After watching my son Todd run in a race, I made my usual comment, “Todd, I can walk faster than those women run.” Todd laughed as he knew I wasn’t a runner. “Mom, how about you running with me next year in this race?” Without thinking, I quickly accepted this challenge. I felt this was going to be a piece of cake!

When it was almost time for the race to occur the next year, Todd had been in hospital for a long time because of a car accident. Todd and my friends started to encourage me to run the race. I decided I should keep my promise to Todd and run the race. The first thing I did was go out and buy some running clothes. I might as well look good even though I hadn’t trained at all.

The day of the race came. I wished Todd could be there with me, but I had to start off alone. It wasn’t long before some racers started to run next to me and talk to me. I wouldn’t like to talk because I wanted to focus on my running. However, one guy was very talkative. He kept saying how tired he was, and that I must be tired too. He talked on and on. The race was over and this guy’s wife won! I didn’t mind this result. I was just happy to finish the race and keep my promise to Todd.

Todd asked about the race when I went to the hospital. I told him what had happened and how this guy would not stop his negative talk. Todd laughed and set me straight, “Don’t you know what this guy was doing? He thought you were the competitor by the way you were dressed. He wanted his wife to win.” Only then did I figure out the truth, so I decided to continue taking part in the race the next year; I wanted to win this time.

The following year I did train. I even bought some tapes called “Win at Sports” and listened to them daily. These tapes gave ideas about staying behind and knowing when to make your move.

When it was time for the race, I was all dressed and ready.       

I stayed behind this guy’s wife in almost the whole race.

All parents know exercise is important for children: It can lower heart risks, control weight,and help kids do better in school. Plus, outdoor activities at an early age can go a long way toward helping children form healthy habits for life. In other words, exercise is needed for healthy development. But don’t expect kids to understand about those things. Some kids just aren’t into exercise, but that shouldn’t mean they have to be addicted to the TV. So parents could do something to help inactive son or daughter fall in love with physical activity.

If parents sit in front of the TV every night, a bag of chips in hand, kids aren’t likely to respect restrictions (限制) you set on their screen time either. So check your own viewing behavior, and serve as a role model by putting physical activity into your everyday life. When you can, walk instead of driving. Regularly participate in activities that you enjoy and let your kids see — and hear about — how much you enjoy them. In this way, they may “do as the Romans do”. Make sure that children’s fitness is included in the family schedule in the same way that school, work, shopping, and family gatherings find their way onto the calendar. You and your children are more likely to stick to an exercise plan if you incorporate it into your life on a routine basis. And your children will begin to expect and accept that Sunday morning usually means a hike ride, and a couple of nights after dinner the family takes a light walk through the neighborhood.

Children who aren’t naturally good at physical activities may be self-conscious about their lack of physical skills and even fear public failure. These kids need all the support and encouragement from parents. Negative comments don’t work and will only serve to make your child feel bad. Remember, acknowledge the effort — choosing to be active or trying to improve a skill — rather than the outcome.

The FIFA World Cup attracted worldwide attention. But have you ever considered     1     watching the World Cup might affect your health?

Watching sport might have some positive consequences.     2    (support) a team can give people a sense of community and boost fans’ self-esteem when their team wins. Jason Lanter is a psychology professor at Kutztown University who studies the    3    (behave) of sport fans. Lanter said people feel like they fit in. They know there     4    （be）good psychological and also health benefits simply from being part of a group.

On the other hand, however, when watching    5    intense match like the World Cup, people’s pulses can     6    (easy) spike (激增) which could cause heart attacks, especially when their teams lose. On the day in 1998 when Argentina defeated England in the World Cup, 55 more people     7    (admit) to hospitals due to heart attacks,     8    (compare) to an average day in England. British research revealed that apart     9    heart attacks, the excitement, disappointment and flow of adrenalin from watching a national team play might also cause more domestic violence.

5 . When it comes to making healthy lifestyle changes, which should come first-changing your diet or becoming more physically active?

Previous studies suggested that providing people with too much information about nutrition and physical activity at once tends (趋向) to be discouraging. That has led to the popularity of advising people to make changes gradually, and set smaller goals.

So the scientists divided 200 inactive participants who were 45 or older into four groups. One group was instructed in making diet and fitness changes at the same time; the second group was taught about diet changes first, and then fitness changes four months later; the third group changed their exercise habits first and made changes in their eating habits four months later; and the final, control group was not instructed in either diet or fitness changes but in how to manage their stress.

The researchers followed the groups for a full year. Compared to the control group, the three intervention (干预) groups made healthy changes in their diet. Those who changed their fitness habits first significantly increased the amount of exercise they received daily compared to the other groups after four months. However, at the end of the year, the group that changed both diet and exercise at the same time was the only one that met the nationally recommended targets for both exercise and nutrition levels, while those who worked on improving their nutrition first were unable to meet the recommended levels of fitness after a year. The researchers suspect that changes to diet are easier to make than changes to physical activity.

The findings show, however, that pairing diet and exercise changes may help to overcome some of the barriers people face in adding more physical activity into their lives. If folks change diet and exercise orderly, the scientists say, they may end up placing more importance on the first set of behavior changes and feel less pressured to address the second set.