Few in the West seemed to notice when the International Olympic Committee （IOC．decided to award the 2014 Winter Games to the Russian town of Sochi. Yet this choice is full of geopolitical meaning.
President Vladimir Putin flew to Guatemala City to address IOC delegates before they voted, and surprised them by speaking in French and -- for the first time ever in public -- English. Later he declared that Sochi’s victory was "not only a recognition of Russia's achievements in sports" but also "an assessment of our country".
Sochi, located between the Caucasus and the Black Sea, has poor roads, one old ski resort （胜地） and out-of-date facilities. In the next five years it will be transformed by a burst of construction unprecedented （前所未有的） in the history of Russia. Winning the Olympic bid has given Russian politicians a focus, a $12 billion project they can use to showcase their power and that of their country. Several have already announced big investments in Sochi.
Olympic planners will have to assure that the Sochi project does not collapse under the weight of corruption （腐败）, which Russian officials are famous for. With many eyes watching, they will also have to develop the green landscape around Sochi, where some of Europe's last wild bears roam in primitive mountain forests, with more care for the environment than Russia has traditionally shown.
Sochi also sits on the edge of a region that has been boiling with ethnic （民族的） and political tension since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In past centuries it was ruled by both Georgia and Abkhaia, which is now a breakaway region of Georgia. Russia supports the rebel regime in Abkhazia, but as the Olympics approach it may feel it needs to be careful.
The president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, might have bitterly protested the Olympic Committee’s decision to award the Winter Games to a country that actively supports rebels within Georgia. Instead he was wise enough to realize that this event could push Russia toward compromise solutions in Abkhazia and perhaps even in Ossetia, Nagorno -- Karabakh and Chechnya.
1. We can infer from the second paragraph that President Vladimir Putin often speaks in public in ___.
A．Russian B．French C．English D．Spanish
2. Although Sochi has poor transportation and unsatisfying facilities, holding the 2014 Winter Olympic Games there obviously gives it a chance _______.
A．to ask the IOC for more money B．to break away from Georgia
C．to challenge the world D．to develop
3. What does the underlined word "it" in the fifth paragraph refer to?
A．The rebel regime in Abkhazia. B．Georgia.
C．Sochi. D．Russia.
4. From the last paragraph we know that _______.
A．the president of Georgia strongly protested the IOC’s decision
B．the Olympic Games might be a chance to ease regional tensions
C．the IOC supports the rebels in Georgia
D．Georgia wants to break away from Russia