1 . Mathea Allansmith isn’t your typical grandmother, and she’s the oldest woman in the world to have completed a marathon. She was 92 years 194 days old when she triumphantly crossed the finish line at the 2022 Honolulu Marathon, setting up the record for the oldest person to complete a marathon (female).

Mathea, now 93, of Koloa, Hawaii, USA, stays in shape all year round by running six days a week, no matter the weather. Come rain or shine, she covered 36 miles every week, even when she’s on holiday. The retired doctor didn’t take up running until she was 46 years old. After a colleague suggested running two miles per day.

“The Honolulu Marathon is my favourite marathon partly because they don’t close the gate at a certain time which allows even the slowest runners to finish the race,” she said. “It’s one of the best-executed races. Fantastic registration, set up and management makes it a joy to participate in.

Mathea, who doesn’t allow her age to slow her down, says she is happiest when she’s on the road. She enjoys running for miles and waving and saying hello to the people she passes. To stay in shape, Mathea, who runs year around, keeps a steady training routine. “I train year-round but increase the mileage starting 18 weeks before a marathon,” she said.

Mathea says it was her career as a physician that allowed her to understand how her body and mind respond to diet and exercise. “I see the direct connection between moving and health,” she said. It is important to reduce stress rather than ignoring it without a plan on how to do so in the long run. Of course, exercise of any kind is a natural stress reducer. ”

Mathea intends to keep running marathons for as long as she can and would like to attempt the record titles for the oldest person to complete a half marathon (female) and the oldest person to complete a 10K (female) within the next year.

3 . Skiing offers many benefits. It’s a sport people can enjoy with friends and family. Skiers can get access to breathtaking mountain scenery.     1     Thus, it’s worth learning to ski. When learning it,many people turn to a ski instructor for help.

A ski instructor teaches people how to ski, helps experienced skiers improve their skill, and may provide ski coaching for people who intend to compete in skiing. Many ski instructors work as employees for companies that run ski resorts (旅游胜地).     2    

When teaching beginners to ski, a ski instructor focuses on skiing safety, proper form, and basic skiing skills. For advanced skiers, advanced skiing skills should be taught.     3     But they can help skiers try various types of skiing, including cross country skiing, downhill skiing, etc.

    4     Surely, one must be familiar with skiing and have certain skiing skills and experience. Besides, one should have patience, the ability to communicate clearly, and the ability to adjust to meet the needs of individual skiers. Most importantly, one has to have ski instructor qualifications and relevant certifications.

Professional ski instructors lead fascinating and exciting lives. If working and skiing at a ski resort most of the day appeals to you, then becoming a ski instructor must be your dream job!     5     If you’re interested, talk to a career counselor (职业顾问) who will help you decide whether it’s the right path for you!

5 . How to Exercise in a New Way

Get healthy with these bite-sized amounts of exercises

   What should people do when they can’t find the time or desire to do a long workout?     1    

Exercise snacks (“零食式”运动) are a popular and inventive new way for people to stay fit. Instead of requiring hours at the gym, this concept instructs you to keep it short.     2     Then you can take a break that lasts 30 minutes to four hours before another snack. It has been reported that exercise snacks can be as effective as traditional exercise methods.

Of course, the more of these brief exercises you complete in a day, the better. Just three exercise snacks a day that gets your heart pumping can be good for your health.     3     Your concentration and creativity improve, and you can become more productive. Also, “snacking” throughout the day prevents you from sitting too long — something that’s always positive.

Another great thing about exercise snacks is that there are so many to choose from. The goal is to spend a short time doing something that raises your heart rate. Acceptable activities range from sit ups to jumping rope to running up and down some stairs.     4    

●Exercises that are strength-based such as lifting weights will fit the bill. Since most people don’t keep weights at their office, lift full water bottles.

●Squats involve moving your hips as if to sit down while keeping your back straight. This exercise helps strengthen your lower body and improve your movement. Five to ten of these should make a good snack.

●For those who don’t like traditional exercises, simply turn up the music. Pick a lively song and start dancing; it’ll make for a fun workout.

    5    

6 . Students in our school have one thing in common — an interest in sports. According to their different intentions in doing sports, they fall into three groups.

Many students go to the playground when they feel ______ after a few hours of study. These students put much more stress on their study efficiency (效率) than the ______ of sports. They just want to go back to their classrooms from the playground with a clearer and quicker ______. Thus they don’t ______ care whether they can enjoy themselves on the playground. Most of them choose long-distance running, the kind of exercise ______ few real sports enthusiasts like. So this group of students can be ______ regarded as study-oriented (以学习为导向的) participants.

Students that make up the second group are ______ sports lovers. Sometimes they even ______ their studies for a match. They participate in the sport that ______ them most, not caring whether it is beneficial to their health. They may be called fun-oriented sports participants.

The third group want beauty from sports. Boys want to become strong and good-looking; girls want to be ______ and graceful. Those who consider sports the only way of ______ weight also belong to this group. They are very careful in choosing the kind of exercise they do, and are afraid that certain sports may ______ their body shapes. Horizontal bars (单杠) and parallel bars (双杠) are the boys’ choice, and the hula hoop (呼啦圈) is now the girls’ favorite. The ______ name for this group may be beauty-oriented sports participants.

No matter which group they belong to, they all ______ sports. If you look around the campus, you will find that ______ have disappeared, and that there are healthy, strong, clever, and lively students everywhere.

9 . As soon as Boran Bumovich Hignio’s bare feet touch the sand on the beach, he spreads his arms like a helicopter and happily says, “Let's go surfing!” The 7-year-old, wearing a black wetsuit, is followed by a dozen other kids who skip their way into the blue waves of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru's capital, Lima.

Boran gets help with his wetsuit from Diego Villarán, who founded the local surf school. This Peruvian surf school is part of a wave of community-based projects around the world that use a perhaps surprising method to help kids: surf therapy (疗法).

The idea is not only about catching waves to make use of the proven mental health benefits of physical exercise. The wider goal is to create a space for young children to express themselves freely, to help teach them how to process their emotions and to create positive social connections.

Lima's surf therapy project is run by Alto Peru, a local nonprofit named after the neighborhood in the south of the city where Villardn-its 41-year-old founder-and all of the trainee surfers come from. Many of the children in the Alto Peru program face challenging situations. Some parents are addicted to alcohol. One of the boys has even turned up for lessons with a black eye a couple of times.

Half of all mental health disorders begin before the age of 14 and up to a fifth of teenagers globally experience mental health conditions, according to the World Mental Health Survey Initiative, which conducted face-to-face interviews in 17 countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.

Surf therapy, which covers projects from Sierra Leone to California and Trinidad, is seen by advocates as a convincing solution to helping address mental health issues among young people. “It has changed my life,” says Omarion Butler, 19, who began surfing with Alto Peru two years ago. “When my parents put me down in the past, it was hard for me to express my feelings. But surfing makes me more confident. It helps me to take time for myself.”