6 . Sporting holidays are some of the most unforgettable because it’s all about doing what you love most. Here are the four best sports resorts (胜地) around the world for you to spend your next sporting holiday.
Sardinia
Sardinia is one of the most popular Mediterranean islands, offering golden sands and fun in the sun for the whole family.
Chia Laguna Hotel Village is a top destination for the best sports resorts around the world, where families can enjoy various activities. Children between 6-16 are encouraged to join the various sporting programs, especially relevant lessons to fire their passion while learning from some of the best in the business.
Peloponnese
For the adventurous, the range of exciting activities makes this the perfect spot for an amazing sporting holiday. The resort offers mountain biking, rock climbing, windsurfing (帆板运动), and paddle boarding, to name a few.
For an ocean adventure, the PADI-certified scuba diving (戴水肺潜水) course centre is where you want to be. Learn the basics or make small changes to your diving skills to enjoy a holiday alongside the local sea life.
Corfu
Visit the beautiful Ikos Dassia in Corfu for a luxury holiday filled with fun and relaxation for the whole family.
Football fans are invited to the five-day (Monday-Friday) football camp that takes place on the beautiful grounds of the resort. Each day, a two-hour training session awaits with some licensed UEFA coaches. The program is suitable for boys and girls between 5-15 years old at any skill level.
Algarve
Located among green pines with amazing views over the Atlantic Ocean, Pine Cliffs Hotel is the perfect place to spend an adventure-filled holiday in Algarve, Portugal.
Get ready to enjoy the various activities on offer, including the Annabel Croft Tennis Academy, which has five courts. You can learn top skills with the coaching courses or show off with the guest tournaments.
1. Which place is ideal for water sports lovers?| A．Sardinia. | B．Corfu. | C．Algarve. | D．Peloponnese. |
| A．They offer sports training courses. | B．They provide adventurous activities. |
| C．They guarantee amazing seaside views. | D．They feature sports courses for teenagers. |
| A．To preserve the rare views. | B．To entertain various visitors. |
| C．To compare four sport resorts. | D．To advertise the sports resorts. |
7 . If you are a psychology enthusiast, you have probably heard of the famous marshmallow test (棉花糖测试). In this task, kids are given a marshmallow, and are told that they can eat that marshmallow now, or they can wait a little while, and have two marshmallows instead. Some kids eat the marshmallow immediately, while others try their best to wait for the experimenter to come back with two marshmallows.
Wait time in the marshmallow test came to be seen as indicators of self-control. But is it really the case? A 2022 study by Yanaoka and his colleagues tested the idea that children may decide how long to wait for rewards based on what they are used to waiting for in their culture. In the United States, there is no widespread custom of waiting until everyone is served to eat your food. However, in Japan, there is a mealtime custom of waiting until everyone has been served before anyone starts to eat.
Because of this difference, the researchers hypothesized that Japanese children would wait longer in the marshmallow test than the American children. This is exactly what they found. This certainly suggests that cultural standards are important. The researchers did a clever follow-up experiment. They found one situation where children in the U. S. are used to waiting longer than Japanese children are: unwrapping presents. In the U. S., when children are given gifts on special occasions such Christmas, they usually have to wait before they can unwrap their presents. In Japan, however, children usually open presents immediately.
Given these cultural differences, Yanaoka and his colleagues expected that if they ran the marshmallow test with Japanese and American kids, but they replaced marshmallows with wrapped gifts, then American kids would wait longer to open them. Once again, their theory was correct. When the potential rewards were wrapped gifts instead of food, American children waited 15 minutes on average, and Japanese children waited about four minutes on average.
1. What do we know about marshmallow test?| A．Its design is perfect. | B．It only tests a kid’s self-control. |
| C．Its results might be misunderstood. | D．It is famous among kids and parents. |
| A．By listing varied gift-giving customs. | B．By contradicting existing concepts. |
| C．By summarizing previous theories. | D．By examining newly-made guesses. |
| A．Expected. | B．Designed. | C．Assumed. | D．Assured. |
| A．children’s age | B．cultural custom | C．self-confidence | D．self-belief |
1. What are the speakers mainly talking about?
| A．The man’s lab report. | B．The volunteer work. | C．The woman’s dream. |
| A．Friday. | B．Saturday. | C．Wednesday. |
9 . How much stress is good for an athlete? Surprisingly, since modern, professional sport of all sorts now seems to be in the hands of computers, no one knows. The reason is that, to avoid decreases in performance of equal and opposite magnitude (量级), top athletes are rarely willing to carry even the tiniest monitoring devices when in competition. And when they are not in competition such measurements would be meaningless.
However, two researchers, Lu Yunfeng and Zhong Songfa, think they have found a way. Dr Lu’s eyes brightened when watching the 2020 Olympic Games on television. He noticed that in the archery contests, competitors’ heart rates were shown as they stood at the mark and shot. Heart rate is well known as an indicator of psychological stress, so he saw this as an opportunity.
When they dug into the matter, the two researchers found that 122 of the 128 archers in the games had agreed to have their heart rates measured. The trick was that, since competitors were unchangeable, their heart rates could be monitored remotely by a technique called photo plethysmography, which registers changes in the reflectivity (反射率) of skin caused by flushing (脸红) when the heart pumps. Altogether, they were able to match heart rate to score for 2,247 shots.
Overall, archers with higher heart rates had lower scores and those with lower rates, higher ones. The average rate for an archer who hit ten-ring was 134.2 beats per minute. It was 135.7 for nine-ring. And for eight-ring it was 137.9. Overall, Dr Zhong and Dr Lu calculated that each extra heartbeat per minute resulted in a 0.004 point decrease in score.
These findings support the theory that the performance of even some of the world’s most outstanding athletes declines as they experience increased stress. Whether that is unique to those who need a steady aim to win, or also applies to athletes who have to run around as they compete, remains to be seen.
1. Why do top athletes refuse to carry monitoring devices in competition?| A．Because they think the measurements are useless. |
| B．Because they fear they will affect their performance. |
| C．Because they think devices will increase their stress level. |
| D．Because they think computers are much more trustworthy. |
| A．The findings of the research. | B．The process of the research. |
| C．The features of the research. | D．The inspiration of the research. |
| A．Whether monitoring techniques are necessary. |
| B．Why athletes’ heart rates decline during the game. |
| C．How stress level influences athletes’ performance. |
| D．What sharpens athletes’ performance in the game. |
| A．It requires further research. | B．It is far from satisfactory. |
| C．It emphasizes a steady aim. | D．It applies to various athletes. |
| A．Show up in a mask party. | B．Get married to the woman. | C．Attend a wedding ceremony. |
