1 . About six months ago, I joined a gym. Every morning, there was one personal trainer there who practised at the same time that my little group did our________. He worked out with such a quiet________that he made it all look very easy, although I knew all too well how hard he was working. Whenever I tended to complain and________, I watched him push himself to his own limits, and I found myself________to work as hard and without complaint.

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching him do chin-ups (引体向上). He made them look________. I broke away from my group and asked him if I could try a chin-up. I had never tried before, but he just made it look so easy. He eagerly stepped aside and________me to step up to the bar. I pulled myself up without thinking...once...then twice. That was all I had in me. I had no________left. I told him that was all I had, so he stepped up behind me and________me up for a third and fourth “pull”. It felt so good.

The next day when I was done with my workout, I asked him to spot me again. Again, I did two. Again, on Day 3 and so on. I thought it was a________that I could only do two. but when I came lo the gym at the end of the week, he was standing there, nodding his head and said to me he was________with my chin-ups. He told me that when they are training firefighters, the men are required to do five chin-ups, and women are required to do one or two. He________that most people couldn't do them at all, and that he was amazed that I could. He further told me that if l________every day, I would be doing five or six in no time. At this point I should probably________that I am 50 years old... and female.

If he had told me at the very beginning how________it was, I more than likely would not have tried at all. ________I might have tried, but given it only half an effort, because failure would have been the expectation. I applauded him for letting me believe that for me, it was not only a possibility, but that success was a realistic expectation.

3 . Why would someone climb straight up a steep rock face without a rope or safety equipment? According to Alex Honnold, who is known internationally for free soloing, it’s no big deal. But many people in the climbing group disagree. In fact, free soloing is so   ______ that less than one percent of climbers ever ______ it.

Honnold grew up in California around a climbing culture and started climbing at 10. He ______ going to a climbing gym six days a week for three hours a day. Honnold was a straight-A student in school. But climbing was his main ______, and free soloing quickly became his favorite style. ______ he began climbing, he has made over a thousand climbs. He is ______ by many to be the best climber in the world. Experienced climber John Long says over half of the famous free solo climbers are dead. According to him, Honnold's greatest achievement is that he's still ______.

Honnold climbs by fitting his fingers into the cracks of the rock face. With most of his ______ supported by his fingers alone, he pulls himself up. What's more, his ability to stay focused is as ______ as his strength.

Other climbers agree that the fear of climbing without a(n) ______ is a huge challenge to overcome. Everyone knows that a single ______ would probably be a deadly one.

One of his greatest achievements ______ in California’s Yosemite National Park. He became the first free solo climber to ______ the 2, 000-foot northwest face of Half Dome. This and other climbs have made him famous, but along with ______ comes lots of criticism. Many blame him for taking too many risks. Honnold responds by saying, "I don’t think I'll do this forever. But I don’t think I'll stop ______ the risk. I'll stop because I lose the love for it. For now, he’s continuing to follow his passion and climbing to new heights.

5 . People think children should play sports. Sports are fun, and children keep healthy while playing with others. However, playing sports can have _______ effects on children. It may produce feelings of poor self-respect or aggressive behavior in some children. According to research on kids and sports, 40,000,000 kids play sports in the US. Of these, 18,000,000 say they have been _______ at or called names while playing sports. This leaves many children with a bad _______ of sports. They think sports are just too aggressive.

Many researchers believe adults, especially parents and coaches, are the main _______ of too much aggression in children's sports. They believe children _______ aggressive adult behavior. This behavior is then further strengthened through both positive and negative feedback. Parents and coaches are powerful teachers because children usually look up to them. Often these adults behave aggressively themselves, sending children the message that _______ is everything. Many parents go to children's sporting events and shout _______ at other players or cheer when their child behaves _______. As well, children are even taught that hurting other players is _______ or are pushed to continue playing even when they are injured. __________, the media makes violence seem exciting. Children watch adult sports games and see violent behavior replayed over and over on television.

As a society, we really need to __________ this problem and do something about it. Parents and coaches in particular should act as better examples for children. They also need to teach children better __________. They should not just cheer when children win or act aggressively. They should teach children to __________ themselves whether they win or not. __________, children should not be allowed to continue to play when they are injured. If adults allow children to play when injured, this gives the message that health is not as __________ as winning.

6 . Boxing is a popular sport that many people seem to be fascinated by. Newspapers, magazines and sports programmes on TV frequently ________ boxing matches. Professional boxers earn a lot of money, and successful boxers are ________ as big heroes.

It seems to me that some people, especially men, find it ________ because it is an aggressive sport. When they watch a boxing match, they can ________ the winning boxer, and this gives them the feeling of being a ________ themselves. It is a fact that many people have feelings of aggression from time to time, but they cannot show their ________ in their everyday lives. Watching a boxing match gives them an outlet for this aggression.

However, there is a ________ side to boxing. It can be a very dangerous sport. Although boxers wear gloves during the fights, and amateur boxers ________ have to wear helmets, there have frequently been accidents in both professional and amateur boxing, sometimes with ________ consequences. Boxers have suffered from head injuries, and occasionally, fighters have even been killed as a result of being knocked out in the ________. Furthermore, studies have shown that there are often long-term effects of boxing, in the form of serious brain ________, even if a boxer has never been knocked out.

I am personally not at all in ________ of aggressive sports like boxing. I think it would be better if less time was ________ to aggressive sports on TV, and we welcomed more men and women from non-aggressive sports as our heroes and heroines in our society. I believe that the world is aggressive enough already! Of course, people like ________ sports, and so do I, but I think that ________ other people in an aggressive way is not something that should be regarded as a sport.

7 . A recent study shows that more years of school could help students get higher scores on intelligence tests. That was the finding of a study of teenage males in Norway. Now, other research shows that_______activity may help students do better in their classes.

The research comes as educators in some countries are reducing time for activities like physical education. They are using the time instead for_________subjects like math and reading.

Researchers at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam_______the results of fourteen studies, which included more than fifty-five thousand children, aged six to eighteen.

Research Amika Singh says the studies showed a _______between physical activity and scores on subjects such as Math, English and reading. “Based on the results of our study we can conclude that being physically active is_______for academic performance.”

Ms. Singh_________some possible explanations. “There are, first, physiological explanations, like more blood flow, and so more oxygen to the brain. Being physically_______means there are more hormones produced like endorphins（内啡肽）. And endorphins make your stress level lower and your mood improved, which means you also_______better.”

Also, students_______in organized sports learn rules and how to follow them. This could improve their classroom________and help them keep their mind on their work.

The study__________some questions unanswered, however. Ms. Singh says it is not possible to say whether the amounts or kind of activity________the level of academic improvement. This is because of differences among the studies.

Also, they were mostly observational studies. An observational study is where researchers do not do controlled comparisons. They only describe what they observe. So they might observe a link that students who are more active often have better grades. But that does not__________mean being active was the cause of those higher grades. Therefore, more high-quality studies are needed to ________their findings.

Still, the general finding was that physically active kids are more likely to do better in school. Ms. Singh says schools should consider that finding before they________physical education programs.

8 . A study from Switzerland’s Université de Genève(UNIGE) looked to answer the question of which came first: a decrease in physical activity or cognitive (认知的) decline?

“Interrelationships have been ________ between these   two   factors,   particularly   in   terms   of memory but also regarding the growth and survival of new neurons (神经元).” said Boris Cheval, a researcher at UNIGE’S Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences (CISA) in a press release. “But we have never yet ________ tested which comes   first: Does   physical activity   prevent a decline in cognitive skills or ________ ? That’s what we wanted to ________ .”

Earlier studies have considered that physical activity ________ cognitive decline.   But according to Cheval, recent studies may ________ that past research has “only told half the story… since those   recent studies demonstrate that our brain is ________ when it comes to engaging in physical activity.”

Researchers at UNIGE tested the two possible ________ by using data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, a socioeconomic database covering more than 25 countries across the continent.

Over the course of 12 years, 105, 206 adults _______ in age from 50 to go were tested every two years on their cognitive abilities and their physical activity.

Researchers ________ cognitive abilities with a verbal fluency test that saw participants name as many animals as they could in 60 seconds. They also tested cognitive abilities with a ________ test where they memorized 10 words before reciting them. Physical activity was measured using a scale from 1 to 4. A 1 indicated participants “never” ________ physical activity while a 4 meant they were physically ________ “more than once a week”.

The study found that the ________ of what past studies concluded was true ― cognitive abilities mostly influence physical activity, not the other way around.

“This study backs up our theory that the brain has to make a real effort to get out of a sitting lifestyle and that by _______ cognitive capabilities, physical activity will follow,” Cheval said.

9 . The first basketball game was played in the late 19th century in Massachusetts, America. On a cold winter day,_______it was impossible to do much outdoor sports, Canadian Doctor James Naismith came up with the idea of a new ball game,_______he hoped people would enjoy during the long winter months.

James wrote some simple rules for the new ball game, most of_______rules are still in place today. But some of the rules have changed a bit. For example, in the original game rules, bouncing the ball was prohibited.

After the new ball game was introduced to the public, it was such a hit_______attracted many people’s attention. Many people came to indoor sports centers in groups______they could avoid the extremely low temperature outdoors to play this new ball game together. The first basketball game_______consisted of 18 players was standard to the baseball teams of the day.

Since Naismith didn’t have the money to design a new ball, early games used the soccer ball,______the price was relatively low. Later on,William R. Chase made the ball go into the basket, and thus became the first player to ever score in a basketball game. It was during this game_______someone suggested a name for this new sport --- basketball.

10 . In the World Cup, the U. S. and England aren't traditionally rivals. But, off the field, a different type of ______ has dominated for more than a century: what to call the world's most popular sport.

To Americans, it's soccer. The most of the rest of the world (including England, the birthplace of the modern sport), it's football. But what most people don't know is that the word "soccer" is not ______ an American invention. On the contrary, it was a(n) ______ from England, and one that was commonly used there until relatively recently, when it became too much of an Americanism for British English to bear.

At least, that's the ______ made by Stefan Szymanski, a professor of sports economics at the University of Michigan. In a paper from 2014, Szymanski writes that "soccer" ______ late 19th-century England, as a way of differentiating between variants of the game which at the time did not have a commonly ______ set of rules.

In the early 1800s in England, football and rugby existed as different ______ of the same game. But in 1863, the Football Association was ______ to standardize the rules of football so that nobles boys from different schools could play against one another. In 1871, the Rugby Football Union followed suit. The two sports ______ became known as Rugby Football and Association Football.

In England, Szymanski writes, noble boys ______ the shortened terms "rugger" and "soccer" to differentiate between Rugby Football and Association Football. To support this argument, he cites a letter to The New York Times, published in 1905: "It was a ______ to Oxford and Cambridge to use 'er' at the end of many words, such as foot-er, sport-er, and as Association did not take an 'er' easily, it was, and is, sometimes spoken of as Soccer."

And the term, Szymanski says, was widely ______ in England through the first half on the twentieth century. It became even more popular after World War II - driven, he suggests, by the number of American soldiers in the country and the ______ with American culture around the world that came after the war.

But by the 1980s, Brits started to ______ the word, as soccer became a more popular sport in the United States. "The penetration of the game into American culture," Szymanski writes, "has led to backlash against the use of the word in Britain, where it was once considered a(n) ______ to the word 'football'".