介绍： 留学生活中，体育绝对是必不可少的环节，而不同国家体育文化又有所不同，想要了解不同国家的体育文化，快来听听看喽~

Part1
Sports is a very important part of a country’s culture. When studying abroad it’s necessary for students to know something about the sports culture of the area you are in which can definitely...

介绍： 留学生活中，体育绝对是必不可少的环节，而不同国家体育文化又有所不同，想要了解不同国家的体育文化，快来听听看喽~

Part1
Sports is a very important part of a country’s culture. When studying abroad it’s necessary for students to know something about the sports culture of the area you are in which can definitely help us get used to the studying life abroad.
Different countries have different preferences on sports. In China, many people like playing ping-pong which is something like a national activity for us. Four popular sports of the US is American football, Major baseball, national basketball and national hockey. On the basis of this, American colleges have traditions on sports mostly. Students in American colleges have incredible enthusiasm of doing sports. University of Southern California is a traditional college that is good at football.University of Michigan has the tradition of basketball. Duke university is well known by basketball, tennis, golf and lots of other items. The famous school of Ivy League, Stanford, is also a powerful one in the field of both academic level and sports. American universities are strong parts of its international status on sports. There are also lots of NBA members who are from universities that are familiar to us. For example, 76 from UCLA, 62 from NC State University, 58 from Duke university etc. there’s a saying that sports of universities in the US are also of the US. About 80 percentatheletes to take part in Olympic games are from universities all around the country.

While in Britain, ten most popular sports are soccer, Equestrian, cycling, cricket, snooker, rowing, golf, rugby and F1. Loughborough University has natatorium and track field of the standard of the Olympic game. So it’s also the top of the list of the British universities that love sports. University of Stirling has almost all kinds of sporting events and trains a huge amount of excellent sportsmen every year. Students of British particularly love rowing in their spare time. The most famous universities of Britain, university of Cambridge and Oxford hold a rowing race yearly. And different institutes also organize races often. What is interesting is that, compared with the US, Britain is quite different that British really don’t play basketball very often and basketball gyms are sometimes used as badminton gyms. It seems that they prefer placid sports. Besides these realistic sports. Because of the popularity of the series of Harry Potter, some universities even have races of Quidditch.
In China, obviously what people play most are ping-pong and badminton. In universities, we have more diverse items like swimming, softball, dancing and so on. And we Chinese students have a physical fitness test annually which must be many students’ nightmare of the whole school life. Though having PE class from a very young age and we have to pass the PE exam which means we need enough time to do sports, the enthusiasm of Chinese students to do sports is much weaker than that in most western countries which may be the trend of Asian tradition and the serious competition among youngsters of their academic grades. For our health and outfit, we’d better do more sports. And if you want to study abroad in the future, obviously sports are an important part of foreign studying life. It’s a good way for social communication and our health. So just go for it.
Part2
Host：
we know that many foreigners like sports, especially ball games, they are keen on football, baseball, basketball, tennis and golf and so on, when there is a wonderful match on TV, the car on the road will be less, because everybody stays at home and watches TV. It's probably due to their interest in ball games. Therefore, there are quite a few idioms that relate to the word “ball”
 
So, Betty, Vision, do you want to play a game? I’ll say the slang and its original meaning and let you guys guess its extended meaning. I think it will be interesting.

Ok, let’s start with a simple one. Please listen to me carefully. It’s called” keep one’s eye on the ball.” This idiom originally came from ball games, such as tennis, golf, softball, etc. It means you must have your eyes on the ball before you can hit it. So, it’s your turn to guess. To make the game easier, I’ll put this word into a sentence. Please listen.

” Stop thinking about what he wants, this is an important stage in your career and you need to keep your eye on the ball!”

Answer：
To remain alert and keep one’s attention focused on the task or matter at hand.
保持警惕，专注于手头任务或问题。
Stop thinking about what he wants, this is an important stage in your career and you need to keep your eye on the ball!
别再想他在想什么了，这是你事业的重要阶段，专心点！

Ok, let’s move to the second one. “The ball is in your court”
It’s easy to understand its original meaning. That is, it is your time to control the ball. And for its extended meaning, please listen to the dialogue:

so，Tim，are you gonna go with us to the concert next week？
Tim，下周，你要跟我们去看演唱会吗？
I would love to but I can't！I am too busy
我想，但是去不了！太忙了！
You know I got tickets waiting for you man
你知道我有你的票
I know，I know
我知道，我知道
Well，alright，the ball is in your court，it's your decision.
好吧，决定权在你，你决定

Answer：
“it’s your turn to make decision.”

Ok, here comes the next. DROP THE BALL
Literally, I dropped the ball I had in my hand. The phrase obviously comes from sports too. In the 1950s or so, drop the ball began to become a slang term widely used in all aspects of daily life. So when drop the ball is not limited to the court, what kind of behavior does it refer to? Let's grasp it through examples.

I thought she’d be able to cope, but when the time came to present the results, she just dropped the ball….really badly.
原以为她能处理好这些，但事实证明，她大大辜负了我的期望。

Answer：
Extended meaning: Make a mistake, disappoint everyone.
犯错误，让人失望。

After we discuss so many interesting slangs, let’s end it up with a slang originates from boxing, A knockout. Maybe we are familiar with the word” KO”, which means knock sb. down. Ok, now, please pay attention to my question. This time I will tell you its extended meaning is a phrase used to describe those good-looking people. I’m going to ask what kind of people does this word describe, men or women? Please give your answer.

Answer：
That’s right. It is used to describe beautiful-looking women. Let’s listen to some sentences.
She was a knockout in navy and scarlet.
她身着藏青色和鲜红色相间的衣服，十分迷人。
Jill was a knockout with her biker leathers and t-shirt.
吉尔穿上她的摩托车皮衣和T恤衫非常引人注目。

Well, after reading the above introduction, we have learned a lot of wonderful English expressions in an instant. If you have anything else to add, please leave a message below the comment area.