyzing the grammar. His linguistic skills and mastery of German, Spanish, French, and Russian, plus a partial knowledge of some twenty other languages, also