Germany became the latest defending champion to crash out of the World Cup at the first hurdle, part of a trend but definitely not part of the plan when Germany arrived here.

A smooth-running    1    machine when it won the Cup in 2014, Germany now appears in need of a reform after losing,2-0,to South Korea here on Wednesday and saying goodbye to Russia about three weeks earlier than many expected.

It has been the earliest exit for a German team at the World Cup since 1938,which seems even more     2    when you consider Hitler was then the country's leader and only 15 teams participated.

With stars like Kroos, Mesut Özil and Mats Hummels, Germany won every match in    3    for this World Cup, the first German team to do so. But it could not even    4    it out of the group phase in Russia.

There seems to be a World Cup curse at    5    .Since the 1998 edition, the defending champion has been eliminated in the group phase on four occasions: France in 2002, Italy in 2010, Spain in 2014 and now Germany.

But this team's early exit was still a(n)    6    shock, and Joachim Löw, the German coach since 2006, used that same word—"shock," in his own language-to describe the experience on Wednesday.

“The    7    of being eliminated is just huge,” said Löw, who added that the team deserved to go out early.

“It turned    8    . I must take responsibility for this.”

A four-time World Cup winner, Germany was a finalist in 2002, third in 2006 and 2010 and the champion in 2014 after dealing the host nation of Brazil a 7-1 defeat in the semifinals, the     9    of which still leaves many Brazilians in pain.

The Germans certainly have historical company, however. The list of defending champions to lose very early shows how    10    it is to maintain momentum and focus with national teams whose players practice and play together much less frequently than they do with their clubs.

As students, we have     1     from early morning till late afternoon. Therefore,     2     a ten-minute break between classes is very important and necessary. Otherwise, we may feel both     3     and mentally tired. During the ten-minute break, we do something to get rid     4     tiredness. What we need is to have a good rest, instead of     5     more tired. So don’t do anything that makes you too     6    . My ten-minute break is always     7    . I usually do some simple exercise.     8     I take a walk during the break or have a free chat with     9     classmates.     10     the new class begins, I feel fresh again.

A new analysis of the running habits of over a million people showed that exercise is contagious — though this depends on who's spreading it.

For the study, two scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used     1     tracker data to study the running habits of around 1.1 million people, who have around 3.4 million social network connections. Over five years, the     2     ran a collective 350 million kilometers, and their runs were posted online for their friends to see.

The researchers found an additional kilometer run by friends influences an individual to run an additional 0.3 kilometers. An additional kilometer per minute run by friends     3     a person to run an additional 0.3 kilometers per minute faster than usual. And if those friends run an extra 10 minutes, that person is likely to run about three minutes longer than they would have. The influencing effect is strongest on the same day     4     are posted and appears to diminish with time, the authors wrote.

The findings suggested that a runner's peers did influence him or her to run more, but not all users exerted     5     influence on their buddies. Individuals were more likely to be encouraged by less active peers than by more active ones.

"Social comparisons may provide an explanation for these results," the study's authors wrote. This theory, they added, "    6     that we self-evaluate by comparing ourselves to others."

But do we make comparisons to peers performing better than us, or to those performing worse? That's been a subject of     7    , the researchers said.

Comparisons to those ahead of us may     8     our own self-improvement, while comparisons to those behind us may create competitive behavior to protect one's superiority.

The findings show how effective     9     these real-time networks may be to help scientists design different methods to minimize the impact of social ills and maximize the     10     of social benefits.

Youth sport has the     1     to accomplish three important objectives in children’s development. First, sport programs can provide youth with opportunities to be     2     active, which can lead to improved physical health. Second, youth sport programs have long been considered important to youth’s psychosocial development, providing opportunities to learn important life skills such as cooperation, discipline, leadership, and self-control. Third, youth sport programs are     3     for the learning of motor skills(运动技能); these motor skills serve as a foundation for future national sport stars and recreational adult sport     4    . When coachers develop activities for youth practices and when sport     5     design youth-sport programs, they must consider the implication of deliberate play and deliberate practice.

Research from Telama (2006) states that regular participation in deliberate play or deliberate practice activities during childhood and youth (ages nine to eighteen) increases the likelihood of participation in sports during adulthood by six times for both males and females. Côté (2002) defines deliberate play activities in sport as those designed to maximize enjoyment. These activities are regulated by flexible rules     6     from standardized sport rules and are set up by the children or by an involved adult. Children     7     change rules to find a point where their game is similar to the actual sport but still allows for play at their level. For example, children may change soccer and basketball rules to suit their needs and environment (e.g. in the street. on a playing field or in someone’s backyard). When     8     in deliberate play activities, children are less concerned with the outcome of their outcome of their behavior (whether they win or lose) than with the behavior (having fun).

On the other hand, Ericsson (1993) suggests that the most effective learning occurs through involvement in highly structured activities defined as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice activities require effort, produce no immediate rewards, and are     9     by the goal of improving performance rather than the goal of enjoyment. When individuals are involved in deliberate play, they experiment with different combinations of behaviors, but not necessarily in the most effective way to improve performance. In contrast, when     10     are involved in deliberate practice, they exhibit behavior. focused on improving performance by the most effective means available. For example, the backhand skill in tennis could be learned and improved over time by playing matches or by creating fun practice situations. However, players could more effectively improve their backhand performance by practicing drills that might be considered less enjoyable.

Although the drills used in most effective means available practice might not be the most enjoyable, they might be the most relevant to improving performance.

The odds are high that you’ve seen a beauty pageant (选美比赛) or two in your life. They are among the most attended and viewed events in the world. Despite numerous different opinions, beauty pageants continue to not only     1     but also become more popular.

Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth are known as the Big Four beauty pageants, and all of them continue to this day. These competitions     2     young women on their physical attractiveness, of course, but they also are judged on their personality, intelligence, talent, and responses to interview-based questions. The eventual winners receive prizes including cash, scholarships, clothes, beauty queen crowns, and of course, the title of the event for one year.

All these awards do not come cheap for the young ladies. They have duties to fulfill while holding their titles. Beauty queens often appear at functions to raise social awareness about environmental and social issues such as nature     3    , racial or gender discrimination, and disease prevention. By projecting the image of a well-educated, respectable character     4     with a successful personality, every beauty pageant winner is seen as a role model, and not just for young girls alone.

Some beauty contests     5     men rather than women. Similar to their feminine counterparts, men enter Mister Global, Mister International, and Mister World for their looks, style, and talent. These contests should not be     6     with the Mister Universe contest, which is an annual bodybuilding competition.

There are other strange and     7     pageants all over the world that celebrate everything from being old to being pregnant.

Beauty contests, whether organized with noble     8     or just for fun, have attracted criticism since they were first held. Some critics object to the focus on physical beauty, especially emphasis on a certain stature and body shape. Further, they point out that some participants will actually harm themselves through dieting or plastic surgery to achieve the perfect appearance. Despite these complaints, beauty may be only skin deep, but     9     it and competing for the glory of being the fairest of them all holds a timeless and universal     10    .