1 . Life can be stressful. For starters, there’s your busy schedule — waking up early for school, studying late at night for tests, participating in sports practice and so on. There’s a lot to ________!

Everyday issues can add ________ stress, too — regretting a(n) ________ with a parent or considering an important ________. With lots on your mind, it’s ________ to feel stressed.

There are many different ways to cope with ________, such as talking with friends, exercising, and seeing a school counselor. Yoga can help ________ stress because it promotes relaxation, which is the natural ________ of stress. Yoga can benefit three aspects of ourselves that are often ________ by stress: our body, mind, and breathing.

People who do a little bit of yoga each day often find they are better able to handle things when life gets a little crazy. Practicing yoga builds your ________ to calm, focus, balance, and relax yourself.

Lots of people think of yoga as stretching the body into various impossible-looking ________. But yoga is easier than it looks. There are simple poses as well as complicated ones. Yoga requires no special ________, so you can do it almost anywhere.

Yoga poses are good exercise and can help loose up the tense muscle in your body. The areas of the body that tend to carry the most stress are the neck and shoulders. But other parts of the body can also ________ simple yoga stretches.

Yoga is so much more than just ________ exercise, though. The key to getting the best out of each pose is to ________ not only on your body, but also on your mind and breathing.

2 . As a teenager, I hated sports and physical education classes. I was always making up _________ to get out of them.

However, when I started university, I decided to _________ kung fu. To my _________, I loved it! It was a friendly and casual club. I used to go two or three times a week to _________. Because it is not a team sport, I didn't feel _________ about not being very good. And because it is a combat sport, you train in pairs, which means that you get to _________ people and talk to them. I also _________ that the focus of the classes was on getting better at kung fu, _________ exercising to change my body. I think that advertising puts us under an unhealthy pressure to change our _________. When I was doing kung fu, my body did change — I got __________ and quicker — but the __________ were a side effect of the sport, instead of the goal. __________, in the last year of university I was too busy to do kung fu most of the time.

When I moved to Italy this year I wanted to start doing a __________ sport again. I found a great local __________ that does mixed martial arts. The club is more __________ than the one at my university and we do lots of sparring (practice fights). I think that sparring is like chess, but much faster and much more fun! If your sparring partner tries to __________ you, you have to decide in an instant how to __________. You could dodge (巧妙躲避), block or even __________ their arm and then throw them to the mat.

When I was a teenager, I never __________ that I would like sports. Now I think that everyone should try as many __________ as possible because I believe there is something out there for everyone!

3 . Yesterday, my daughter had to go to work earlier than usual. Since the gym where I work out is not far from her ___________, I decided to take her to work and then go to the gym.

At quite an earlier hour, the gym was ___________ full of men and women of all ages, working out. I ___________ go to the gym at this early hour, and was ___________ to see so many people. It seems that many go to the gym before going to ___________. Some want to lose weight, others want to ___________ their body, and a great number of people like to build their muscles (肌肉). I know how difficult it is for most people to start exercising. Most people know it is good for their body, ___________ they are too lazy to go to the gym, ___________ in the morning. They ___________ to spend an extra hour in bed before starting their ____________. In the afternoon, they are too ____________ after work, and want to stay at home or go out to meet friends.

If you’re one of them, you need to overcome (克服) your ____________. If you ____________ going to the gym and exercising, you will start to ____________ it. This usually ____________ when you see you’re losing weight, that your body is getting into a better shape, and that you feel stronger.

It is the same in every other area of life. Everything becomes easier if you have great motivation.

4 . 81-year-old Erika lives in Langenfeld, Germany, with her husband. She never used to be ________, but after her two kids grew up and left the ________, she found herself bored.

________, her daughter signed her up for a gym membership. “The first five years, I was not as ________. Then, I slowly started to do more and ________ took part in rowing competitions,” Erika said.

It has been 20 years since Erika first ________ that gym. These days, she works out twice a day. When COVID-19 began, she had to find a new way to ________ her workout desire. That's when her daughter ________ some technology-related apps to her!

She ________ participating in various workout challenges online, and it didn't take long before people ________ her. As her Internet followers grew, Erika has become a perfect ________ for the young to keep active for the benefit of their ________.

“If I can change people's stereotypes(刻板印象) about the old, it makes me very happy,” she said. Meanwhile, she often ________ younger folks through her social networks, trying hard to ________ the joy of fitness.

“I would have never ________ to get this many inspiring ________ and followers,” Erika added. “These apps have helped me to stay up-to-date with ________ and what the younger generations are ________ these days.”

Erika is showing everyone how ________ it is to grow and evolve in our lifetimes. Twenty years ago, she ________ imagined that she would be motivating people half her age on social media Now she's made it.