Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word or phrase.

Benefits of playing sports

Firstly, playing sports can give you a (1)_____ life and a fit body. You will be more active and healthier by playing sports. To illustrate, you can have a lower chance (2) ____ getting a serious illness such as a heart attack or high blood pressure.

In other words, it increases your resistance to illness. in leisure time, you can play sports with your friends or your relatives, this not (3) ______ helps you but also motivates everyone around you to take part in sports and have good health.

Moreover, you also need to allow and encourage children to play sports, especially some outside activities such as football, basketball or volleyball to decrease the time that your children spend sitting in front of computers or (4)______ television. These sports can help them have endurance, quickness and even teach them how to improve team spirit and work in groups. These sports  also teach them how to communicate (5)____ their teammates, and show them how active and creative they are.

Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer.

 People usually sing because they like music or because they feel happy. They express their happiness by singing. When a bird sings however, its song usually means much more than that the bird is happy. Birds have many reasons for singing. They sing to give information. Their songs are their language.

The most beautiful songs are sung by male (cock) birds. They sing when they want to attract a female (hen) bird. It is their way of saying that they are looking for a wife.

Birds also sing to tell other birds to keep away. To a bird, his tree or even a branch of tree, is his home. He does not want strangers to come near him, so he sings to warn them.

If a bird cannot sing well, he usually has some other means of giving important information. Some birds dance, spread out their tails or make other signs. One bird has a most unusual way of finding a wife. It builds a small garden of shells and flowers.

Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer.

 Cristiano Ronaldo was born in 1985 in Portugal. He is widely regarded as one of the best players in the world. Ronaldo became a soccer superstar. He played for English team Manchester United, Spain's Real Madrid and for Portugal. He plays in Midfield, from where he regularly scores goals. Ronaldo started kicking a ball around when he was three. He played very skillfully. When he was ten years old, he joined Sporting Lisbon and became the only player in their history.

In 2009, Ronaldo joined his boyhood heroes Real Madrid and became the most expensive footballer in history. He earned a lot of money at that time. He broke Real’s scoring record in his second season with 53 goals in all competitions. In 2012, Diego Mara Dona said Ronaldo was “the best player on the planet”.

Choose the best answer to complete the passage.

My name is Jordan and I am 14 years (1) ___________. I'm very fond of sports. But my favorite sport, as you can see, is basketball. I play basketball (2) ____________school, at home, at the park, everywhere!

I have been playing basketball since I was eight and have always wanted to be a professional basketball (3) _________. I am a big fan of Shaquille O'Neal, in fact, he is my (4) __________player.

I'm in the school team and we train three days a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We have matches every Sunday. From time to time, we have (5) __________with other schools and it is quite exciting. In my free time I like reading and playing computer games. I dream of one day having a successful career as a professional basketball player!

Choose the best answer to complete the passage.

Baseball is America's national sport! It is played with long wooden bats and a small, hard ball, by 2 teams of nine players, who are frequently replaced (1) _________the game. On the whole, there are usually 25 members on a team. Each player (2) _________to hit the ball and then run around the four bases before the other team can return the ball.

Players do not have to be very tall or strong, but they must run (3) _______. The goal of the game is to score as many runs" as possible. The most exciting play is when the batter (the player in the centre of the diamond -home plate) hits a ball very far and goes round all the bases without (4) ______for a home run.  Although many people think baseball is too slow, most American families find it (5) __________.

Read the passage and tick True or False.

My name is Marco and I'm 11 years old. I'm Italian and my favorite sport is soccer. I play soccer twice a week at school and in the afternoon I have soccer lessons on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Saturdays afternoon I usually have a match with my team, we are very good at soccer and we often win. Of course I'm in the school team too! I have a lot of friends and on Sundays afternoon, we play soccer in the park. My favorite team is Milan and I hope to be a champion as Paolo Maldini.