1 . Benefits of Sports

Doing sports is a physical, mental and social adventure. It’s a great way for children to take a break from studies and release extra energy. It also helps them lead fuller and happier lives as regular sports have proven beneficial to overall well-being.

The physical benefits of doing sports are probably the most obvious. Regardless of your fitness level when you start playing sports, you’ll notice an increase in your overall fitness once you’re involved.     1     Basketball players focus on strength training; football players work on speed while track athletes train through longer runs. The training process helps promote physical fitness and performances in competitions.

    2     Playing sports also contributes to mental health, helping to increase confidence and self-worth. A pat on the back, a high five from a teammate, or a handshake after a match really boosts a child’s confidence. Words of praise and encouragement from the coach, parents and other players raise self-worth.     3     So after a game, it’s a better idea to ask “Did you enjoy the game?” rather than “Did you win?”

Children who participate in sports might also benefit from the social aspect, feeling part of a group, building up responsibility and leadership.     4     Teamwork involves both being dependable as a teammate and learning to rely on your teammates to achieve a positive outcome. Teamwork breeds responsibility and challenges you to be responsible for your actions. Being part of a team gives you an opportunity to be a leader.

Discipline is another social advantage. Most organized sports require a strict training and practice schedule. As a student-athlete, you need to balance studies and athletics.     5    

There is no shortage of reasons to find a sport to get involved in. Are you ready to go? Pick one and get moving!

2 . I am very lucky because I enjoy my work very much. I’m a fitness instructor at a gym near where I live. I _________six aerobics(有氧运动) classes a week and also tell my students about ________ and nutrition. As they say, “You are what you ________ .”

To be honest, I worry about the ________ that many people have today. So many people are overweight. Because they eat the ________ foods and they don’t do any exercise. When you work in an office all day, I know it is difficult to find ________ to keep fit, but you only need to do 20 minutes a day!

It’s also very important to have a ________ diet, starting with breakfast in the morning. It’s not a good idea to ________ breakfast although many of us just have a cup of tea or coffee. Eat as much ________ food as possible — lots of fruit and vegetables — and ________ not to eat too much fried food.

One ________ why a lot of people feel less than 100% fit is that they don’t drink enough water. You need to drink two liters(升) a day — and water   ________ water, not tea, coffee or sugary drinks.

Keeping fit is fun. However, a lot of people think it’s boring to go jogging or cycling. They just want to ________ their food. Well, of course, it’s fine to have cakes and ice cream, but not every day! I would say we like what our bodies ________ and if you eat more healthy food, over time, you might find yourself wanting to eat them more than anything else. Try it, I think you’ll be ________!

4 . The word “sport” first meant something that people did in their free time. Later it often meant hunting wild animals and birds. About a hundred years ago the word was first used for organized games. This is the usual meaning of the word today. People spend a lot of time playing football, basketball, tennis and many other sports. Such people play because they leant to. A few people are paid for sport they play. These people are called professional sportsmen. They may be sportsmen for only a few years, but during that time the best ones can earn a lot of money. For example, a professional football player in England earns more than 300,000 dollars a year. The stars earn a lot more. International golf and tennis champions can make more than 500,000 dollars a year. Of course, only a few sportsmen can earn as much as that.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about sportsmen and money is that the stars can earn more money from advertising than from sports. An advertisement for sports equipment does not simply mean, “Buy our things”. It says, “Buy the same shirt and shoes as…” Famous sportsmen can even advertise things like watches and food. They allow the companies to use their names or a photo of them and they are paid for this. Sport is no longer just something for people’s spare time.

Curling(冰壶)is a winter sport played on ice. Therefore, it’s most popular in northern countries like Canada. Curling is played in the USA by about 15,000 people.    1    Scottish winters were long and there were forms of entertainment. So people began making a sport out of sliding heavy stones on the frozen lakes. The game spread, and in the 1700s curling clubs formed. Then Scottish soldiers brought it to North America.

    2    Men, women, and children often compete on the same team, if they can slide a forty-pound stone down the ice! Both teams slide their stones toward the same goal. After all 16 stones have been cast, the team whose stone has slid closest to the goal gets one point.

    3    The ice is so smooth and the stone is so heavy that even the smallest misjudgment in a throw can make the stone slide much too far or stop too suddenly.    4    Water helps the stone slide, but it can also change the stone’s path.

In curling, a broom is part of each player’s equipment. A good curler must know how much force to use. The player must know the exact conditions of the ice on the court.    5    That may explain why the international Olympic Committee decided to make curling an Olympic sport in 1998.

6 . Last summer over 12,000 fans were at Wembley Arena in London, shouting and cheering. Thousands more were watching online.     1     It was e-sports, or competitive computer gaming.

Millions of people in the UK play computer games for fun. Some of them have become professional gamers, playing games as their full-time job.     2     They practice for ten or more hours a day, five or six days a week. They do exercises like typing something and trying to type it faster and faster. They also study videos of other players and plan ways to beat them.

    3     Are players athletes? Some say no. E-sports players don’t need to run, jump, throw or do big physical actions. At the moment, the UK government classifies e-sports as kinds of games, not as sports.

But others say yes: e-sports are sports. Players do need some physical skills, especially hand-eye coordination, reflexes, accuracy and timing. If darts, snooker and shooting are classified as sports, then perhaps e-sports should be too.

    4     And they will be an official medal sport in the Asian Games starting from 2022. Next step: the Olympics?

For many e-sports fans and players, though, the most important thing is that e-sports are growing in popularity and importance.     5