"Pick up the pace!" said Amy's husband. "But I can't!" Amy said, her heart beating quickly inside. "I can't go any faster! Her husband encouraged her. "Yes, you can! You're making progress every day.”

To help Amy stay healthy, her husband had been running with her for over two years. Several years ago, Amy could barely walk down the stairs of her apartment building due to fatness caused by eating disorders. She realized the problem after a failed job interview and began walking to improve her ability to move. At first, she could walk for only 15 minutes at a time. But she pushed herself every day, walking 5 minutes longer than she did the day before until she walked for an hour and eventually two. For three years, Amy kept her walking habit, slowly and painstakingly building her body shape. Then she changed her walking shoes to running shoes about two years ago and became an excellent runner.

In March 2001, an advertisement invited people to nominate（提名）an ordinary person who inspired them to bring the Olympic flame to Salt Lake City as torch bearers（火炬手）or support runners.（Support runners serve as “guardians of the flame" and run with torch bearers along the journey.）Amy's experiences touched her husband, so he nominated her to be a torch bearer. The possibility to be selected was low, but Amy wanted to try.

Running taught Amy the importance of training for a race. She pictured herself running a race and crossing the finish line. For months, she ran through her neighborhood carrying a broken-off broom handle, feeling the weight of the torch. She waved at her neighbors, pretending they were cheering crowds. She also printed a picture of a torch bearer wearing the white uniform, replaced the face with a picture of hers, and put it onto her refrigerator door.

Every day, Amy imagined herself as a torch bearer. She was training for a historic running event. On September 26th, while on her daily run through her neighborhood, an express package arrived.

       "One of today's torch bearers can't run her part, " announced the relay organizer.

2 . For many Americans, regular exercise is a complicated commitment—one made at the beginning of January that fades out within weeks or months. Busy work schedules, a lack of motivation and unease towards exercising in public all contribute to the discouraging statistics that only around a quarter of adults exercise enough per week.

This month, enterptiser Trent Ward and designer Yves Behar are uncovering their design for a mirror fitness system, Forme. Forme is reflective like a mirror, uses machine learning to heighten workouts, and offers attachments including ankle belts, rope handles and a heart rate monitor. When not in use, the two arms that form the resistance pulley (滑轮) system fold behind it and the display screen disappears, turning Forme into a simple full—length mirror.

Interest in home exercise has particularly increased recently around the world. Home workout apps have seen a significant uptick in downloads, and trendy brands like Peloton have rolled out free virtual workouts for everyone stuck indoors. One French athlete who was kept away from others chose to run an entire marathon on his 23-foot balcony.

But beyond the new restrictions affecting daily workout routines, Ward and Behar are tapping into the same concerns that have made every home workout appealing：the ability to save time and sweat in the privacy of one’s home. In an age of personal metrics (衡量标准)--where one can measure their heart rate and sleep cycles with smart watches and train for marathons with AI smart sneakers----Ward and Behar want to improve exercise through machine learning. Forme evaluates performance and adjusts weights accordingly. Easy access to one’s own performance data also makes it easier to track that progress and stay motivated.

Though it’s too soon to tell if mirror gyms will be the trend of the late 2010s to 2020s, Behar explained that having a screen in the home can become the basis for more than just fitness, such as shopping or telemedicine.

How glad I’m to hear from you!

Yours,

Li Hua

5 . Being part of the team can be one of the most rewarding things a person can do.    1     There's no single person who can carry the rest of the team themselves. And there's   nothing like watching a team come together for a big victory.

A team sport includes any sport where individuals are organized into opposing teams which compete to win. Team members act together towards a shared objective.    2    One of them is to set goals and solve problems in a supportive atmosphere in order to accomplish their objectives.

    3    Some types of sports have different objectives or rules than “traditional” team sports. These types of team sports do not involve teammates facilitating(促使) the movement of a ball or a similar object according to a set of rules, in order to score points. For example, swimming, rolling, sailing, dragon boat racing, and track and field among others can also be considered team sports. In other types of team sports, there may not be an opposing team or points to score, for example, in mountaineering (登山运动).    4    

Through the years, the popularity of team sports has continued to grow.     5    All over the world, the influence of team sports can be seen as professional athletes live out their dreams while serving as role models, youth athletes develop life skills and follow in the steps of their role models, and fans bond over the love of their teams while supporting their economies with their support.

7 . The Dezeen x Samsung Out of the Box Competition is a global contest that challenges contestants to design innovative objects for the home that can be made by repurposing cardboard packaging. It's inspired by Samsung's Eco-Packaging, in which some of its televisions are shipped to customers.

Entries will be judged on how original the idea is, how visually appealing the object is and how useful it would be in the home.

The competition is free to enter for anyone over 18 around the world. Entries from individuals and teams will both be accepted.

Contestants will need to submit their entry via the form down-loadable here: http://www. dezeen.com/samsung-out-of-the-box-competition-entry-form/. The following information should be included in the form: the name of the design, a description of its concept (maximum 300 words), one to ten images showing the object in use in the home. A video or animation (动画) displaying the design and its assembly (组装) is optional.

All entries must be received by 23:59 BST on October 29, 2020.

In November 2020, Dezeen and Samsung will select a shortlist of the best designs, which will be published on the Dezeen website. In December 2020, five finalists will then be exhibited at IFA Berlin, one of the world's largest trade fairs for consumer electronics. Entrants behind the top five designs will be invited to attend the IFA to present their designs to an English-speaking jury.

The competition is awarding $20,000 in total prize money, which will be divided among the top five finalists. The overall winner will receive a top prize of $10,000.

8 . Do big sporting events make us do more sport?

I recently spent half a weekend sitting on the sofa watching the Davis Cup. I thought about going for a run, but I did not want to miss the rest of the match. Soon it was starting to get dark, so I did not bother. Whenever I watch tennis, I think how nice it would be to play it regularly. But I have been thinking that for almost 20 years without actually setting foot on a court. The evidence would suggest that I’m not the only one.

When a country or city bids to host an international sporting event, it often promises that more people will take up sports as a result. London was no exception. Tessa Jowell, who helped to secure the 2012 Olympics for London, said they would be the first to set challenging but achievable targets as a measure of their ambition: By 2012 two million more people would be physically active. And 60 percent of young people would be doing at least five hours of sports per week.

In the end it did not turn out quite like that. Just over one-third of people in Britain take part in sports once a week. A report on Olympic and Paralympic legacy has said that a big change in participation levels simply has not happened.

Why isn’t there a big increase in people taking part in sports after most sporting events? Perhaps it is a mistake to assume an automatic link between watching sports and playing it. While the games are on, they actually encourage people to do just the opposite — to spend whole sunny days not out playing sports, but inside sitting on the sofa with the curtains shut to stop the sun shining on the TV screen and spoiling the view. We don’t expect half the audience of a hit musical to apply to drama school the next day, yet we seem to expect it of sporting events.

We might have sat on the sofa doing an impression of Usain Bolt’s bow-and-arrow signature pose. But how many of us have been inspired by watching him sprint (短跑) 100 meters? The high-level performances on show only remind people that they could never match the elite athletes in their sporting achievements even if they trained full time.

Maybe participation in sports is not the right legacy to expect after a major sporting event. It’s not so much that the Olympics failed to get people to participate but rather that this was never going to be the result. The Olympics can do many things, but maybe this cannot necessarily be one of them.

10 . After the Gold

Congratulations! You’ve won the gold medal! Stand still while the photo flashes (闪光灯) pop and TV journalists ask how it feels. Thousands of new followers on social media, meanwhile, are waiting for what you have to say.

Then, prepare for a different kind of downhill.

Diann Roffe knows the experience well. The American Alpine ski racer (高山滑雪运动员) won a gold medal at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics after winning a silver at the 1992 Albertville Games. She immediately announced her retirement. She was 26, an age when most people have just begun a career.

Joining society at 26 can be tough. A professional athlete’s life is remarkably self-centered. You wake up taking your heart rate. You think of your own workout goals. You write down what you eat. After years of self-focus, if everything works out just right, you win. Most people will never experience a high that high. But there’s a downside.

“It was like being taken up to the highest mountain peak to see the view, and then being brought down, never to be there again,” said Roffe. In the first years after her win, Roffe thought, “Here I am struggling with the masses to make ends meet and get school done, seeking that extraordinary feeling again.”

Roffe’s friend, speed skater Cathy Turner, was the darling after she won a gold at the 1992 Albertville Games. “I woke up every day with a long to-do list,” she recalled her early days after retirement. “It was like, ‘What speech am I giving? What company am I going to address?’ I was Cathy the skater, the Olympian. Then I was Cathy the motivational speaker.”

Turner found it difficult to make a transition out of the sport. She returned to compete at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, where she won another gold. She retired again, turned her attention to computers, but soon found herself with marital (婚姻的) troubles. Turner escaped her troubles the only way she knew — she trained for the 1998 Games, where she didn’t win a medal.

If their stories illustrate how difficult post-gold years can be, Roffe and Turner also show why winning athletes often eventually succeed.

“Think of what these people develop!” said California sports psychologist Doug Gardner. “Perseverance. Tenacity in dealing with failure. These skills are very useful in other aspects of life.”

Turner combined her perseverance with her love of computer technology. She finally became a valued database (数据库) manager at a company in New York state. Roffe, 23 years after her retirement, runs a successful business which makes locker (储物柜) systems for team locker rooms, resorts and gyms.