Lionel Andres Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina in 1987. As Messi grew up playing soccer     1     his older brothers, his controlling and kicking the ball became as natural and easy as breathing, and he was quite    2    (satisfy) with his progress. At the age of 4, Messi joined a local team     3     (accompany) by his father. Starting at age 6, he played for six years with     4     older boys’ team. Around the age of 10, he     5     ( find) to have a growth hormone deficiency (生长激素不足). Because of this condition, he would never grow taller than 170cm.     6     Messi never stopped     7    (improve) his soccer skills or scoring goals.

In 2000, at the age of 13, Messi went to Barcelona, Spain. Futbol Club Barcelona (Barca), one of the great European     8     (team), was impressed with his skills for such a young player. In his very first game, he started making soccer history. He scored a goal, becoming the    9     (young) Barca player to do so in an important league match.

Messi is now a master in soccer     10     has led his teams to win over 30 medals, including an Olympic gold medal. The soccer’s little superstar will achieve more goals in the future.

It’s well known that Chinese women’s volleyball team     1     (be) the national pride since it first won the championship in 1981. Whenever there was a competition for them, people across the country would cheer for them. But few knew how hard they worked     2     (make) it look so easy.

The movie Leap,    3     hit Chinese mainland on Sept 25, 2020, tells us the story behind the team. It shows several generations of volleyball players and their journey     4     becoming an international powerhouse.

What attracted people most were not only their     5     (impress) skills but also the mental strength they showed in the competition. To win the match, China’s ladies trained hard,    6     (live) a dull daily life of never-ending practice.    7    , they refused to quit working even after the stadium lights had gone out.

The road to the championship is not     8     smooth one. The Chinese women’s volleyball team has fallen to troughs(低谷). It is their spirits of never giving up and the strong determination     9     have led them to go through 40 years of ups and downs. It has     10     (gradual) become a legend in the hearts of Chinese people.

Lionel Messi, a player from     1    South American country of Argentina, is the greatest soccer player alive today. At a young age, he    2    (move) to Spain and played     3     (profession) for the Barcelona soccer club. Messi started playing soccer at the age of 5 for a small soccer team     4     (own) by his father. Even as a young boy, he did very well. But when he was 11 years old, he    5    (find) to have a sickness which would prevent him from     6    (grow) much taller. There was a way to help him grow more,     7     his parents did not have enough money to pay for his medical needs. So, they looked around for a soccer club    8    would be able to do this for them. The clubs in Argentina couldn’t help him, but the famous Barcelona club in Spain offered     9    (accept) Messi on the junior team and pay for the bills. The Messi family happily took the offer and moved to Spain. In the Barcelona soccer club, Messi was one of the best players through his teen years.     10     his incredible talent, Messi has surprised the world.

Swiss tennis icon Roger Federer announced     1     Thursday night that he would retire from Grand Slams and the ATP Tour after the Laver Cup the next week.

In a video posted on social media,     2     20-time Grand Slam winner said, “Injuries and surgeries over the past three years     3     (present) me with big challenges.”

“I’ve worked hard to return to full competitive form. But I also know my body has     4     (limit) capacities, and its message to me lately has been clear,” said the legend,     5     has not played since Wimbledon last year.

“I am 41 years old. I have played more than 1,500 matches over 24 years.

Tennis has treated me more generously than I ever would have dreamt,” he added.

    6     (wide) seen as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Federer     7     (make) his professional debut in 1998 at 16 years old, before winning his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2003.

In 2009, he took his 15th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon,     8     (surpass) his idol Pete Sampras to become the most decorated major title winner until 2022. Only Spain’s Rafael Nadal (22) and Novak Djokovic of Serbia (21) have more Grand Slams than him.

After thanking his family, team members and fans, Federer said that     9     (retire) only means he would leave the Grand Slams and the ATP events, but he would set out     10     (promote) tennis throughout the world in the future.

“To the game of tennis: I love you and will never leave you,” he said.

Lang Ping is one of China’s most recognised     1     (athlete). She has been a volleyball star for more than 35 years and has contributed greatly to the sport,     2     has made her the most popular figure in China’s volleyball history. Lang Ping played on China’s national volleyball team during the 1980s. They achieved a series of success including gold medals at the 1984 Olympic, the 1982 World Championship and the 1981 and 1985 World Cups. In 1995, she     3     (return) to be the coach of women’s national team and lead the team become the winner of the 2015 World Cup. That year, she     4     (give) the Best Coach and the Sports Special Contribution awards at CCTV Sports Personally Awards.

Gu Ailing, the United States—born Olympic skiing gold medalist,     1     is also known as Eileen Gu, said that she competed for China to inspire the     2     (nation) young girls to get interested in the sport.

The freestyle skier won three medals at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games in February.   She shared her thoughts on Tuesday at an event in New York, where she was honoured     3     one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2022,     4     she discussed her motivation and the possible roles she might play after the Olympics.

Asked whether she had second thoughts about her decision to represent China in the Olympics,     5     (consider) the current tension between the US and China, Gu said not at all.

“No, I don’t have any regrets,” she said, because every day on her social media she receives messages from hundreds of young girls worldwide who call her their     6     (inspire). “Sports are a     7     (share) experience beyond gender, age, race, background and culture,” Gu said, adding that they can bring about     8     (culture) exchanges, communication and uplift one another, generating a cycle of positivity.

Gu also announced that she     9     (be) the ambassador(大使)for the US Winter Olympic Games to be held in Salt Lake City in 2030. Gu said, “This is a beautiful example of globalism and the capacity that we can use skiing, we can use sports, we can use the winter sports     10     (connect) people.”