3 . These days, football is one of the most popular sports in the world.     1     Football as we know it today started in Great Britain, where the game was given new rules.

That football is such a simple game to play is perhaps the basis of its popularity.     2     You don’t need expensive equipment; even the ball doesn’t have to cost much money. All over the world you can see kids playing to their hearts’ content with a ball made of plastic bags.

    3     It is fun enough to attract millions of people. You do not have to be a fan to recognize the skill of professional players—how they use their bodies to pass, score and defend can be amazing to see—or to feel the excitement of a game ending with a surprising twist.

What’s more, football has become one of the best ways for people to communicate: it does not require words, but everyone understands it.     4     Take, for example, the famous football game on Christmas Day 1914. World War I had broken out months before, but British and German soldiers put down their guns and played football together—one moment of peace to remember during years of conflict.

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, ... ” said Bill Shankly, the famous footballer and manager. “    5    ” This might sound funny, but one only has to think about the Earth to realize that our planet is shaped like a football.

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8 . Can exercise during childhood protect you against memory loss many years later? Exercise early in life seems to have lifelong benefits for the brain, in rats at least.

“This is an animal study, but it shows that physical activity at a young age is very important — not just for physical development, but for the whole lifelong track of cognitive (认知的) development during ageing,” says Martin of the University of Toronto, Canada. “In humans, it may put off the appearance of Alzheimer’s (阿兹海默症) symptoms, possibly to the point of preventing them.”

Martin’s team divided 80 young male rats into two equal groups, and placed running wheels in the cages of one group for a period of six weeks. Around four months later — when the rats had reached middle age — the team taught all the rats to connect an electric shock with being in a specific box. When placed in the box, they froze with fear.

Two weeks later, the team tested the rats in three situations: exactly the same box in the same room, the same box with the room arranged differently, and a completely different box in a different room.

The rats without access (途径) to a running wheel when they were young now froze the same percentage of times in each of these situations, suggesting they couldn’t remember which one was dangerous. But those that had been able to run in their youth froze 40 to 50 percent less in both changed box settings.

“The results suggest the amount of physical activity when we’re young, at least for rats, has influence on brain and cognitive health — in the form of better memories — when we’re older,” says Arthur Kramer of Northeastern University in Boston, who has found that, in humans, exercise improves the growth of new brain cells.

A．physical activity is important for physical health

B．exercise when young can prevent memory loss when older in rats

C．using the running wheels is of benefit to the rats’ growth

D．physical activity can prevent human’s Alzheimer’s symptoms

A．Benefit.

B．Development.

C．Exercise.

D．Study.

9 . When I first began running in high school on the track team, it made sense to carefully clock every mile and push myself to race for personal bests. But as I changed from running for sport to running for amusement as an adult, I found that tracking my workouts often just ended with frustration. And it wasn’t until my watch battery died several years ago that I first experienced the sense of calm that came with running for the pure joy of it. I never replaced the watch battery, and that might not be a bad thing for my fitness goals.

This is the idea of unplugged (不插电的) running, which is gaining steam in the fitness community. And recent research has shown that getting rid of your running watch, especially if it’s a smartwatch or fitness tracker, could actually improve your workout — or at least your enjoyment of running.

“People used to have an interest in their sport and get enjoyment out of the sport, but now that’s switching to the data,” said Eoin Whelan, a senior lecturer at the National University of Ireland Galway. “They will compare themselves to people who are better than them, who are running faster or running longer. And in the end we know that makes them feel bad. ”

Whelan also noted that people who are very dependent on smart watches or fitness trackers are more likely to skip their workouts if the batteries on their tracking devices are dead.

In addition, there is evidence that running watch-free is beneficial for more than just the casual jogger. Some professionals also have had success with leaving their watches at home. Welsh runner Steve Jones famously set a world record at the 1984 Chicago Marathon without wearing a watch. More recently, Olympic marathoner Trevor Hofbauer made headlines for winning the 2019 Canadian Marathon Championships without a watch.

“If you have too much information being fed to you in real time, it can kind of get in your head,” Hofbauer said. “For me, the simpler, the better.”