【正文】 lost the use of her left leg, and the doctors said she would never walk again.The people in Rudolph39。s races are similar except that the women do not kick a ball. They throw a wooden hoop in front of them with a stick. A hoop is a ring, or a circle.The Tarahumara play other games and sports. However, they are famous because they can run so fast and so far. (185 words)9 Olympic SportsThe first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens, Greece, in the year 1896.Athletes from only 13 countries participated in the Games that year. They peted in 43 different events in just 9 sports (track and field, swimming, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, tennis, weight lifting, and wrestling). In 2004, the summer Olympic Games took place once again in Athens, Greece. This time athletes from 202 countries peted in 300 events in 28 sports.Only five sports have been in every Olympic Games. They are track and field, swimming, fencing, cycling, and gymnastics. Other sports e and go in the Olympic Games. For example, tennis was an Olympic sport from 1896 until 1924.Then it disappeared from the Olympics until 1988. Baseball, badminton, and taekwondo are more recent additions to the Olympic Games.It is the job of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to add and remove sports from the Olympic Games. A sport has to be popular in at least 50 countries on three continents before it can be added. However, the IOC doesn39。t write with fountain pens in airplanes because the ink leaked out. Later, a French pany called Bic bought the Biros39。t buy many of them. Then Dr. Gideon Sundback from Sweden solved this problem. His zipper stayed closed.A zipper has three parts: 1. There are dozens of metal or plastic hooks (called teeth) in two rows. 2. These hooks are fastened to two strips of cloth. The cloth strips are flexible. They bend easily. 3. A fastener slides along and joins the hooks together.When it slides the other way, it takes the hooks apart.Dr. Sundback put the hooks on strips of cloth. The cloth holds all the hooks in place. They don39。中學(xué)生百科英語2:Thoughts amp。t e apart very easily. This solved the problem of the first zippers.(212 words)2 The Postage StampBefore the invention of the postage stamp, it was difficult to send a letter to another country. The sender paid for the letter to travel in his or her own country.Then the person in the other country paid for the rest of the trip. If a letter crossed several countries, the problem was worse.Rowland Hill, a British teacher, had the idea of a postage stamp with glue on the back. The British post office made the first stamps in 1840. They were the Penny Black and the Twopence Blue. A person bought a stamp and put it on a letter. The post office delivered the letter. When people received letters, they didn39。 pany.Some people call ballpoint pens Bics. Australians call them biros. Whatever we call them, we use them every day.(256 words)4 The UmbrellaThe umbrella is a very ordinary object. It keeps the rain and the sun off people.Most umbrellas fold up, so it is easy to carry them.However, the umbrella has not always been an ordinary object. In the past, it was a sign of royalty or importance. Some African tribes still use umbrellas in this way.Someone carries an umbrella and walks behind the king or important person.Umbrellas are very old. The Chinese had them more than 3,000 years ago. From there, umbrellas traveled to India, Persia, and Egypt. In Greece and Rome, men wouldn39。t want to add more sports to the Olympic Games without eliminating others. The IOC is afraid that there will be too many sports in the Olympics.Artistic events were also a part of the Olympic Games from 1912 to 1948. There were contests in architecture, music, literature, and painting. Today some people think that artistic events and games such as chess should be part of the Olympics.However, many people oppose this idea.The Olympic Games today are very different from the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. These differences reflect the changing definition and popularity of sports.(273 words)10 Great AthletesYou might think that Olympic athletes are the healthiest people in the world. It39。s family did everything they could to help her walk again.Wilma and her mother frequently traveled 100 miles to get treatments for her leg. Her brothers and sisters took turns giving her leg a daily massage. Four times a day, they helped her do special exercises for her leg. Amazingly, by the time Rudolph was 9 years old, she was able to walk again. Before long, she started playing basketball and running. In high school, she was a track star, and then she went to the Olympics.Wilma Rudolph retired from her career as a runner when she was 22 years old.She then became a teacher and track coach. Her story encouraged many people to work hard and to overe difficulties.(244 words)11 The Puffer FishMost people avoid eating dangerous foods. They don39。s because chefs are trained to remove the insides of the puffer fish before they give it to customers. If they miss even a small amount, the fish is not safe to eat.Puffer fish is very expensive. A plate of fugu costs more than $200 in some restaurants in Tokyo. Besides being dangerous to eat, the fish is very ugly, with spines all over its body. Also, it can puff, or blow, itself up to double its normal size.Why do the Japanese risk so much for such an ugly and dangerous fish? Well, some people like taking risks. And fugu tastes wonderful.(211 words)12 Foods from Around the WorldFoods that are well known to you may not be familiar to people from other countries. Tourists and other travelers almost always get to try some unfamiliar food. That is part of the fun of traveling. Here are four people39。m afraid to try new foods because they might contain beef. I39。t like their appearance at all. The eggs were green inside, but my friends said the color was normal. The Chinese put chemicals on fr