4 . Soccer, basketball, baseball, and the like are popular all around the world, However, do you look for something a bit different? There may be some new sports that you want to try out!

One of the new sports is regball. It is a Russian sport adding basketball, wrestling (摔跤) and rugby. As in basketball, the players have a ball that they try to shoot through a hoop (篮筐) . But nobody will be calling “that’s a travel” while watching this sport, because there is no need to dribble (运球) . Players also wrestle with each other during the game.

Another kind of sport you don’t see every day is soapbox racing. Handmade vehicles are pushed down a hill, and competitors have to drive their vehicles through a course with different kinds of things in their way. Not all competitors are engineers, so the vehicles are easy to break apart. Competitors are judged for their soapbox’s creativity. Therefore, speed is not everything, and creativity plays the most important role. Competitors often design their vehicles based on themes from pop culture or history. Of course, the competitors dress up to play the role, too.

Cheese rolling race is not seen very often, but it is exciting. This is a game that is extremely funny for audience, but painful for competitors. During the game, competitors race down a very steep (陡峭的) hill, chasing after a round of Double Gloucester cheese that can weigh up to nine pounds and can travel some 70 miles per hour. Whoever gets to the bottom first wins the cheese.

7 . Marcus is a handsome and athletic kid. He plays tennis and _________ the state tournament every year. Marcus’s neighbor, Conrad, is also _________ to compete, but he has rheumatoid arthritis (类风湿性关节炎). Although it pains him just to walk, he _________ painful days at school walking to the sports field. He loves watching his school compete so he doesn’t _________ a game.

Marcus has known Conrad since primary school. They’ve always been _________. He sees Conrad in pain and his _________ at not being able to play sports. So, every day alter school, Marcus _________ his classmates to go to Conrad’s for a moment of discussion about the game competition. The discussion is as _________ as a real high school game, which makes Conrad forget the hurt.

Finally, the doctors found a new _________ to reduce the pain. Conrad walks without much pain, and then begins running, but he still has to learn the __________ of running. After a childhood of walking carefully and taking __________ steps, Conrad has to train his walking like a kid again and stay in shape. He pushes himself every day，building his lungs and doing leg lifts repeatedly for his leg __________. He knows what pain feels like, but running for Conrad is no longer __________.

To Conrad’s delight, he gets a chance to join the cross country team. Conrad doesn’t win, not once, but Marcus is there, __________ for him who always finishes in the middle of the competitors, breathing in wind and waving his hands __________.

8 . Last December, sixteen teams took part in the first rugby championship (橄榄球锦标赛) for primary and middle school students in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. Young players all enjoyed themselves in the games.

The event was held in Fuzhou No. 10 High School. The school set up the city’s first high school students’ rugby team in December 2020. And from September last year, it started to give rugby classes and students are very interested in them.

The event played an important role in developing students’ interests in sports, teaching students about team spirit and supporting the development of rugby in China. “Rugby is a good way to develop teamwork (合作) skills, said Yeh Chao-hsiang, a rugby teacher at a university in Fujian. “Students are taught to respect their teammates and opponents (对手).”

When playing rugby, players must follow strict rules. And since rugby is a sport that needs body contact students safety has to be put first. So when the students are playing a rugby game, they are requested to follow an important rule - when there is a touch on the body of the player who carries the ball, the player should put the ball down and let a teammate continue. “With this rule, rugby is a safe sport for both boys and girls and people of any age.” said WuLusheng, head of the Fujian Rugby Association.

“The sport is easy to learn and the rules are easy to understand. Even small children can take part in rugby training and competitions,” said Wu. “They are curious and excited when they see the egg-shaped ball and the special ways the game is played.”

9 . As we age, even if we’re healthy, the heart just isn’t as efficient in processing oxygen as it used to be. In most people the first signs show up in their 50s or early 60s. And among people who don’t exercise, the changes can start even sooner.

“Think of a rubber band. In the beginning, it is flexible, but put it in a drawer for 20 years and it will become dry and easily broken,” says Dr. Ben Levine, a heart specialist at the University of Texas. That’s what happens to the heart. Fortunately for those in midlife, Levine is finding that even if you haven’t been an enthusiastic exerciser, getting in shape now may help improve your aging heart.

Levine and his research team selected volunteers aged between 45 and 64 who did not exercise much but were otherwise healthy. Participants were randomly divided into two groups. The first group participated in a program of nonaerobic (无氧) exercise—balance training and weight training—three times a week. The second group did high-intensity aerobic exercise under the guidance of a trainer for four or more days a week. After two years, the second group saw remarkable improvements in heart health.

“We took these 50-year-old hearts and turned the clock back to 30-or 35-year-old hearts,” says Levine. “And the reason they got so much stronger and fitter was that their hearts could now fill a lot better and pump (泵送) a lot more blood during exercise.” But the hearts of those who participated in less intense exercise didn’t change, he says.

“The sweet spot in life to start exercising, if you haven’t already, is in late middle age when the heart still has flexibility,” Levine says. “We put healthy 70-year-olds through a yearlong exercise training program, and nothing happened to them at all.”

Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, says Levine’s findings are a great start. But the study was small and needs to be repeated with far larger groups of people to determine exactly which aspects of an exercise routine make the biggest difference.