2 . Benefits of Sports

Doing sports is a physical, mental and social adventure. It’s a great way for children to take a break from studies and release extra energy. It also helps them lead fuller and happier lives as regular sports have proven beneficial to overall well-being.

The physical benefits of doing sports are probably the most obvious. Regardless of your fitness level when you start playing sports, you’ll notice an increase in your overall fitness once you’re involved.     1     Basketball players focus on strength training; football players work on speed while track athletes train through longer runs. The training process helps promote physical fitness and performances in competitions.

    2     Playing sports also contributes to mental health, helping to increase confidence and self-worth. A pat on the back, a high five from a teammate, or a handshake after a match really boosts a child’s confidence. Words of praise and encouragement from the coach, parents and other players raise self-worth.     3     So after a game, it’s a better idea to ask “Did you enjoy the game?” rather than “Did you win?”

Children who participate in sports might also benefit from the social aspect, feeling part of a group, building up responsibility and leadership.     4     Teamwork involves both being dependable as a teammate and learning to rely on your teammates to achieve a positive outcome. Teamwork breeds responsibility and challenges you to be responsible for your actions. Being part of a team gives you an opportunity to be a leader.

Discipline is another social advantage. Most organized sports require a strict training and practice schedule. As a student-athlete, you need to balance studies and athletics.     5    

There is no shortage of reasons to find a sport to get involved in. Are you ready to go? Pick one and get moving!

3 . Why do we play sports? You might say “to get exercise” and you’d be right. To have fun? That’s true, too. But there’s more.    1    According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, girls who play sports get a lot more than just fitness.

Girls who play sports do better in school. You might think that playing sports will take up much of your study time.     2    Exercise improves learning, memory, and concentration, which can give active girls an advantage in the classroom.

Girls who play sports learn teamwork and goal setting skills. Sports teach us valuable life skills. When you work with coaches, trainers, and teammates to win games and achieve goals, you’re learning how to be successful.     3    Sports are good for a girl’s health. In addition to being fit and keeping a healthy weight, girls who exercise are less likely to get osteoporosis (骨质疏松症) later in life.

Playing sports improves self-confidence.    4    Why? It builds confidence when you know you can practice, improve, and achieve your goals. Sports are also a feel-good activity because they help girls keep in good shape, keep a healthy weight, and make new friends.

    5    Playing sports can reduce stress and help you feel a little happier. How? The brain chemicals released during the exercise improve a person’ mood. Friends are another mood-lifter. And being on a team creates connections between friends. It’s good to know your teammates will support you—both on and off the field!

4 . Teenagers’ fitness is now a major concern，and physical exercise is very important. It reduces stress and improves fitness. Exercise makes your body strong，and helps you to keep the right body weight. Sports scientist Dr. Helen Lopez offers the following advice to teenagers：“First，you need to find out your present level of fitness. Then you can design a programme that will help you become healthier.”

Dr. Lopez suggests that there are three levels of fitness that need a change of lifestyle.“Overweight”means that the person gets very little exercise and often has a serious weight problem. “Inactive” means that the person does not join in many physical activities，but is not seriously overweight.“Active”refers to people who take part in sports and other physical activities，but do not have a high fitness level.

According to Dr. Lopez，overweight teenagers should work out to keep healthy.“Ride a bike，play volleyball or basketball for a while，and go for a twenty­minute walk each day. All these will help to burn calories.”Inactive teenagers should do similar activities, but add some bending and stretching exercises, such as push­ups and sit­ups, starting with twenty of each a day.“Inactive people can take a little more exercise than overweight people because their bodies are stronger，”Dr. Lopez said. The same rule applies to active teenagers.

Dr. Lopez suggests one hour a week or more on running and other forms of intensive exercise，together with fifteen minutes a day spent on stretching and bending activities.“These are really important in order to prevent injuries,” Dr. Lopez said. Some weight­training and other body­strengthening exercises could also be planned in the programme in order to increase the person’s strength.

5 . All over the world people enjoy sports. Sports help to keep people healthy and happy, and to live longer.     1    They buy tickets or turn on their TVs to watch the games. Often they get very excited when their player or team wins.

    2    Football, for example, has spread around the world. Swimming is popular in all countries near the sea or in those with many rivers. What fun it is to jump into a pool or lake, whether in China, Egypt or Italy!     3    Think how many lovers to skate or ski in Japan, Norway or Canada.

Some sports or game go back thousands of years, like running or jumping. Chinese Kungfu, for example, has a very long history. But basketball and volleyball are rather new. Neither one is a hundred years old yet.     4    Water-skiing is one of the newest in the family of sports.

People from different countries may not be able to understand each other, but after a game together they often become good friends.     5    One learns to fight hard but fight fair, to win without pride and to lose with grace.

6 . Every year, the Olympic Training Centre has one extra special day just for women. This day celebrates the fact that _________ can join in any particular sport they desire, just as easily as men.

In the old days, women were told that certain sports were for men _________, and that women were forbidden to the _________. Well, eventually the women of this world decided to strike back, telling everyone else that they weren’t going to put up _________ this form of nonsense (冒失行为) any longer. _________ was then that women and men were declared equal _________ to any sports game, regardless of (不管) sex.

Tomorrow, this special day will be _________ by all Olympic Centres by offering a free tour as well as planned activities for all the _________ from the neighbouring schools. Since the Olympic Training Centre, here in San Diego, is just a few _________ from where our school is located, we received an invitation to this event as well. How wonderful, __________, and incredible! I simply can’t wait!

Our scheduled __________ are volleyball, archery(射箭), and track(田径赛). This means that we will play a game __________ two of volleyball with the US Volleyball Team champions, and __________ arrows(箭) with the Official Archery Team of the United States! We even will get to __________ the track with the US champs as well. All the instructors are __________ themselves, and all are on a championship team, representing America.

8 . Playing sports offers you more than just physical benefits (好处).     1     The benefits are the same whether or not you’re good at sports. If you are not good enough to play competitively on a school team, you can play sports with your friends.

Making new friends.

Playing sports enables you to create friendships you otherwise might not have formed.     2     You play together happily and gradually know each other. Many times, the friendships you create on the field remain strong when you are not playing sports.

Understanding the value of health.

Taking part in sports improves your health in many ways.     3     This gets you thinking about what to eat and how to treat your body so as to achieve the highest performance levels. Thus, playing sports can lead to better eating habits and prevent you from becoming too fat.

Building team spirit.

Sports provide children with the important lesson of learning how to work in a team.     4     By working together they will learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses and will be better able to decide and work out the best plan for the team. This will without doubt help them in their future lives and jobs as well.

    5    

Playing sports requires a lot of time and energy. Some may think this would take students’ attention away from schoolwork. However, the opposite is true. Sports require memorization, repetition and learning — skills that are directly relevant (有关的) to schoolwork.

9 . Last summer over 12,000 fans were at Wembley Arena in London, shouting and cheering. Thousands more were watching online.     1     It was eSports.

Millions of people in the UK play computer games for fun. Some of them have become professional gamers, playing games as their full-time job.     2     They practice for ten or more hours a day, five or six days a week. They do exercises like typing something and trying to type it faster and faster. They also study videos of other players and plan ways to defeat them.

    3     Are players athletes? Some say no. ESports players don’t need to run, jump, throw or do big physical action. At the moment, the UK government classifies eSports as kinds of games, not as sports.

But others say yes: eSports are sports. Players do need some physical skills, especially hand-eye coordination, reflexes, accuracy and timing. If darts, snooker and shooting are classified as sports, then perhaps eSports should be too.

    4     And they will be official medal sports in the Asian Games starting from 2022. Next step: the Olympics?

For many eSports fans and players, though, the most important thing is that eSports are growing in popularity and importance.     5