1 . Pickleball. It’s got nothing to do with pickles — it’s a sport. It has been described as a combination of tennis, badminton and table tennis. Picture a small plastic ball soaring through the air that you need to bat back to your partner, or partners.

Many Brits are listening to their inner athlete and picking up this racket game. In the UK, there are currently around 7,000 players, according to Pickleball England. But the association aims to have more than 25,000 players by 2025and is even attempting to get the sport played as part of promotion for the 2028 Olympics.

How exactly do you play this game? Well, it can be played indoors or outdoors and it can be played as a singles or doubles game. There are a few easy-to-understand rules. The ball is served underhand and should be batted diagonally across the court. On the first two hits, the ball has to bounce, but after that, players are free to volley. To win a point, the defending side must miss the ball.

So, why is it popular? Firstly, it appears to be a game for all ages. The ball is lightweight because it’s full of holes. This means that, when batting, there is much less impact on the body than when hitting a tennis ball, for example. Elaine Brown, who is in her 50s and a regular pickleball player, told news organisation, The Guardian why she loves the sport. “It’s good exercise, it’s strategic, it can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be, and most of the time it’s just good fun.”

And the social aspect and low-impact nature of the game has been attracting players worldwide, creating a blossoming community of pickleball enthusiasts, such as celebrities Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio. So, if you fancy picking it up, find your local pickleball court and give it a go!

3 . Influenced by factors like school funding, sports facilities, teacher resources and safetyconcems, traditional physical education was limited to static (静态的) scenes and closed gymsand playgrounds, which lacked interaction and feedback functions. PE curiculum was also restricted to basic sports like ball games, track and field and gymnastics. However, the emergence and application of new technologies like virtual reality (VR), 3D technology, greatly expand and innovate sports scenes, providing possibilities for the construction of a flexible “on-site, on- campus, online” integrated new sports world.

IT can build online virtual learning environments for students, creating teaching scenes hard to achieve in physical world. Many schools have already partnered with technology companies to create different teaching scenes using digital sports products. The University of South Florida has cooperated with the VR sports training company Sense Arena, allowing students to practice tennis on its globally pioneering VR tennis training platform. Students use the Meta Quest 2 headset and VR touching racket (球拍) which imitates the weight and feel of a real tennis racket. The platform features 35 training modes imitating various scenes in real-life tennis matches, including crowd noise, dazzling sunlight, shadows and wind. Athletes can engage in various forms of training, such as skill practice, technical analysis and match imitation. Such virtual sports teaching space further enhances the experience of PE leaming.

Technology-based physical education not only serves ordinary students’ physical health but also addresses the needs of special groups in sports, especially students who cannot participate in regular PE classes due to physical, psychological or social adaptation issues. Many schools offer specialized sports programs to disabled students, like the “Pathways to Inclusion” program launched by the University of Queensland, which tailors various sports activities to different disabilities, such as blind football and wheelchair hockey. This is made possible with the support of sports technology, as different symptoms require the use of different sports equipment.

Through scientific, healthy and joyful educational concepts, technology-empowered PE classes convey the values of creating and enjoying a personalized experience, developing a sports education where everyone participates and benefits.

4 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

I recently went SKYDIVING! It’s something I’ve been talking about doing since last year, but to be honest, it was planned super last minute… like within a matter of a few weeks.

It all started when I ran into a friend of mine walking home from a local festival earlier this summer. We started chatting about what we’d both been up to this summer and somehow got on the subject of both being interested in going skydiving someday. My friend, Denny, said he’d be onboard if I really wanted to schedule a jump and I was so excited to finally have someone to go with!

Later that night, we texted back and forth and decided on our jump date a few weeks in the future. When the very Sunday came, we were both FULL of excitement for our first skydiving experience. He had been bungee jumping before and I’d done my fair share of zip-lining, but neither of us figured that either of those of experiences would prepare us for what we had in store.

The drive there didn’t happen without a slight delay. As soon as we got off the through-way on to the exit towards the small town where the skydiving facility was, Denny’s car started to make a strange noise, forcing us to pull over on a busy interstate (州际公路).

Only 20 minutes away from WNY Skydiving (the place where we were going), we discovered we had a flat tyre (轮胎). At that point, I felt pretty defeated. Our scheduled time was 4 pm — the last appointment time of the day — so I figured they wouldn’t be able to wait for or delay the operations for us since we were racing against the light.

注意：

1. 续写词数应为150个左右；

2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

We called American Automobile Association (AAA) and hoped for the best.

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We were informed we were the final jump of the night… the “sunset jump”.

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5 . Mathea isn’t a typical grandmother. She was 92 years old when she________the finish line, setting the record for the oldest female to complete a marathon.

Mathea doesn’t allow her________to slow her down. Mathea stays in________all year round by running six days a week. Even when the weather is bad, she________covers 36 miles every week. She________running for miles and waving to say hello to the people she passes by. She carries her backpack out for the whole day to________the city. Running in cities around the world has allowed her to really get a________for different places and people, enriching her life.

Mathea runs all year round and keeps a(n) ________training routine, although the pace and number of miles per training day are going to shift around. While running, she keeps her mind________by listening to music and audio books (有声书), sometimes greeting the wonderful people she________.

Mathea says it is her________as a physician that makes her understand how her body and mind________diet and exercise. “I see the direct connection between________and health,” she says. “And you don’t have to be a doctor like me to get the________.

Mathea says getting through the finish line and earning a Guinness World Records title is an________of her life. “However, I won’t stop there,” she adds.

9 . Is it bad to work out in cold weather?     1    . With winter now, here is what the doctors and personal trainers want you to know about exercising in cold weather.

Burn extra calories

In cold climates, your body needs to perform extra heat to keep your body warm. Brown fat is the type of body fat that helps control body temperature. When you’re outside in the cold, brown fat burns calories in order to increase body temperature.     2    .

Help increase willpower

Working out in the heat can cause you to become tired more easily, since it increases sweating and your heart rate more rapidly.     3    . It may mean you can build willpower (毅力) more easily.

    4    

Exercising outside during the winter is thought to be one useful way to avoid a type of disorder or depression that tends to affect people during the dark winter months. Sunlight and exercise both have a positive impact on your mental (精神的) condition. They help give out more “feel good” chemicals, including serotonin and endorphins.

Help you sleep better

The combination of sunlight exposure (暴露) during the daytime, fresh air and physical activity can help you relax and sleep well at night.       5    . It is also called your “internal clock” which makes you feel sleepy enough at night and awake enough in the morning.

Exercising in cold weather isn’t for everyone, though. If you have any health problems, it is advisable to talk with your health care provider first.