—She ________ a stone on her way to school and got hurt.

—You'll get used to it very soon.

Sports in our school

    Recently the "Sunny Sports Movement" makes sports more popular in our school.

    Have you ever heard of Zhou Yang? She is now well known as a(n) 1 short track speed skater.

    Zhou Yang is not an overnight 2. She was born in a poor family in Changchun on 9 June. 1991 and started 3 at the age of 8. She fell in love with the 4 at once when she put on her skate shoes to train for the first time. Soon her talent for short track speed skating was 5. Zhou Yang trained hard and made her way into the national team at last.

    In the World Championships in 2008. Zhou Yang set a world record in the 1,500m event. Zhou Yang 6 herself again at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Her performance gave China the first gold medal in the women's 1,500 metres in the Winter Olympics—China had 7 won the event before.

    "Winning 1,500m is my dream, 8 I still have one more dream, winning the relay (接力) competition," Zhou Yang said.

    Her "one more dream" came true when she and her 9 won the women's 3000m short track relay with a new world record. 10 a great player she is!

    Kite surfing (风筝滑浪) is a kind of water sport. It began in the 1980s, but didn't get popular until the end of last century. It is also known as kite boarding, and in some European countries as fly surfing. Kite surfing works through wind power by using a large kite to pull a rider on the water at a high speed.

    At first, kite surfing was a difficult and dangerous sport. Now it is becoming easier and safer because of the safer kite design. For an able and strong person, kite surfing can be a very fun and extremely exciting sport, just like skating on the water with a feeling of flying. It has become more and more popular.

    Compared with other water sports, kite surfing is easier to learn. A beginner can understand how to operate the kite with 5-10 hours of training. And anybody aged from 13 to 65 can learn. It is not expensive to get me equipment for kite surfing, which costs $1,000 to $2,500. The fee for training lessons is from $200 to $500 for two or three hours. With the development of its equipment, kite surfing is becoming even safer. After some training, you can enjoy its excitement and challenging feeling.

    With the rising popularity of kite surfing, most major seaside cities have kite surfing clubs. In China, Xiamen is the only place that has the kite surfing club, which provides professional (专业的) kite surfing training and equipment.

    Sports are all around us. We watch and read sports news. There are also sports clubs and even sports-only channels (频道) on TV. In many countries, players make millions of dollars every year.

    Sports play an important role in our daily lives. But why are sports so popular? They're only games, right?

    We have made a survey. Here are the readers' answers from all over the world.

Vlad (Ukraine)

    Sports bring people together. In 2006, our team was able to play in the 2006 World Cup for me first time. Everyone was very happy. Rich and poor, old and young, men and women—everyone was in the streets—having celebrations together!

Mike (USA)

    Sports bring people together, but they divide (分离) them too. Fans of different teams fight all the time—they shout and hit each other. And here's an example: My brother plays high school baseball. Last week, his team played an important game. At the game, two parents fought about a decision (判决). Come on…Baseball is only a game!

    Sports are so competitive (竞争性的) these days. It's all about winning. Then the game isn't fun at all.

Ahtoh (Russia)

    Right now, some of the world's best soccer players are from European countries, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup games will be held in Russia. Yes, some players make a lot of money—maybe too much, but sporting events (like the World Cup) bring not only tourists but also money to these host countries. And that is good for Russia.

    During the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, many Chinese sports fans sat in front of the TV and cheered our athletes on, hoping that they would get as many gold medals as possible.

    But sometimes our hope for getting more gold medals can result in our more disappointment (失望) if the athletes fail to get them. For example, when Liu Xiang, China's track hero, pulled out of the 2008 Beijing Olympics because of his injury (伤势), he greatly disappointed many Chinese sports fans.

    But things are different now. In the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, we saw a healthier and more lenient (宽容的) Chinese attitude towards the sportspeople, fully in line with the Olympic spirit—that is—friendship, participation, fair play and never give up.

    China didn't win any gold medals on the first day. But, instead of criticizing (批评) the athletes, most of the fans were happy with their efforts. "They have tried their best. Athletes don't feel good after they miss the gold medal." That's the attitude of most audience. It shows the maturity (成熟) of a person, and is also a development of a country.

    Swimmer Fu Yuanhui won fans' hearts, even though she only won a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke final. Her fans on her Sina Weibo have increased from 100,000 to over 6 million. Many sports fans like her straightforward character and attitude towards competitions.

    "The attitude towards the Olympics has got to a higher level. We are happy to see this warm change." said an article in People's Daily.

    The idea of an Olympic mascot was officially approved (官方批准) at the 73rd Session of the International Olympic Committee (国际奥委会) in Munich (慕尼黑) in 1972. Since then, mascots have become a major element (元素) of the Olympic brand. Mascots act as a vehicle for communicating the Olympic spirit to the general public, especially children and youth. They have come in many shapes and sizes. They all show the theme (主题) of the Olympic Games and the special geographical features, history and culture of the host city.

    Here is the list of some mascots for the Olympics.

    Three powerful ocean storms hit the Caribbean, the coast of the southeastern United States and southeastern Mexico. They come as the state of Texas recovers from Hurricane Harvey (飓风哈维). The huge storm caused serious flooding and billions of dollars in damage in Houston, the country's fourth-largest city.

    Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean goes from June 1 to November 30. And most storm activities happen in me month of September.

    Hurricanes are the most powerful storms in the Earth's atmosphere. The storms have different names depending on where they take place. Scientists call all these storm tropical cyclones (热带气旋).

    If the storms form over the Atlantic Ocean or eastern Pacific Ocean, they are called hurricanes. Storms that form in the western Pacific Ocean are known as typhoons. In the Indian Ocean, they are called cyclones. Although they have different names, all these storms form in the same way.

    Scientists at the American space agency NASA describe tropical cyclones as huge weather "engines" that use warm, moist (潮湿的) air as fuel.

    They can only form over warm, tropical waters near the equator (赤道).

    A tropical cyclone develops when warm moist air near the surface of me ocean rises. This creates an area of unusually low air pressure.

    Higher-pressure air from surrounding areas pushes in to take the place of the warm, rising air. It becomes warmer and moister and rises, too.

    The rising, moist air goes high into the atmosphere, where temperatures are low. This creates wind. The moisture forms clouds. The developing weather system begins to spin because of the Earth's rotation (旋转).

    As the storm spins faster and faster, an "eye" of the storm develops at its centre. This is a calm area of very low pressure. Higher pressure air from above flows down into the eye.