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.

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.”

Once considered as one of the best and strictest referees (裁判) in the NBA, Javie is now working at a church in America.

Despite coming from a diligent family, sports were in Javie’s blood too. It was sports that really inspired him as a young boy. His father had a career as a football back referee for the football league,     1     his grandfather was an umpire (裁判员) for the baseball league.

In Javie’s     2     (young) days, a famous basketball team had picked him as a possible basketball player, but that was destroyed by an arm     3     (injure). He started as a baseball umpire and then shifted to a basketball referee,     4     (become) an NBA referee in 1986,     5     he quickly developed a bad reputation for his bad temper. In one game, Javie even drove out one of the     6     (announcer), and in another threw out a team mascot (吉祥物).

As his years in the NBA     7     (go) by, Javie developed a good reputation not only as one of     8     most feared referees but also a     9     (respect) one. In 2000, he began suffering     10     an arthritic (关节炎的) knee. So during the season, he was barely working. Surgery could only postpone the terrible situation. As a result, Javie had to change his job as a member of church staff in America.

Kathrine Switze was a great woman. She wanted    1    (finish) a (26.2 mile) marathon and challenge herself. As we all know, before 1967, women were not allowed to run in the race. But Kathrine managed to get an official    2    (enter). So Kathrine became the first woman ever    3    (compete) in the Boston Marathon.

In fact in the middle of the Boston Marathon, the race director tried to make her stop running. But a friend of hers stopped him from doing so and helped Kathrine finish the race.     4    (final), in 1972, the rules    5    (change) to allow women to run in the Boston Marathon.

Kathrine was    6    (energy) and continued to participate    7    more races, including the New York City Marathon, which she won several years later. Thanks    8    her, the Women’s Marathon became an official Olympic sport later.

Her courage and perseverance in completing the first marathon in Boston has made her a role model for women around the world,     9    also encouraged women all around    10    world.

Lang Ping, the head coach, once declared that the goal of the team was to raise our national flag and listen to the national anthem on top of the podium.

Every historic championship doesn’t come easy, and each victory was the hard work of the team, bit by bit. When people watch the China women’s national volleyball team play, they see a commitment     1     excellence.

In 1981, the China women’s national volleyball team     2     (lead) by player Lang Ping created the first miracle of China’s World Cup. The team defeated the Japanese national team with 3 to 2 at the 3rd World Women’s Volleyball Cup in Osaka, Japan. That’s the first world title for China women’s national volleyball team. Everyone     3     (shock) by this news.     4     the news was broadcast, people burst into joyful tears. Their victory was     5     result of all the former volleyball players’ efforts. A famous coach from Japan was invited to China to help train the China women’s national volleyball team.     6     (see) the     7     (player) conscientiousness and spirit and the support from the Chinese people, he exclaimed, “I’m sure that the China women’s national volleyball team will become strong!”

In 1984, Lang Ping endured pain from appendicitis (阑尾炎)     8     (finish) the competition and win remarkable gold with her teammates in the Los Angeles Olympic Games. She shot to fame and earned the nickname “Iron Hammer”. She said. “At that time the pain didn’t matter. Our slogan is no fear of     9     (hard) and no fear of death. We fear no death, let alone other difficulties.” So the proud head coach of Japanese national team said, “Defeating Chinese national team is equal to blocking the Yangtze River. Both are     10     (possible).”