Do you ever watch old movies? Maybe you will see one with Carole Lombard. She was a famous ________ in the 1930s. She died when she was only 34. In her ________ life, she made 70 movies!

Lombard’s real name was Jane Alice Peters. In 1921, she was playing baseball in the ________ near her home. A movie director ________ her and decided to put her in a movie. She was only 13 at the time. The movie was one of the last silent movies. She acted so well that she ________ the hearts of some people. At 16, she left school to act.

In 1925, she had an agreement with a ________ studio, 20th Century Fox. The studio gave her a new name, and she acted in several films. ________, at the age of 18, she was in a bad car accident. The accident left scars(伤疤) on her face. The studio broke the agreement, but she did not ________. She continued to act.

It was Paramount Studio that made Lombard a ________. She made many movies for the studio. She also married two of their stars. Lombard was married to actor William Powell for only 23 months. ________ seven years later, she married the great love of her life, actor Clark Gable. It was a great Hollywood love story.

    36     It has around billions of fans—nearly half the world’s population! And about 300 million people play this game. That’s 4 per cent of the world’s population!

    37     Many people in old days played early forms(形式) of this modern game. Cuju(蹴鞠), a ball-kicking game in China, was reported as early as 2500 B. C. Around the same time in Greece, people were also playing a similar ball game without using their hands. But modern soccer didn't become official until 1863. An Englishman called Cobb Morley introduced the idea of a soccer association(联盟).

    38     From then on, other associations in the countries were set up. They came together to make up the FIFA, which organizes the World Cup.

It’s not easy to tell what makes soccer so popular.     39     Soccer just needs feet and a ball. This makes it a sport that developing countries can easily play. Some of the sport’s best players come from these poor nations.

    40     The sport’s no-hands rule makes beautiful dance—like movements on the field. What’s more, this sport excites the heart. Teams might score only a few times each match, so matches can turn around suddenly. No one knows who will win at the next World Cup. But one thing is certain: the world champion will be watching.