1 . Imagine the football if the rules had never changed: A quarterback can’t throw a pass unless he’s at least 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The offense begins some plays just a yard from the sideline and is penalized for throwing more than one pass during a series of downs. Player substitutions are prohibited. No communication from the sideline is allowed. Players from both teams grab their opponents’ facemasks at will.

Of course, that’s not how professional football is played today. Throughout the history of football, people revised its playing rules to make the contests fairer, safer and more entertaining. Time and again, the league has shown that it is open to ideas generated by any source or circumstance — or even by new technology — if it believes that the changes will improve the game.

Now led by the Competition Committee, the NFL rules-changing process is systematic and consensus-oriented. Widely agreed-on ideas may be quickly approved and implemented. Others take years to make it from a proposal to the field. Some evolve over time. And although the vast majority of proposed rule changes are never adopted, all are carefully considered.

Between 1974 and 2011, the NFL moved the kickoff line three times. Each adjustment was carefully considered and made solely in response to circumstances and trends at the time.

In 2009, the rules were modified to prevent three or more defensive players from forming a wedge (楔形) to block the return man on kickoff returns. This change, aimed at reducing injuries, came about only after the Competition Committee members had examined hours of film of kickoffs.

In the league’s early days, the rules-change process evolved slowly. The league that would become the NFL was founded in 1920; it based its rules on the collegiate game and followed those rules for its first 12 years. In 1932, the NFL broke ranks on a few rules and appointed its own

Rules Committee, charged with developing changes independent of the colleges; the league would publish its first independent rulebook before the end of the decade.

Today, the Competition Committee — the successor to the Rules Committee — is a nine-member group of team executives and coaches that is the most visible and directly influential source for changes in the game. The committee makes most of the recommendations that are voted on by owners — recommendations that are the culmination of a process, not the extent of it.

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2 . The Differences Between the World Cup and the Olympic Soccer

You don’t have to be a soccer expert to know that the World Cup is the sport’s biggest international event. That’s right—it’s even bigger of a deal than participating in the Olympics. While most other sports see the Olympic games as the grandest stage, soccer holds its World Cup to a much higher _________. You may feel surprised but this is exactly the truth. In fact, the two events are set apart by a fair share of _________

The calendar year

Many of the sports that have their own Olympic events have _________that revolve around when the Games would be, so when it comes time to compete, the athletes are available. This isn’t the case for some of the bigger sports, _________, and soccer is one of them. When the World Cup qualifiers(预选赛) _________with the Olympics, even though there is a FIFA contingent(国际足联团队)that organizes soccer at the Summer Games, FIFA may not encourage its _________players to compete at the Olympics.

Countries participating

The World Cup hosted 32 national teams in Russia in the 2018 tournament.(This is also what allows the World Cup to host so many games over the span of a month. ) _________, the Olympics only hosts about half of that, with 16 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams participating in 2016Summer Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

_________requirement

You can’t put all the _________on FIFA for players not participating in the Olympics when the Games also put restrictions on who can play at the event. Each team participating in the Olympics can only have three players over 23 on their roster(参赛名单), which has led to the Games being mockingly referred to as a U-23 tournament. The World Cup, __________, doesn’t have such a limit.

Because of the age limit, many think the level of skill displayed at the Olympics isn’t a good __________of what the world’s best soccer players are capable of. Keep in mind that FIFA is part of the organizing committee for soccer at the Olympics. So it always has the final __________in whether the best players in the world can participate. As the New York Times summarized in 2008, FIFA’s message to the Olympics is clear: Soccer is one sport in which you will never be allowed to __________an event with the best in the world.

Fans

Part of the World Cup’s appeal is that it runs over the course of the __________, and viewers who don’t watch certain teams on a regular basis can become more familiar with the competition. The Summer Games __________the games—again, made up of fewer teams—onto a much shorter schedule with less time for fanfare.

The Olympics

The Olympics are the most important international competition in terms of scale, skills, and number of athletes.

The games are divided into two parts—the Summer Games and the Winter Games. The two parts are held in such a way that there are two years in between but four years before one is     1    .

The Olympics were first celebrated in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, and were held every four years until 393 AD. Then, they were brought to an end by the Roman emperor. It was not until the 1890s that the world     2    the modern summer games. In 1896 the first modern Summer Olympics were held in Greece because that was where the tradition started. After that the Olympics would move to a different city every four years. In 1924, the Winter Olympics were added to the     3    . The Games were to take place in a separate, colder place. The event was     4    during World War I and World War II for reasons known to all.

Examples of modern Summer Olympic events are track and     5    events, ball games, diving, gymnastics, swimming. Typical Winter Olympic events are skating and skiing.

The Olympic records are the world ones. An Olympic gold medal carries as much weight as, or even more than, any other gold medal won at other international competitions. The skills and     6    demonstrated at the Olympics have come to stand for the peak of human physical strength and will power.

It was not until the late twentieth century that Chinese athletes began to amaze the world with their     7    performance at the Olympics. Coming out number one many times in the Olympic events, Chinese athletes have brought home one gold medal after another in swimming, diving, gymnastics, weight lifting, and a number of ball games. At the turn of the twenty-first century, the world witnessed Beijing being selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the     8    city for the 2008 Olympics. This has added a brilliant touch to the picture of modern Chinese sport history.

Though once     9    as “the Weaklings of East Asia”, the Chinese have always been looking forward to achieving the dream of becoming a sports giant. After continuous efforts for years the dream is     10    coming true, and it is understandable why the Chinese let out cries of joy the night Beijing’s bid to host the 2008 Olympics was approved!

5 . My Favourite Sport

Skiing is my favourite sport, even though I have only skied for four days in my whole life. Last year, my father promised to take me on a holiday if I did well in my final exams. When I got straight A’s, Dad said, “How about a weekend at the Botanical Gardens?” However, my mum said, “No, you promised a special holiday. I think you ought to keep your word.” And, despite the expense, he did.

My dream was to see some real snow, so in the Christmas vacation we flew to Seoul, South Korea, and then took a shuttle bus which runs back and forth between Seoul and Muju Resort. As the bus climbed through the mountains, we saw the snow on the trees. I was raring to get out of the bus. No one in my family had ever touched snow before, so soon after the arrival, we were all like little children — we picked snow up, made snowballs, and threw them at each other!

Then we checked in at the hotel. Our room overlooked one of the ski slopes. The slope was floodlit, so we watched people skiing until 10 p. m. We could not wait to try it ourselves.

The next day we had our first skiing lesson. We rented our ski suits, boots and skis, and went outside onto the snow. Wearing skis for the first time makes you feel very strange. Suddenly you find you cannot even walk.

Our instructor took us onto a gentle slope, and showed us some basic skills. In order to go up a hill, you have to stand sideways, and go up step by step. You must point the tips of your skis together so that you can stop. However, the tips must not cross, or you will fall. You should not ski alone in case you fall and get injured. To be honest, that first lesson was not a great success, and I kept on falling down!

However, the next day I definitely improved. I only fell over a few times, and I managed to do a few longer runs. I felt pleased with myself, and the instructor congratulated me, so I felt great. Although it was very cold, I spent most of that holiday skiing. It was the most wonderful time of my life.

Nevertheless, it was all over too soon. Now I have decided to work part-time this summer after the College Entrance Examination, so I can earn enough money for another super skiing holiday.

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Change is needed in youth sports

Everywhere you look, you see kids bouncing a basketball or waving a tennis racket. And these kids are getting younger and younger. Children can even compete on basketball, baseball, and volleyball teams starting at age nine. The youth soccer organization has teams for children as young as five. And swimming and gymnastics classes begin at age four, to prepare children for competition.

It’s true that a few of these kids will develop into highly skilled athletes and may even become members of our national Olympic teams. But what about the others-the average kids? This emphasis on competition in sports is having serious negative effects.

Children who get involved in competitive sports at a young age often grow tired of their sport. Many parents pressure their kids to choose one sport and devote all their time to it. A survey found that 79% of parents of young athletes wanted their children to concentrate on one sport. But 66% of the young athletes wanted to play more than one sport-for fun.

Another problem is the pressure posed by over-competitive parents and coaches. Children are not naturally competitive. In fact, a recent study by Paul David has found that most children don’t even understand the idea of competition until they are seven years old. Very young kids don’t know why their parents are pushing them so hard.

The third, the biggest problem for young athletes is the lack of time to do their homework, have fun, be with friends-in short, time to be kids. When they are forced to spend every afternoon at sports practice, they often start to hate their chosen sport. Researchers have found that 70% of kids who take part in competitive sports before the age of twelve quit before they turn eighteen. Many of them completely lose interest in sports. Excessive competition takes away all the enjoyment.

7 . To complete a study, a team of scientists left Boston and went to the middle of Kenya. They wanted to find out more about barefoot running.

Sure, people can run barefoot anywhere. But the Rift Valley Province in Kenya has produced some of the most famous long-distance runners in history, and many of these athletes grew up not wearing shoes. With a video camera in hand, scientist Daniel Lieberman and his colleagues visited some of these runners to figure out what a difference shoes make.

It was a big difference, and not necessarily for the better. In particular, when a bare foot hits the ground, the blow is softer and the running motion is smoother. This research suggests that running barefoot may have advantages over running with shoes on, though more studies are needed to determine whether or not barefoot running reduces the chances of injuries.

Previous studies have shown that when a person runs barefoot, he lands on the front or middle of the foot. Then the heel goes down. During this process, the weight of the body is at first on the front of the foot, then moves to the heel. When a person wears shoes, however, he tends to run so that his heel hits the ground first. The impact of the heel hitting the ground may be much more forceful than the impact of the front of the foot hitting the ground.

In the 1970s, shoe companies began selling running shoes that had cushioned soles (加垫子的鞋底). Those soles spread the body weight through the foot and may have influenced the way people ran. Once runners started wearing these shoes, they could land on their heels and still be comfortable.

The researchers also studied barefoot runners in their lab in Boston. The goal was to measure the force with which a runner’s foot hits the ground. By studying this force, the scientists could compare the impact of different running styles.

“A rear-foot strike is like someone hitting you on the foot with a hammer, with about one and a half to three times your body weight. It would hurt without a shoe,” Lieberman said. “A fore-foot strike is like having no one hit you at all.”

Lieberman’s study explores the physics of running, which is a complex topic. Reed Ferber is a biochemist at the University of Calgary, Canada. The idea that barefoot running is better is a big assumption. He said, “Basically, there are no studies out there that show barefoot running is less injurious.” In other words, don’t throw out those fancy running shoes just yet.”

8 . Soreness (疼痛) Is Good and Scales Are Pointless: The Ten Biggest Myths in Fitness

It’s easy to think that fitness is confusing-but it isn’t. The basics stay the same, and we know the science. These are the ten biggest myths in fitness-memorize them, and exercise with confidence.

1. Soreness is a sign of a good workout

Sore muscles don’t mean progress. They are probably caused by small tears in muscles and happen when you do movements you’re not used to or when you do too many repetitions. So reduce the number of repetitions. You can make progress without pain.

2. Lifting heavy weights will make you strong

There are two ways to get stronger: increasing the size of each muscle and getting more muscles to work together when you need to use them. Getting big requires specific, targeted training and extra calories and protein-and it almost never happens by accident.

3. ?

Actually, it’s the opposite: exercises done correctly will strengthen the muscles around your knee joints, protecting you from injury. As for running, a 20-year study by Stanford University found that regular runners suffered less from arthritis (关节炎) than non-runners as they got older.

4. You can target fat and reduce it

Before the days of the internet, there was a myth that you could reduce the fat around your stomach by doing hundreds of sit-ups. “The truth is, we all have areas of fat that seem to take the longest to get lean,” says Storey-Gordon. “But don’t give up. Those areas will get leaner, too. Patience is the key.”

5. Less rest means you’re working harder

“For most people — especially beginners — periods of recovery between sets mean a lower risk of injury and better results,” says coach George Anderson. Or, in other words: if you train too hard for a whole hour, you’ll have to lift smaller weights, go slower and generally do less work than you would with some recovery.