Even though I spend most of my time holed up in a little room writing, when I get the time I like to watch team sports, like baseball or volleyball. As a student, I played field hockey and lacrosse, and even today, I love playing basketball, even though I'm only 5 foot 2.
From playing team sports, I have learned the importance of each and every member of a team. I learned too the importance of communication. Most of all, I saw proof of this week's proverb: A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, i.e., a team is no stronger than its weakest member.
When I first went to the States at age 16, I knew nothing about hockey or lacrosse. I'd never seen students play those games in Japan before, so I couldn't quite imagine what they were like until I'd gone to the States and watched students actually play.
My advisor, Annette, gave me an intensive course in hockey because I needed to make at least the C Squad. That was fine. I got in. But once I was in, I faced a completely different set of problems. I had to play offense. This meant that I needed to score.
Now, I could pretend that I was very good, but I won't because I want you readers to understand this proverb. (Aren't I noble?) To describe the situation simply, I was the weakest link. I wasn't very good, I kept on getting tangled up in my teammates' legs, head-butting the ball (maybe I should have played soccer) and passing the ball to the girls on the rival team.
A friend of mine had a similar experience in high school. She joined the orchestra after only a few months of learning the violin. She had said, "But I can barelytune my own violin," but they still made her join anyway. Fortunately for her the links in the chain were all pretty weak. The whole orchestra was awful and played out of tune.
But even if you are the weakest link, don't worry too much, because, being the weakest link, we can learn a good lesson &*8212; the importance of mutual dependence and support when trying to accomplish a shared goal.
Q1 Kana says she was "the weakest link" in her hockey team, which means:
A1) She'd played hockey before.
A2) She held the team together.
A3) She didn't play very well.
正解： A3) She didn't play very well.
Q2 When Kana started playing well, the whole team:
A1) Became stronger.
A2) Became arrogant.
A3) Became lazy.
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