1 . Have you heard of the following events?

Sheep shearing (修剪)

It’s a big sport in New Zealand, which proudly hosts the annual Golden Shears International Championships. Held in the town of Masterton in March, the four-day event seeks to identify the world’s fastest sheep shearer. The event is not all about shearing; live bands bring a party atmosphere to it. It’s attractive to many tourists.

Lucha libre

It’s a form of freestyle wrestling with a devoted fan base in its native Mexico. Competitors are famous for their well-made masks, which keep their identities a secret. That’s until they are defeated in the fight, which often requires losers to show their faces. Don’t forget to bring some loose change: when viewers are impressed by a victorious wrestler, they throw money at them. You may enjoy the event once a year.

Lawnmower (割草机) racing

This annual sport now has its own governing body—the British Lawn Mower Racing Association (BLRA). It has a 30-race championship that runs from May to October. Most races are part of larger rural events, such as the Cranleigh Show in Surrey, where viewers can experience other events. The BLRA remains un-commercial and donates all profits to organizations that help people who are poor, sick, or in difficulties.

Wife carrying

Every year a small town of Sonkajaervi in Finland hosts the event: the International Wife Carrying Championships. During this competition, husbands have to carry their wives along the track which is 250 m long and features several barriers on land and a 1-m deep water pool. Two couples start at the same time and run as fast as they can. The winning couple is the one that completes the course in the shortest time.

5 . Created after Beijing successfully became an Olympic candidate (候选人), the Beijing 2022 Education Program is part of the host's wider efforts to encourage its people to participate in winter sports. The program has already gone beyond its original target of engaging 300 million people in snow and ice activities. And by involving schools, children and young people, the program ensures that its Olympic legacy (遗产) will continue to reach the young audience long after the Games.

In a push to engage the younger generation in ice and snow sports, schools and educational authorities have developed a curriculum (课程) that includes winter sports knowledge and history, practical classes for beginners, and an introduction to becoming a winter sports coach. Winter sports clubs have also been set up in schools all around the country, allowing children to develop ice and snow sports skills in the warmer south as well as the cold north.

Sports education is proved to have a positive effect on physical and mental health. It also helps to reduce stress, and build team and organizational skills. When COVID-19 made outdoor participation harder, organizers made sure that children and teenagers could follow a digital Olympic curriculum. Some classes were conducted through websites and broadcasters, with the online materials viewed more than 140 million times. Videos, courses and games were all part of digital efforts to bring the Olympic Games and winter sports closer to the young. Short videos have gone popular, attracting more than 70 million viewers online.

Thanks to sports education, more and more young people have expressed interest in becoming professional athletes. To keep them practising ahead of the next Olympic Winter Games, Mini Winter Olympics will be organized every year. The last ones attracted more than 1, 700 children and seemed to keep growing.

7 . Golden Generation

A national team, mostly consisting of teenagers, pushed China to its biggest-ever medal achievement at the Winter Olympics. At the same time, a series of breakthroughs at the Games _________ the country’s emergence as a much more well-rounded force on the ice and snow.

_________ the heroics of teenage sensation Gu Ailing and seasoned aerials(空中技巧滑雪)masters Xu Mengtao and Qi Guangpu, China _________ four gold to top the freestyle skiing medal standings for the first time after its Winter Olympic debut in 1980.

Gu Ailing also became the first athlete _________, and the youngest _________, to win three medals(golds in Big Air, halfpipe and silver in slopestyle)in three different freeski _________ at the Olympics, throwing her to international super-star reputation as the _________ of Beijing 2022.

Needless to say, another teenager star, Su Yiming, also became a _________   name by winning China’s first snowboarding gold medal in Big Air after claiming a silver in slopestyle. Su’s _________ helped the host finish a highest-ever third on the Games’ overall medal standings, ____________ nine gold, four silver and two bronze-its biggest-ever medal achievement at the Winter Games. China’s ____________ best was a tally of 11, including five gold, at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

“The ____________ of the new generation on the Olympic stage, even seeing the emergence of teenagers, ____________ a great future for winter sports in our country,” said Li Yang, manager of China’s Big Air, slopestyle and halfpipe national programs.

“With winter sports becoming popular in our country amid the fast social and ____________ development, I believe more and more young people will ____________ skis and snowboards to enjoy the sport, just as young as Su and Gu did when they were little, which will ____________ expand the talent pool for our future national programs,”Li said.

The Beijing Winter Games also ____________ the first time that China’s snow sports teams outperformed the country’s traditionally strong ice sports squads in the medal numbers, securing investment in high-performance training programs and ____________ the foundation for even better results at the next Winter Games in Italy.

“____________ we keep the tendency going, I believe we will ____________ a stronger performance in four years' time at the next Olympics in 2026,” said Yang Yang, China’s first Winter Olympic gold medalist, in women’s short-track speed skating at the 2002 Games.

8 . Cat-Cow, Crow, Downward-facing dog and Pigeon: these names might sound like animals but they are actually yoga poses.     1    

What is yoga?

Yoga is exercise for the body and mind. It combines moving your body into different positions while focusing on your breathing. Yoga was first practiced around 5, 000 years ago in what is now northern India, where it was linked to the religion of Hinduism. For example, a yoga sequence was developed to greet Surya, the Hindu god of the Sun.    2    There are many different types of yoga but one of the most common is hatha yoga. This combines traditional yoga movements with breathing exercises.

    3    

Yoga encourages you to connect your mind and body and to link your existence to the wider universe. Many people find this helpful because they are reminded of the “bigger picture”, which can make their worries or unhelpful thoughts feel more manageable. Yoga's focus on breathing and movement can be calming.     4    Elysia, aged seventeen, agrees. “I love yoga because it gives me peace and time to think,” she says.

What if my body isn't bendy?

Yoga isn’t just for gymnasts.     5    According to NHS England, yoga can make your muscles stronger, improve your flexibility and lead to better balance and coordination. Many professional athletes and sportspeople practice yoga. This convinced Joseph, aged eight, to try it. He told The Week Junior, “I wanted to try yoga because I love tennis and I know that Novak Djokovic says it helps him be the best and stops him from getting injured.”

10 . The British are known to be great sports lovers. When they are neither playing nor watching games, they like to talk about them. Many of the games we play now come from Britain.

The British like all kinds of races, including dog races, boat races, and even races for donkeys. The famous boat race between the teams of Oxford and Cambridge interests large crowds of people.

One of the most typical British games is cricket. It is often played in schools, colleges, universities, and by club teams all over the country. Summer isn’t summer without cricket. To many British people, cricket is both a game and a standard of behavior. When they consider something unfair, they may say, “It’s not cricket.”

But as almost everywhere else in the world, the game which draws the greatest attention in Britain is football, also known as soccer in the USA. Every Saturday from late August until the beginning of May, large crowds of people support their favorite sides on football fields. True fans will travel from one end of the country to the other to see their favorite team play. There are a lot of professional football clubs all over Britain.

The British also like to play baseball, golf, hockey, and grass-hockey. Many other sports, such as running, jumping, swimming, boxing are also popular. You may sometimes hear that there are no winter sports in Britain since the English weather is not always cold enough to ski or skate. However, winter is a good time for fishing!

Without doubt, sport in one form or another is an important part of daily life in Britain.