Yao Ming was born in 1980. When he was young, he ate a lot, so most of his parents’ salary (工资)     1     (spend) on food. He was already 1.47 meters tall when he attended primary school. Yao Ming was a student,     2     liked reading, but because of his height,     3     (play) basketball became his first choice. In 1989, at the age of 9, Yao Ming began his part-time basketball training at the youth sports school.

In 2002, he entered the NBA Draft and     4     (select) by the NBA Houston Rockets     5     the first pick. On July 20, 2011, Yao Ming     6     (official) announced his retirement due to injury. He is modest and persistent, loyal and hard-working, and has the spirit of     7     (cooperate). And we all know he is a     8     (remark) player. We can find almost all the characteristics used     9     (describe) the advantages of a traditional Chinese man in Yao Ming.

If Jordan is regarded as the founder of basketball in the United States and the world, then Yao Ming is undoubtedly the     10     (influential) player in the world after Jordan.

Sixth-grader Zoey York is fast becoming famous in the sporting world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (柔术), winning national competitions and earning lots of honors.

In September 2020, when Zoey was 10, her brother took a jiu-jitsu class just     1     fun. “I tried it myself and immediately (立刻)     2     (fall) in love with it,” Zoey recalled. “Since then, I have been     3     great fan of it and I enjoy it more than any other sport I've ever done.”

In the gym where Zoey trains, she is     4     (physical) larger and stronger than most other kids her age. This means she often takes classes and trains with adults,     5     has helped improve her skills. In 2021, Zoey competed in the jiu-jitsu national championship competition and placed third. Right now, she     6     (train) hard for her first international contest to be held next July.

“I couldn’t ask for a     7     (good) student than Zoey to work with,” said her coach Malachi Moore. “She is always strict with     8     (she). She trains very hard and does everything you could ask a student     9     (do). And to stay in good shape, she always eats a     10     (balance) diet. She is able to pick up the basics really quick and I am proud of her.”

It’s tough for any baseball player to get to the major leagues, but Jim Abbott had an extra obstacle that should     1     (overcome). He might have been an average person if he     2     (born) with a right hand.

But Abbott was not     3     (stop) from loving sports, and he was practising constantly. In high school Abbott     4     (participate) in school sports activities and became a pitcher (投手) for the baseball team. Later he won a baseball scholarship to study at University of Michigan. As a junior, he     5     (name) Big 10 Conference Player of the Year. For some time, many people thought that he     6     (limit) there since then, but in the 1988 Olympics he     7     (win) the Gold Medal Game 5-3 over Japan.

How did Abbott handle all this with just one hand? This is what fans often asked. Jim Abbott     8     (see) as a left-handed pitcher, not as a one-handed pitcher. “I didn’t grow up     9     (think) about not having a right hand,” he once said. When asked to explain how he     10     (make) it to the top, Abbott said, “The only thing that could stop me was myself.”

How deep can a person dive underwater without any     1     (breathe) equipment? As one of the world’s top female freedivers, China’s Xu Tongtong’s answer is beyond the limit.

Freediving is gaining     2    (popular) across the world. Divers rely only on their lung capacity to plunge as far as they can-either in open water in so-called “depth” events or in the swimming pool,     3     (simple) called “pool” events.

This year, the 35-year-old Xu     4     (dive) 100 meters underwater successfully in both constant weight (CWT) and constant weight bifin (CWTB) contests, becoming only the third female freediver on the planet     5    (reach) this depth. “When I dived 100 meters and grabbed the depth tag, I knew I had done it and     6    (swim) back to the surface with a smile,” Xu joyfully recalled of her     7     (history) feat (壮举).

Hailing from East China’s Anhui province, Xu changed from swimming to freediving in 2014. “I was able to enter the three-dimensional world from a two-dimensional space. That is     8     I fell in love with freediving,” she told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview. The biggest attraction of freediving lies     9     facing up to and overcoming our fears. The training is a process of constantly knowing oneself, said Xu. After three months of training and competing this year in Panglao, Xu decided to stay on the island to continue her training and coaching,     10     major source of income for this world-class freediver.

Every time Oksana Chusovitina competes in a gymnastics event, she arrests the spotlight. The Hangzhou Asian Games proved no    1    (except). When the 48-year-old Uzbek gymnast appeared on the scene, thousands of viewers cheered for “Qiu Ma”,     2     translates into “Mother Chusovitina”.

After completing her vault (跳马), Chusovitina blew a kiss to the audience,     3     (form) a “heart” gesture with her hands. “It is the love and support of the people     4    keep me going and give me the strength to achieve more,” Chusovitina said.

“I am not very satisfied with my performance tonight,” she added. Chusovitina has    5     storied history at the Asian Games, having won eight medals. This year, she is targeting a medal in the vault. “I    6    (increase) the difficulty in the final,” she shared.

When her son was diagnosed with leukemia (白血病) in 2002, Chusovitina adopted German    7    (citizen) to compete at global events for a higher income. Her heartfelt affection, “I dare not grow old until you are well,” has resonated (共鸣) with many. After her son’s recovery, she continued her gymnastics journey out of love    8    the sport. Though she announced her retirement after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she decided to return    9     (short) after.

“The    10    (big) motivation is my desire. I’m just doing what I love, so why should I stop?” Chusovitina said.

Stephen Curry,     1     father is Dell Curry, a famous basketball star, spent many childhood hours     2     (play) on the muddy basketball court. He learnt to be     3     (create) and flexible as a player and     4     (develop) his own playing style and shot     5     (accurate). Although Stephen was thought to be too short, too thin and too weak to follow     6     his father’s footsteps, he carried on and would not give up because playing basketball was his dream. As a result, Stephen ended up playing basketball at Davidson College.       7     (select) for the NBA in 2009, Stephen joined the Golden State Warriors. In 2015, he won his first NBA championship and led his team to their first championship since 1975. All his     8     (achievement) were made through his self­belief, perseverance and continuous efforts.     9     we learn from him is that anything is possible if you believe in     10     (you) and work hard.