Nowadays, football is one of the most popular sports in     1    world. Its history    2     (go) back over two thousand years to ancient China, and it was known as cuju then. Modern football started in Great Britain,    3     the new game rules were made.

Football is simple and very cheap    4    (play), which is perhaps the basis of the popularity. People needn’t expensive equipment    5    the football doesn’t cost much money.

Another factor behind    6    (it) global popularity is the creativity on the field. It is attractive    7    millions of people. People can see children playing with a ball everywhere. People also can feel the    8    (excite) of a game even without recognizing the skill of professional players.

What’s more, it has become one of the    9    (good) ways for people to communicate. It doesn’t require    10    (word), but everyone can understand it. It breaks down walls and brings people together on and off the field.

As a player, Lang Ping brought honor and glory to her country.     1     she led the China’s women’s volleyball team to medals at world championships and the Olympics. As a person, Lang Ping is loved by fans     2     . When the Chinese team was preparing for the 2015 World Cup, her determination was tested. The team that Lang Ping had built     3     . One of the best players had been injured, and the team captain had to leave because of heart problems. Losing two important players was     4     , but Lang Ping did not lose heart. She had faced difficulties before, and she knew that her young players could win if they worked together as a team. Two weeks later, they were     5     ! Then in 2016, Lang Ping led her volleyball team to Olympic gold in Brazil.

4 . Who to Believe?

“My doctors told me I would never walk again because of the illness. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.”

Wilma Rudolph was born in 1940 into a very large and poor African-American family in Tennessee. When she was four years old, a deadly _________ made her left leg useless. She had to wear an iron leg brace (固定器). Her doctors told her she would never _________ like a normal person without the brace. _________ she was fortunate in having a mother who encouraged her to have faith and _________ .

At nine years of age, the little girl _________ the leg brace and took the step that her doctors had said was _________ . Then she got the incredible idea that she would like to be the world’s greatest woman _________ . Now, what could she mean- be a professional sportswoman with a useless leg?

At the age of thirteen, she began to enter races, but she came in last in every race. Everyone begged her to   _________ it. One day, however, she came in next to last. Then there came a day when she won a race. From then on, she   _________ every race that she entered.

In 1957, Wilma went to Tennessee State University, where she met a __________ named Ed Temple. He trained her so well that in 1960 she went to the Olympic Games in Rome. There she __________ a German girl named Jutta Heine, the greatest woman runner of the day. Wilma had just won two Olympic gold medals both in the 100-metre sprint (短跑) and the 200-metre sprint. Then came the 400-metre relay. It would be Wilma __________ Jutta. When the third runner handed the baton (接力棒) to Wilma, she was so excited that she __________ it, and Wilma saw Jutta taking off down the track. It was impossible that anybody could catch this girl. But Wilma did just that! Wilma Rudolph had __________ her third Olympic gold medal in the 17th Olympic Games.

That day Wilma made history as she became the first woman to win three gold medals in the same Olympic Games. Later she said. “The success can’t be reached without the __________ . I have spent a lifetime trying to share my story so that other young women have a chance to reach their __________ ”

Wilma had never __________ that she would not walk again and she kept struggling and finally earned the title of the world’s __________ woman. Her story told us it is our __________ that show what we truly are far more than our __________ .

5 . Success and Risk(风险) in Extreme Sports

What is it that drives some to take extreme risks,while the rest of us hurry for the safety of the sidelines?

Lester Keller, sports-psychology expert, says that not everyone has the mental makeup to do well in extreme sports. He notes that most of us hit a natural ceiling(天花板) that limits our interest for extreme risk. But others have a much greater interest for risk. Keller points to a top ski racer. He told Keller that the great risk makes you feel alive, tests what you are made of and how far you can take yourself. He said he would get nervous on some of the courses, but that this would just make him fight more.

Psychologists note that some people seem to be crazy for adrenaline(肾上腺素) rushes as a behavior looking for excited feelings. Like many extreme athletes, Emily Cook’s interest for risk appeared at a young age, “ was a gymnast,” she said. “I was one of those kids who enjoyed and did well at anything where you were upside down”.   As she started doing harder tricks, she was drawn to the challenge. “There are moments when you’re up there doing a new trick and it seems like an impossible thing. But overcoming that is just the coolest feeling in the world.”

Shane Murphy, sports professor, has worked with groups climbing Everest. “To me, that just seems like the height of risk,” he said. “But to them it was the next step in an activity that they’ve prepared for years.” Murphy said the view of extreme athletes is different from our own. “We look at a risky situation and know that if we were in that situation we would be out of control. But from the athletes’ view, they have a lot of control, and there are many things that they do to minimize(最小化) risk.”

Another understanding of risk may be something referred to as “the flow”,   a state in which many athletes become concentrated on the acts that focus the mind completely on the present. “Something that makes you try doing a tougher climb than usual, perhaps is that your adrenaline flows and you become very concentrated on what you’re doing,” Murphy says. “After it’s over, there’s great excitement.”

People of different skill levels experience the flow at different times. Some may always be driven to adventures that others consider extreme. “I can enjoy hitting a tennis ball around, because that’s my skill level,” Murphy says. “But others might need the challenge of Olympic competition.”

6 . It can be incredibly difficult to encourage ourselves to go for a run during winter, particularly when it’s wet and windy outside. But new research has found that even a super-quick run could have great health benefits. In fact, it seems that just a 10-minute session will not only make us feel better, but could actually improve brain health, too. Now, we all know that exercise can improve mental and physical health in many ways.

But when it comes to mental well-being, there’s been relatively little research done on the specific benefits of running, compared with other physical activities, such as cycling. So this was something put to the test during a recent study. Researchers from University of Tsukuba in Japan asked participants (参加者) to run on a treadmill (跑步机) for just 10 minutes. They then had to take a Stroop Color and Word Test which is used to measure reaction time in brain processing. Results showed there was a highest point in self-reported pleasure and an increase in degree of activity of the brain.

In other words, runners were found to have an increase in blood flow in the part of the brain that’s associated with dealing with functions and controlling mood (情绪). Researchers then compared these results to a similar study on cycling, which also showed improved cognition (认知), but no mood improvement. Therefore, it seems various types of exercise can make us feel differently.

The authors noted, “Given exercise is medicine, the effects of drugs differ depending on the type of drug, and different types of exercise such as running and cycling should be observed to have different effects on mental health and brain functions as well.”

So pushing ourselves to get outside for a run really will make us feel better, probably more than other fitness activities. And these findings show that we don’t necessarily need to do a lot of exercise to feel the benefit of it.

9 . A fresh and gentle wind on your face, soft sand under your feet and blue waters as far as the eye can see. Is there any other Olympic sport that is played in such pleasant conditions as beach volleyball？

“I’ve gone to a lot of beautiful places, and met a lot of beautiful people. That wouldn’t have happened if I had been playing another sport.” said Randy Stoklos, America’s most famous beach volleyball player.

The sport began as a four-a-side game on beaches in Southern California in the 1920s. The first recorded two-man game took place there in 1930, and the first tournament (锦标赛) was held in Los Angeles 18 years later. The winners were awarded a case of Pepsi. In the 1950s, women started playing and the sport soon spread to Europe and South America. Yet at that time, beach volleyball was more an entertainment show than a sport, with beauty contests included. The Association of Volleyball Professionals was founded in 1983 and beach volleyball developed into a fast, athletic sport. Its world-wide popularity won beach volleyball a place at the 1996 Olympics in Atalanta, where 24 male teams and 16 female teams took part. At present, the US and Brazil are the best in the world at beach volleyball.

The game came to China in the early 1990s and there have been national tournaments since 1994. It became an official event at the Eighth National Games in 1997. China’s You Wenhui and Wang Lu finished ninth in the women’s beach volleyball world championships in Brazil.

10 . When Tony took up running as a hobby he was 42 years old. Now 42 years later he’s a national champion and a world record holder.

He never imagined at the age of 84 this is where he’d be, but then he doesn’t meet many people in their 80s who are out training four times a week.

“I can see it’s a bit unusual, yes. But it’s been my life,” he told the reporter. The retired officer runs at a track near his home in Leeds.

At an event in Italy last month he set a world record in the 80 metres hurdles（跨栏）with a time of under 17 seconds. But he sees no reason to slow down and his ambition（雄心）is still to be competing when he passes a hundred.

“I probably won’t be doing a crouch start（蹲式起跑）, but it’s only 16 years away,” he joked. Like anyone his age, he’s had health problems. He’s had a string of severe heart attacks, but doctors have told him as long as it makes him feel good, he should carry on running.

“I can’t let my heart get in the way of my training. When I am sprinting I have to give it my absolute all. My heart is the last thing on my mind. ” he said.

He trains every other day, dances and plays hockey and he recently cuts down on alcohol （酒精）and chocolate. He said “ I’ve heard alcohol can lead to dementia and I don’t want that. I’ve cut down to one glass of wine every other day. I now have to stay as fit as I can be to keep up my lifestyle.”

Tony’s next birthday is next September. And the first thing he wants to do is become the world’s fastest 85-year-old.