2 . As athletes get stronger and faster, the pace of play continues to increase. The burden of making sure games are played according to the rules and that the officiating (裁判) is accurate is now being taken out of human hands and falling more and more into the lap of technology. It’s called the video replay.

The National Football League is expanding its replay system this upcoming season to include pass interference (传球干扰). Major League Baseball now relies on it for safe-or-out and home run calls. If you’ve been watching the FIFA World Cup, you may have noticed that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) played a key role in almost every game. And in the Kentucky Derby, a horse was disqualified for knocking another horse. No one knew why until a video replay confirmed the call and controversy was avoided.

However, many purists—those who want people to follow rules carefully and do things in the traditional way—especially in soccer, argue it’s not the way the game was invented, and that the video replay is tainting the sport. But don’t you want to see the proper application of the rules throughout the games? I know I do. Yes, it can slow the game down, but I feel it is worth it. If technological advancements allow fans watching from home to spot mistakes instantly, those same views need to be available to the officiating crews. Another example occurred in the most recent National Football Conference (NFC) Championship Game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New Orleans Saints. When obvious pass interference was committed by the Los Angeles Rams player Nickell Robey-Coleman, with just 109 seconds to play, no flag was raised on the field. It weakened the New Orleans Saints spirits. The Los Angeles Rams won a 26-23 overtime victory. The no-call deeply angered the public. The video replay showed the referees had just missed one of the most apparent pass interference calls.

There are no easy answers regarding replay technology and whether it is a curse (魔咒). But for me, keeping the officiating honest and on task is the right step in limiting controversy.

3 . Today with the urge for gender and racial equality, people are constantly debating on most subjects when it comes to either of these topics. One of the most debated topics is “Should sports teams be coed (男女都参加的)?”     1    

First of all, the athletic differences between men and women would aid the teams.    2     But according to the researchers at the University of British Columbia women have higher endurance and stamina (毅力) than men of similar age and athletic ability. The mixture of extra stamina from women and the natural strength from men makes a good mixture making the team stronger.

    3    With sports being co-ed, kids would learn to get along with each other. The reason kids of opposite genders don’t really play with each other is that “Because you’re a girl” or “Because you’re a boy”.    4    For example, that would be unprofessional if your boss was of the opposite gender and your reason for not listening or for not cooperating was “Because you’re a girl or boy”.

Finally, being co-ed in sports teams increases the chances of women getting into college with a sports scholarship. The reasoning behind this is that the male part of sports has more attention on it, so men are more noticed.     5    This means more scholarship opportunities has come for women.

4 . Two world championships were decided this weekend on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In England, the Rugby World Cup was decided. In New York, the baseball season saw its final match. More than 80,000 audiences watched New Zealand win the Rugby championship 34-17 over Australia. The match was held on Saturday at the famous Twickenham Stadium near London.

It was the second world title for New Zealand. Fans call the team “All Blacks” because of their black uniforms. A day later, the baseball World Series came to a close with a win by the Kansas City Royals over the New York Mets.

In the World Series, the first team to win four games claims victory. The Royals won four of the first five games played with the Mets. Kansas City last won in 1985.

The Rugby World Cup opened on September 18, when England defeated Fiji. Forty-eight matches and six weeks later, New Zealand won the title. Going into the tournament, the All Blacks were ranked No.1 in the world.

Every tournament like this has a “favorite”, or the team expected to win. The tournament also has an “underdog” , or the team less likely to win. But the underdog often becomes a favorite. This year in the Rugby World Cup, the “underdog” team was Japan.

Coming into the tournament, Japan was ranked 13th in the world. But after an inspiring showing in the group stage of the tournament, Japan moved up three places to 10th. Aside from the championship game itself, the match that created the biggest surprise came when Japan defeated world No.3 South Africa 34-32.The Associated Press called it “the biggest shock in Rugby World Cup history”.

South Africa was a two-time World Cup champion. Japan had only ever won one match in the World Cup before that game.

5 . What is the best sport for your body type?

Just because someone has dreamt of playing football from childhood does not mean it is the best sport for him or her. Finding the sport your body is best suited to can make a big difference to how much you enjoy it and how good at it you are.

A person with an ectomorph body type is tall and slim with little fat or muscle. This person has narrow shoulders and hips, and thin arms and legs. Ectomorphs have difficulty putting on weight because of a fast metabolism (新陈代谢).     1     . What suits ectomorphs is endurance sports. Marathon running, swimming, and football are excellent choices for them.     2     , basketball may also be a great option.

Mesomorph body types are the typical image of an athlete. Their arms and legs are muscular and they have broad shoulders and narrow hips. Mesomorphs can put on or lose weight easily and build muscle quickly.     3     . Possibilities range from weightlifting and boxing to cycling for shorter distances.

A person who is an endomorph naturally carries more body fat. They are often short, with a high waist, and well developed upper arms and thighs.     4     , they can be very good at power sports because of their larger mass. This body type is not suited for agility (敏捷) and speed, but strength activities like wresting or powerlifting can be a great fit.

It is important to note that the three body types are extremes. No one is 100% ectomorph or completely endomorph.     5     . Another key point is that diet and environment also contribute to athletic ability and genetics plays a large part. And the most important thing is to choose a sport you enjoy.

6 . My boys have been on different sports teams for as long as I can remember.     1     Team sports aren’t all about physical benefits(益处). They are a great way for kids to explore and develop lifelong skills. Here are some ways kids can benefit from team sports.

    2    

This is an important lesson to learn from sports and carry into the future. Good coaches teach athletes to lose with dignity(尊严)，and that there’s always a lesson to learn from each loss and failure.     3     But what makes me most proud is when I see my boys shake the hands of opponents(对手)after every game, no matter what the results are.

Team sports teach kids hard work pays off.

Nothing worth having comes easy. Talent(天赋)plays a role in the early years, but as athletes grow, it’s the hard workers that rise to the top.     4    , but mastering a skill can only be reached with special focus and hard work. Accordingly, hard work creates confidence, which in turn benefits kids’ sports.

Team sports teach collaboration(合作).

Each person on the team has their own skills and characters. Coaches usually put players in different places to show their ability.     5    . It also teaches them to work toward something that cannot be done alone.

8 . A new study has found that braving the cold maybe a good way to help burn off some fat.

The research was carried out by scientists at Canada’s Laurentian University and focused on high-intensity interval training(HIIT). This format has grown in popularity of late due to the fat-burning benefits it brings, and the team set out to explore how temperature might influence its effects.

The study involved 11 overweight adults who took part in two HIIT sessions a week apart. One of these was carried out in a “thermoneutral” environment with temperatures of around 70 °F(21℃),and the other at a cold 32 °F(0℃). The sessions consisted of 10 separate cycling race at 90 percent effort lasting one minute, followed by 90-second “recovery” periods of cycling at30 percent intensity.

After each session, the participants cooled down by gently cycling or walking, ate a nutrition bar before going to sleep and enjoyed a high-fat breakfast the morning after. During these sessions, the scientists monitored skin temperature, core body temperature, heart rate and the amount of oxygen. Blood samples were also drawn to help calculate fat burning rates following the breakfast the next day.

“The present study found that high-intensity exercise in the cold increased lipid oxidation (脂质氧化) by 358 percent in comparison to high-intensity exercise in a thermoneutral environment,”the team writes.

The authors also note that the idea that cold temperatures help us burn more fat during exercise will need further investigation (调查), though the first-of-a-kind study does indicate it’s a possibility worth pursuing.

9 . As early as 1894, the newly formed International Olympic Committee (IOC) considered ice skating as a possibility for the first modern Olympic Games which would be held in 1896.

In 1911, a member of the IOC suggested that winter sports should be staged as part of the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. Some opposed the idea. At last, the IOC decided to hold Winter Olympic Games in 1916. However, World War I broke out in 1914. After 1920, the national governing bodies for winter sports in several countries began talking about the possibility of a separate Winter Olympics.

The town of Chamonix, in the French Alps, planned to hold a winter sports festival in 1924; at the same time Paris was to host the Olympics. The Marquis de Polignac, a member of the IOC, suggested that the festival be formally recognized as the Winter Olympic Games. The IOC didn't go that far, but did agree that Chamonix could call its festival an “Olympic winter carnival”.

The festival drew 258 athletes from 16 countries to compete in bobsledding (雪橇比赛), figure­skating, hockey, Nordic skiing and speed skating. Charles Jewtraw from the United States won the first gold medal in the 500­metre speed skating, but the festival's hero was Claus Thunberg from Finland. He won five medals, three of which were gold in speed skating.

Weather has often been a major story at the Winter Olympics and so it was at Chamonix. The festival opened with rain and the unseasonably warm temperature turned snow and ice to mud. Then temperature dropped as far as 25 below zero and the mud became ice.

Despite the weather, more than 10, 000 people showed up. In 1926, the IOC recognized the Chamonix festival as the first Winter Olympics and decided that the Winter Games would be held every four years, just like the Summer Olympics.