1 . If you think that running marathons will help you live a long and healthy life, new research may come as a shock. According to a recent scientific study, people who do a very strenuous workout are as likely to die as people who do no exercise at all.

Scientists in Denmark have been studying over 1,000 joggers and non-joggers for 12 years. The death rates from the sample group indicate(暗示) that people who jog at a proper pace two or three times a week for less than two and a half hours in total are least likely to die. The best speed to jog at was found to be about 5 miles per hour. The research suggests that people who jog more than three times a week or at higher speeds of over 7 mph die at the same rate as non-joggers. The scientists think that this is because strenuous exercise causes structural changes to the heart and arteries(动脉). Over time, this can cause serious injuries.

Peter Schnohr, a researcher in Copenhagen, said if your goal is to decrease risk of death and improve life expectancy(预期寿命), jogging a few times a week at a proper pace is a good strategy. Anything more is not just unnecessary, and may be harmful.

Moderate forms of exercise such as tai chi, yoga and walking may be better for us than “iron man” events, triathlons and long-distance running and cycling. According to Jacob Louis, Marott, another researcher involved in the study, “You don’t actually have to do that much to have a good influence on your health. And perhaps you shouldn’t actually do too much.”

2 . All over the world people are hooked on sports, which help them to strengthen their body and build their character.    1     They improve the participants’ physical skills, and provide entertainment for the audience as well.

Many people like to watch others play games.    2     Often they get very excited when “their” player or team wins. If they are crazy about the game or the player, then they’ll become their diehard fans. Some sports are so interesting that people everywhere go in for them. Football, for example, has spread around the world. Swimming is popular in countries near the sea or in those with many rivers.    3     And think of people in cold countries. Masses of people love to skate or ski in Japan, Norway or Canada.

    4     Chinese boxing, also has a very long history. But basketball and volleyball are rather new, which started in the late of the nineteenth century. People are inventing new sports or games all the time. Water skiing, as a modern game, is one of the newest in the family of sports.

People from different countries or races may not be able to understand each other, but after a game, they get to know each other better and they often become good friends.    5     One learns to fight hard but fight fair, to win without pride and to lose with grace.

3 . When it comes to being fit and healthy, we're often reminded to aim to walk 10,000 steps per day. This can be a frustrating target to achieve, especially when we're busy with work and other commitments.

The 10,000 steps a day target seems to have come about from a trade name pedometer sold in 1965 by Yamasa Clock in Japan. The device was called "Manpo-kei", which translates to "10,000 steps meter". This was a marketing tool for the device and has seemed to have stuck across the world as the daily step target. It's even included in daily activity targets by popular smart-watches, such as Fitbit.

In ancient Rome, distances were actually measured by counting steps. In fact, the word "mile" originated from the Latin phrase mila passum, which means about 2,000 steps. It's suggested the average person walks about 100 steps per minute，which would mean it would take a little under 20 minutes for the average person to walk a mile. So in order for someone to reach the 10,000-step goal, they would need to walk about five miles a day, nearly two hours of activity.

Researchers have investigated the 10,000 steps a day target. The fact that some studies have shown this step target improves heart health, mental health, and even lowers diabetes (糖尿病) risk, may, to some extent, explain why we have stuck with this number.

But while some research has shown health benefits at 10,000 steps, recent research from Harvard Medical School has shown that, on average, nearly 4,400 steps a day is enough to significantly lower the risk of death in women. This was when compared to only walking around 2,700 steps daily. The more steps people walked, the lower their risk of dying was, before leveling off at around 7,500 steps a day. No additional benefits were seen with more steps. Although it's uncertain whether similar results would be seen in men, it's one example of how moving a little bit more daily can improve health and lower risk of death.

4 . Exercising regularly not only helps you keep slim, but also improves your overall health and well-being. Different exercises produce different results, as they focus on alternate parts of the body. There are four broad exercise categories: endurance, strength, flexibility, and balance. Many people often only focus on one exercise type, but including all four in your workout will produce better results and reduce your risk of injury.

Endurance

Endurance exercises increase your breathing and heart rate. By doing endurance exercises, you are working to keep your heart, lungs, and blood-flow system healthy while improving your total fitness. Over time these activities will make everyday activities seem easier.

Strength

If you want to build up your muscles, then strength exercises, which are also known as "resistance training", are right for you. Even the slightest increase in strength can make a huge difference in your ability to carry out daily tasks. Developing strong muscles also reduces your risk of weak bones.

Flexibility

Flexibility exercises help stretch your body's muscles. This allows for more freedom of movement for other exercises and can also improve your range of motion, posture, ability to breathe deeply, and blood flow. Also, it reduces the muscle tension caused by stress.

Balance

Balance exercises help prevent falls and are especially important to older adults, helping them stay independent. Most good balance exercises are ones that keep you constantly moving with your feet on the ground. Heel — to — toe walking and standing on one foot are simple ways to improve balance.

6 . According to a new research about good moods and physical activity, people who work out even once a week or for as little as 10 minutes a day tend to be more cheerful than those who never exercise.     1    

The idea that moving can affect our moods is not new. Many of us would probably say that we feel more relaxed after a jog or visit to the gym. Science would generally agree with us.     2     They noted that physically active people had much lower risks of developing depression and anxiety than people who rarely move. But they did not tell us whether most of us might expect to find greater happiness with regular exercise or only certain groups of people.

So for the new research, in the Journal of Happiness Studies, researchers at the University of Michigan decided to summarize and analyze multiple past studies of working out and happiness.

    3     They found 23 published studies since 1980. Most of those were observational, meaning that the scientists simply looked at a group of people, asking them how much they worked out and how happy they were. The number of participants in any one study was often small, but together, they represented more than 500,000 people ranging in age from the young to the very old.     4    

“Every one of the observational studies shows a beneficial relationship between being physically active and being happy,” says Weiyun Chen, a professor at the University of Michigan. According to the new research, the type of exercise does not seem to matter. Some happy people walk or jog.     5     And the amount of exercise needed to influence happiness is slight. However, more movement generally contributes to greater happiness.

7 . A fresh and gentle wind on your face, soft sand under your feet and blue waters as far as the eye can see. Is there any other Olympic sport that is played in such pleasant conditions as beach volleyball?

“I’ve gone to a lot of beautiful places, and met a lot of beautiful people. That wouldn’t have happened if I had been playing another sport, ” said Randy Stoklos, America’s most famous beach volleyball player.

The sport began as a four-a-side game on beaches in Southern California in the 1920s. The first recorded woman game took place there in 1930, and the first tournament was held in Los Angeles 18 years later. The winners were awarded a case of Pepsi. In the 1950s, women started playing and the sport soon spread to Europe and South America. Yet at that time, beach volleyball was more an entertainment show than a sport, with beauty contests included. The Association of Volleyball Professionals was founded in 1983 and beach volleyball developed into a fast, athletic sport. Its worldwide popularity won beach volleyball a place at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where 24 male teams and 16 female teams took part. At present, the US and Brazil are the best in the world at beach volleyball.

The game came to China in the early 1990s and there have been national tournaments since 1994. It became an official event at the Eighth National Games in 1997.China’s You Wenhui and Wang Lu finished ninth in the women’s beach volleyball world championships in Brazil.