1、01 Dare to Jump?Some people like to play baseball. Others like basketball or soccer. However, for some people, those sports arent fun enough. Some people think that the best sports are the 1. scary sports. Sports that are very scary and 2. dangerous are called extreme sports.Bungee jumping is an ext
2、reme sport. When you go bungee jumping, you start at a very high place. For example, you might stand on a bridge. Bridges are probably the most 3. popular places for bungee jumping. A very strong rope is attached to your feet. The other end of the rope is tied to the bridge. When you are ready, you
3、jump off the bridge. For a few seconds, you fall toward the ground very fast. After that, people 4. pull you up.The first bungee jump was in 1979.That was in England. Later, the first bungee jumping pany opened in New Zealand. The worlds highest bungee jump happened in Mexico. A man jumped from a sp
4、ot that was 962 meters high.Most people say that bungee jumping is a very scary 6. experience. They say that when they are falling, they really think that theyre going to 7. die. In fact, some people try to bungee jump, but they cant do it. When they stand on the bridge and look down, they get too s
5、cared, and they give up.Why do people go bungee jumping? Some people want to 8. conquer their fears. For example, maybe a person is afraid of being in high places. That person might think, If I can go bungee jumping, I will never be afraid of being in high places again. Other people enjoy bungee jum
6、ping because they say it feels just like flying. Some people just want to try something new and exciting.Bungee jumping is very dangerous. You should only do it with a 9. professional teacher. You should also only go bungee jumping with good, safe companies.Bungee jumping sounds crazy, but many peop
7、le like it. Today, people do it in countries around the world. People dont just go bungee jumping from bridges, either. People bungee jump from buildings, 10. mountains, and even helicopters!02 Learning to FlyMaybe you think that bungee jumping isnt exciting enough. If that is how you feel, then the
8、re is another 1. extreme sport that you can try. It is called wingsuit diving.A wingsuit is a special 2. outfit. It has long sleeves that look like wings. A wingsuit diver also wears a 3. helmet and a parachute.Just like bungee jumpers, wingsuit divers jump from a high place. However, although a bun
9、gee jumper can jump from a bridge or a building, a wingsuit diver must jump from an even higher place. A bridge or a building would be too low.When a bungee jumper jumps, he or she falls straight down. However, a wingsuit lets a person 4. glide through the air. The air lifts the suits wings. The per
10、son looks like he or she is flying. Wingsuit divers can go very fast. Their top 5. speed is more than 225 kilometers per hour.Here is another difference between wingsuit diving and bungee jumping. Almost anybody can go bungee jumping. After all, bungee jumping is scary, but its easy. You just close
11、your eyes and jump. On the other hand, very few people are 6. allowed to go wingsuit diving. This is because wingsuit diving is so difficult. Its very hard to 7.control a wingsuit. In order to become a wingsuit diver, a person must 8. parachute from an airplane at least 200 times. If you have not do
12、ne that, then youre not allowed io buy a wingsuit.Wingsuit diving is still pretty 9. rare. Its not as 10. common as bungee jumping or other extreme sports. However, it is becoming more and more popular every year. Ten years ago, very few people knew about this extreme sport. Now it seems like everyb
13、ody is discussing it. Now there is even a yearly event called the World Wingsuit Championship.03 A Frozen SportRock climbing has been a popular sport for a long time. Its still popular today, but now lot of rock climbers are trying something new: ice climbing.Ice climbing is a lot like rock climbing
14、. When you go rock climbing, you climb a 1. mountain. When you go ice climbing, you climb ice. Some ice climbers climb frozen 2. waterfalls. Others climb glaciers. Still others climb mountains that are 3. covered in ice. Sometimes, they climb a mountain that is covered in ice only in some places. Wh
15、en they are climbing parts that dont have ice, theyre rock climbing. When theyre climbing parts that have ice, theyre ice climbing.As people made better 4. equipment, ice climbing started to become easier and more popular. In 1908, a climber made special boots called “crampons. These boots made ice
16、climbing easier and safer. After that, more people were 5. willing to try ice climbing. In the 1960s, another climber invented special 6. axes. Climbers can use the axes to hit the ice. The axes go into the ice. Then the climber can pull himself or herself up.These days, a lot of people are taking i
17、ce climbing classes. In order to go ice climbing, you have to be strong and 7. healthy. In fact, some teachers say that you should do special exercises before you start to climb.Heres one good thing about ice climbing. You can do it in easy places or difficult places. People who want to try somethin
18、g simple can climb glaciers or small mountains. Those are usually pretty easy. People who want to try something more 8. challenging can find a more difficult place. The hardest places are usually 9. steep mountains and frozen waterfalls. However, you should never go ice climbing 10. alone. You shoul
19、d always go with a teacher. A lot of people love ice climbing because its hard. These people like to challenge themselves. Some say that when you get to the top of a glacier or a frozen waterfall, its the best feeling in the world.04 White Water RaftingMaybe youve rowed a boat before. If youve done
20、that, then you know its pretty easy. White water rafting also 1. takes place on a boat, but its much harder and scarier than just rowing a boat. A raft is a long, flat boat. You go white water rafting on a very fast river. The river usually has a lot of very large rocks. Its called white water rafti
21、ng because when fast water goes over rocks, the water turns white.Usually, there are five or six people on each raft. People start their trip on a 2. calm part of the river. At the 3. beginning, the boat goes very slowly. However, when the raft gets to faster parts of the river, it starts to 4. trav
22、el very fast.As the raft is moving. the people have to 5. control it. They have to stay away from all of the rocks. They also have to make sure that the raft does not fall over. People often fall into the water, but thats usually not a big problem. You just have to climb back onto the raft. Even if
23、you dont fall into the water, you will certainly get very, very wet.You can go white water rafting in almost any country in the world. Its a very popular sport. Its fast and fun, but its not very dangerous. Also, you dont need to 6. practice for a long time to learn it. Even if you have never done i
24、t before, you can try white water rafting. You just need a raft, a 7. paddle, a 8. life jacket, and a good teacher.Of course. you need to be very 9. careful when you go white water rafting, but its not as dangerous as bungee jumping or wingsuit diving. Give white water rafting a try. It might become
25、 your new 10. hobby!05 Surfing in the SandYou know all about snowboarding, skiing, and surfing. Those sports are very popular. But lets say that you dont live near any snow. Lets say that you dont live near the beach. What can you do?There is one thing that you can try. It is an 1. extreme sport cal
26、led sandboarding. Sandboarding is a lot like snowboarding, but you dont do it in snow. You do it in the sand. When you ski or snowboard, you go down a mountain. When you sandboard, you go down a 2.dune. A dune is a mountain that is 3.made of sand.To try this sport, all you need is a sandboard. A san
27、dboard is very 4. similar to a snowboard or a surfboard. It is long, hard, and flat. Because sandboarding isnt as popular as snowboarding, sandboards are harder to find.Of course, sandboarding is popular in hot countries. For example, in Australia there is 5.almost no snow. That is why sandboarding
28、is becoming a big sport there. Sandboarding is also popular in South Africa, Egypt, and Dubai (one of the UAE emirates). Its not as 6. popular in cold countries.Just like wingsuit diving, sandboarding is a small sport that is getting more and more popular. Right now there isnt an 7. international sa
29、ndboarding 8. championship. But countries like Australia, Dubai, and Egypt all have sandboarding classes for people who want to learn. In the western United States, there is a place called Sand Master Park. It is a 9. private park that is just for sandboarding. There are easy dunes and hard ones. Th
30、e park also has classes and shows.Sandboarding will probably never be as popular as skiing or snowboarding. However, it has one very big 10. advantage. You can only go snowboarding in the winter. After the snow is gone, you cant keep doing your hobby. On the other hand, you can go sandboarding all y
31、ear round.06 Getting Ready for Formula 1Lots of people love driving, but very few people like driving in the city. After all, nobody likes 1.traffic jams, noise, or bad drivers. If you leave the city and go on a wide county road, driving can be great. If you are in traffic, it can be terrible.Go-kar
32、ting is a good 2.solution to this problem. A go-kart is a small vehicle that is very 3.similar to a car. Just like a car, a go-kart has a steering wheel, four tires, and an engine. However, a go-kart isnt as fast or as 4. powerful as a car. A cars engine uses 5.gasoline. Most go-kart engines use ele
33、ctricity. Also, most go-karts are only big enough for one person. Finally, we only drive go-karts for one reason: Theyre fun!People drive go-karts on private 6.tracks. Tracks are great, because you dont need to worry about other cars. If youre on a track, you only have to worry about other go-karts.
34、On a track, you can drive as fast as you want. Most go-kart tracks are 7. surrounded by a wall. Usually, the wall is made of tires. This is because if you 8.crash into the wall, your crash wont be very bad. Go-karting is pretty safe. You just need a helmet. If you crash, you might get a 9.bruise, bu
35、t you probably wont get hurt in a serious way.Almost everyone loves go-karts. On go-kart tracks, you can see kids and adults driving around. One reason theyre so 10.popular is that theyre easy to drive. Even a child can drive ago-kart.There is one famous person who loved go-karts when he was a child
36、. When he was only four, he started driving a go-kart. Go-karts helped him fall in love with driving. That child was Michael Schumacher. Now he is the most famous Formula 1 racer in the world.07 The fastest Cars in the WorldFormula One is the hardest and most famous racing system in the world. All o
37、f the best car racers are F-1 racers. F-1 is popular in North America, Asia, Europe, and just about everywhere else. In order to be a 1.successful F-1 driver, you need to do a lot of things. You need to stay in good 2.shape. You need to study different roads. You need to be calm and smart. Most of a
38、ll, you need a good F-1 car. An F-1 car is a very, very plicated machine. When people build them, they need to pay 4.attention to every detail. This is because the car has to be as fast as possible.First of all, an F-1 car has to be very light. If the car is light, it will go faster. F-1 cars are mo
39、stly made of 5. carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is very light but very strong. An F-1 car must 6.weigh at least 642 kilograms. Most regular cars weigh about 1, 600 kilograms.F-1 cars also have very powerful 7.engines. When racing teams design engines, they have to follow rules. However, they are always t
40、hinking of ways to make their engines better. Just like the rest of the car, the engine also has to be very light.F-1 cars can reach a 7.speed of 160 kilometers per hour in less than five 8.seconds. If an F-1car is going about 160 kilometers 9.per hour, it can stop in less than five seconds. MostF-1
41、 cars can travel at about 320 kilometers per hour. The fastest speed for an F-1 car was 413 kilometers per hour.F-1 cars are fast, complicated, and very, very expensive. Sometimes, people need years to design them. If you ever watch an F-1 race, 10. remember that you are watching the most beautiful
42、cars in the world.08 Biking in NatureA mountain bike is a lot 1.different from a regular bike. Regular bikes are easy to ride when youre on a flat, 2.smooth road. However, most regular bicycles are not useful if you ride off-road. Riding off-road means leaving regular roads and riding on rough 3.gro
43、und. Riding off-road can be done in the mountains, in the forest, on a beach, and so on.When you ride off-road, you need a mountain bike. Mountain bikes are much stronger than regular bikes. They have larger, thicker 4. tires. They have much better brakes. These are just a few of the differences.All
44、 of this is very important when you go off-road. If you ride off-road on a 5.regular bicycle, your bike might not be strong enough. Even if your bike is strong enough, youll likely 6.bounce around a lot. You might not be able to climb hills or ride over difficult ground. A mountain bikes large tires
45、 will help you go over rocks and 7.branches. When you go down a hill, a mountain bikes strong brakes will help you stop faster. A mountain bike has another essential 8. advantage: When you are off-road, the mountain bike wont bounce much. Mountain bikes have a special design that makes riding them m
46、uch smoother.There are many different kinds of mountain bikes. Cross country bikes are good for long rides, when you only ride off-road sometimes. All-mountain bikes are 9.perfect for mountains, because theyre good at going up and down hills. Trail bikes are good for biking on mountain bike trails.
47、Downhill bikes are very fast, so theyre good for races.Mountain biking keeps you strong and thin. It lets you leave bike trails and see more of nature. It helps you have 10.adventures. If you dont have a good mountain bike, you cant do these things.Riding on a regular bike is a lot of fun, but a lot
48、 of people say that mountain biking is even better. After you try mountain biking, you might never want to ride a regular bike again!09 Get in the BallIn baseball, players hit the ball. In soccer, players kick the ball. Zorbing is different from those sports. In fact, zorbing is different from every
49、 sport. In zorbing, you are in the ball! A zorb ball is a 1.giant, 2.hollow ball. It is made of clear, soft 3. plastic. Most zorb balls are about three meters wide. When you go zorbing you climb into the ball. You push the ball with your hands and feet to make it 4.roll.There are two popular ways of
50、 zorbing. In one kind of zorbing, you roll on 5. flat ground. This is very good exercise, because you have to push the ball by yourself. In another kind of zorbing, you roll down a hill. Of course, when you go downhill, you go a lot faster. People say that this is much more fun. However, its also a
51、lot more dangerous. Its harder to 6. control the ball, and its much easier to fall down.Most people think that the idea for a zorb ball came from a strange place. In the 1970s, lot of people put their pet 7. hamsters or mice in little plastic balls. These balls were only a few 8. centimeters wide. T
52、he pet could stay in the ball and run around the house. Many people think that somebody saw these little plastic balls and thought, Maybe I can make one of those balls for person!”These days, there are zorb parks around the world. Customers pay a small price to use zorb balls. In some of these parks
53、, the zorb ball goes down hills. In other parks, there are 9. ramps and 10. slides. There are zorb balls for one person, and there are zorb balls for several people. Most people who use zorb balls say that they are a lot of fun. However, they say something else about the experience. When you are in
54、a zorb ball, you will almost certainly feel very silly. 10. A New Way to TravelRight now, several young men in the United States are making a new 1. product. Its called a Boosted Board. A Boosted Board looks like a skateboard. Its a small board thats about 10 centimeters wide and almost a meter long
55、. It has four small 2. wheels. When you use a skateboard, you have to push it with your own legs A Boosted Board uses a very small 3. battery. You dont have to use your own energy when you use it. You just have to stand on the board and 4. control it. A Boosted Board is smaller than a bicycle. Its a
56、lso probably the lightest electric 5. vehicle in the world. This means that a Boosted Board is much more 6. convenient than a bicycle. Lets say you ride your bike to a store. Before you go into the store, you have to 7. lock your bike. However, you can just carry your Boosted Board into the store. O
57、r lets say you take the train to and from school every day. After you get off the train, you can ride your Boosted Board from the train station to school. That would save you a lot of time. Right now, Boosted Boards can travel for about nine kilometers. After that, you have to charge them again. Boo
58、sted Boards can also climb hills very easily, and their highest speed is about 20 kilometers per hour. Boosted Boards also stop very easily. When the board stops, the 8. brakes help charge the battery a little bit. The young men are still working on Boosted Boards. They say that in the future, Boost
59、ed Boards will be faster and better. They also say that the batteries will last longer. Vehicles like cars and motorcycles use a lot of gasoline, and they 9. pollute the environment. We need electric vehicles like Boosted Boards because they are much cleaner. They are also cheaper and quieter. 10. I
60、nventions like this might change the world.11. The Greatest of All TimeMuhammad Ali was born in the United States in 1942. Today, many people think he was the most 1. talented boxer in the world. They call him The Greatest of All Time. However, few people know how he became a boxer. The story is 2.
61、unusual. When Ali was a little boy, somebody stole his bicycle. Ali cried and told a police officer. The police officer was also a boxing 3. coach. He asked Ali if he wanted to learn how to box. Ali said that yes, he wanted to learn how to box, because if he ever met the person who stole his bike, h
62、e wanted to beat him up!Ali probably never found his bike, but that was a very 4. crucial day in his life. It was the day he started boxing.Ali became very 5. successful right away. He wasnt just strong. He was also very fast and very smart. In the 1960 Olympics, he won a gold medal for the USA. Aft
63、er that, he became the heavyweight 6. champion of the world. In total, Ali won 56 professional boxing matches, and lost only five.Ali wasnt just great boxer. He also changed the United States forever. When Ali was the champion, the United States was fighting a war in Vietnam. Many Americans thought
64、that the war was wrong. The government tried to make Ali join the army. Ali said no. He thought that the war was wrong, so he didnt fight it. Ali was 7. punished. He was not 8. allowed to box, and he lost a lot of money. However, he didnt care. He still 9. refused to go to Vietnam. Finally, Ali was
65、allowed to return to boxing. He soon became the champion again. Muhammad Ali always did the right thing, even when it was unpopular or 10. scary. He stopped fighting more than 30 years ago, but people around the world still love him.12. Six Olympic Medals!Jackie Joyner-Kersee was an American Olympic
66、 athlete. However, she didnt just play sports. She changed sports for female athletes everywhere.When Joyner-Kersee was very young, female athletes were 1. supposed to be 2. graceful and pretty. Many of them did things like 3. figure skating. Joyner-Kersee was interested in sports, but she didnt car
67、e about being graceful or pretty. Figure skating wasnt interesting to her. She wanted to do track and field. In track and field, people have races. They also have other contests, like contests to see who can jump the highest and the farthest.Joyner-Kersee went to the Olympics four times and won six
68、medals. She has three gold medals, one silver medal, and two bronze medals. She also set many track and field 4. records. Joyner-Kersee retired more than 20 years ago, but she still has a lot of records. Nobody has been able to beat her records.Joyner-Kersee was also famous because she never gave up
69、. Her last Olympic event was in 1996. Early in those Olympics, she hurt herself very badly. Many people thought that she would 5. quit. However, seven days later she 6.returned to the Olympics. She had terrible pain, but she still won a bronze medal.People everywhere still love Joyner-Kersee. Many f
70、emale athletes say that she 7. inspired them. She showed them that they didnt need to be graceful and pretty. They could play any sport that they wanted.These days, Joyner-Kersee isnt in the Olympics, but she is still working hard. She has many businesses. She also started a charity. A charity is a
71、group that helps people. Joyner- Kersees charity gives free sports lessons to people. This is important, because sports can help 8. improve peoples lives. Sports can make people happier, 9. healthier, and more 10. confident.Joyner-Kersee is still finding ways to inspire people all around the world.1
72、3. The Pride of TaiwanYani Tseng is a 1. female professional golfer from Taiwan, China. She has only been a professional golfer for about six years, but she is already one of the most 2. successful athletes in that sports.Before Tseng started playing professional golfer, she was a very successful am
73、ateur. An amateur is a person who does something but does not get paid for it. For example, if you like to take pictures but you dont get money for it, you are an amateur photographer. When Tseng was an amateur, she won fifteen 3. international golf tournaments. In fact, from 2004 to 2006, she was t
74、he top female amateur golfer in the world.Tseng was already a successful amateur, so people 4. expected her to be a very successful professional, too. However, she was so successful that she 5. exceeded a lot of peoples expectations.Tseng became a professional in 2007, and she started winning right
75、away. That year, she won two big golf tournaments. Then, in 2008, she won the LPGA Championship. That is one of the biggest golf tournaments in the world. Tseng was only 19 years old when she won. She was the youngest person to do that.Tsengs success has 6. continued. She won major professional golf
76、 tournaments in 2008, 2009, 2010,2011, and 2012. She was the youngest player to win five major golf tournaments. She was also the youngest player to win 2,000,000 dollars. She did that when she was only 20 years old. She was also the worlds number one female golfer for 109 weeks in a row.Tseng is fa
77、mous for her good 7. attitude. Golfers everywhere know that she works hard and 8. practices all the time. When she plays, she is always smiling. She really seems to love her sport.Tseng has a lot of fans in Taiwan and around the world. Other golfers 9. admire her as well. She will probably do many m
78、ore great things in the 10. future. After all, shes still very young.14. Changing Baseball and the WorldJackie Robinson was an American baseball player. He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers for 10 years, from 1947 to 1956.Robinson was the first African American to play in American Major League Basebal
79、l (MLB). Many black players wanted to play in the MLB, but they werent 1. allowed to. At that time, racism was everywhere in America. In most 2. areas, black people could not go to white schools. Black people could not live in white 3. neighborhoods. It was very hard for black people to go to good 4
80、. universities, or get good jobs. After World War , more people were saying that black people should be able to play in the MLB. About 125,000 black people fought for the United States during World War , and 708 black people died in the war. Some people in the United States said that this was not fa
81、ir. They said that since black people died for their country, they should be allowed to play baseball in their country.Finally, in 1947, Jackie Robinson 5. entered the MLB. At the beginning, many white players did not want to play with him. However, Robinson played well, and soon most other players
82、started to respect him. Robinson was an excellent baseball player, and people around the country began to love him.After Robinson entered the MLB, other black players followed. Soon, most teams had black players. Black players still 6. faced a lot of difficulties. There was still a lot of racism in
83、baseball and around the United States. But every year, more black players entered the MLB. Robinson didnt just 7. change baseball. He helped change the United States, too. After black people entered baseball, they started to enter other parts of American life. People thought that if baseball could c
84、hange, then the 8. rest of the country could also change. Black and white Americans started fighting to 9. improve the country. Changing the country took a very long me, and it was very difficult. Even today, there is still racism in the United States. But when Jackie Robinson started playing in 194
85、7 he 10. inspired other to help change the world.15. Never Give UpBethany Hamilton is from Hawaii. When she was just 13 years old, she and her friend were surfing in the ocean. While they were surfing, a shark 1. attacked Hamilton. In the attack, Hamilton lost her left arm.Hamilton was rushed to the
86、 hospital. When she got to the hospital, she had already lost more than half of her blood. She almost died, but doctors saved her life.Hamilton loved surfing, and she didnt want to stop. Of course, now it was much harder for her, because she only had one arm. First, she got a 2. special surfboard. T
87、his board was thicker and it was easier to 3. control. Then, she started to 4. exercise her legs. She needed stronger legs because she had to kick more to push the board through the water. Finally, she learned how to surf with only one arm. Less than one month after Hamilton lost her arm, she was su
88、rfing again.Today, Hamilton is a professional surfer. She surfs in 5. competitions around the world. She has been in competitions in the USA, Brazil, and Australia. In total, she has won four 6. major competitions. She no longer needs a special surfboard. She uses the same kind of surfboard that eve
89、ryone else uses.Hamilton uses her 7. experience to teach people to never give up. She wrote a book about the shark attack and her 8. difficulties. She also goes on television shows and talks about her experiences. In 2011, there was even a movie about her life. She has also won several 9. awards for her courage.Hamilton says that helping people has been a 10. wonderful experience for her. She says that she has learned a lot about life, love, and being strong. However, although so many things have happened to her, she says she is still just a surfer.
