Ball games are a big source of modern amusement. But they're nothing new. For instance, consider a 4,500-year-old ball     1    (find) in a child's tomb in Egypt or 3.600-year-old rubber balls from Central America-where the competitors were asked to play the balls with their hips(臀部）.

So far, researchers     2    (make) sure of a date of the oldest sporting balls in Europe or Asia: three balls, dug up from the tombs of horsemen in the deserts of northwestern China and crafted three thousand     3    (year) ago.

＂We are quite sure they were used in some sort of bat-and-ball game."Patrick Wertmann is an expert at the University of Zurich     4     analyzed the ancient sporting equipment. The balls are about three inches in diameter and filled     5    leather hair. “And then, also,     6    (look) at the Chinese character of "ball" itself, you'll find it quite     7    (interest) because this character is made up of the ideograms(表意文字）of hair and leather.”

As for how this ancient ball-and-stick game     8     （play)? “lt could be something like polo. But it could also be something like     9     early form of golf.

Since we don't have any textural evidence and we don't have any sticks from the same period, we don't really know     10    （exact).”

3 . Running isn’t exactly fun. It demands determination and a lot of energy before you get to enjoy it.    1     To help you like running, here are some things that you can do.

Determine your “why”.     2     This is the eagerness and driving force as to why you     even tried it out. There are many possible reasons as to why you’d want to run. It could be as simple as wanting to have better resistance after climbing a flight of stairs. It could also be something much long-term like wanting to look better and become healthier in the long run. Knowing the reason drives you to keep running.

Don’t take it too seriously. There’s nothing wrong with taking things lightly when it comes to running.    3     That can make you less eager to try out running and be uncomfortable   whenever you miss a running day.

Make a playlist. The proper music is very powerful in helping you through a running practice. Create a playlist that you can run to. Your running playlist will become a marker for your running.    4    You’ll also know that you’re almost done with your run when you’re listening to the ninth song on the list. It’s better to track your progress through music than through numbers, seconds, and miles.