Sports and exercise 体育与运动

Every sport has a fixed collocation; the wrong verb or a generic measure word is a marks-losing imprecision. Football is kicked, not played with the racket verb: ✗ 我周末打足球。 ✓ 我周末踢足球。(Wǒ zhōumò tī zúqiú.) A match takes 场 (chǎng), not 个: ✗ 我们班赢了一个比赛。 ✓ 我们班赢了一场比赛。(Wǒmen bān yíng le yì chǎng bǐsài.) — our class won a match.

In a 比 (bǐ) comparison the adjective must NOT be modified by 很 (hěn) or 非常 (fēicháng). To show degree use 更 (gèng, even more) or 得多 (de duō, much more). ✗ 篮球比足球很受欢迎。 ✓ 篮球比足球更受欢迎。(Lánqiú bǐ zúqiú gèng shòu huānyíng.) — Basketball is even more popular than football.

"Sports and exercise" must be discussed maturely — issues, opinions, both sides — not simply where you play, with whom or how long. Weaker candidates give a bare fact list: ✗ 我每星期六和朋友打篮球。 A mature answer adds a justified view on both sides: ✓ 运动对身体和心理都有好处，但是比赛的压力太大也可能让人紧张。(Yùndòng duì shēntǐ hé xīnlǐ dōu yǒu hǎochù, dànshì bǐsài de yālì tài dà yě kěnéng ràng rén jǐnzhāng.)

In Paper 1 writing (Ex4 and Ex5) you must write in characters only — pinyin is not credited, so substituting pinyin for a character you cannot recall scores nothing for that word. Pinyin is tolerated only in the LISTENING paper, and even there it must be unambiguous. ✗ 我喜欢踢zúqiú。 ✓ 我喜欢踢足球。(Wǒ xǐhuan tī zúqiú.) — I like football.

Copying a whole passage sentence, with its irrelevant clauses, is not credited; extra or wrong material can cancel a correct point. Select the exact point and re-express it in your own words: from a passage about joining a running club, answer 他每星期跑步三次 (tā měi xīngqī pǎobù sān cì) rather than copying the line.

Comprehension questions distinguish the 原因 (yuányīn, reason) from the 结果 (jiéguǒ, result); giving one when the other is asked loses the mark. Asked WHY someone started exercising, give the cause (因为医生说他体重增加太快 — the doctor said his weight rose too fast), not the new habits that followed. Use cause language: 因为……所以……, 由于 (yóuyú), 导致 (dǎozhì).

Learners treat 了 (le) as an English past-tense switch and attach it to every past or repeated action. In fact 了 marks COMPLETION or a CHANGE OF STATE, not tense, and is NOT used with habitual actions marked by 每天 (měitiān) or 常常 (chángcháng). ✗ 我每天都跑步了。 ✓ 我每天都跑步。(Wǒ měitiān dōu pǎobù.) Completion 了 fits a single event: 我今天已经跑了五公里 (Wǒ jīntiān yǐjīng pǎo le wǔ gōnglǐ).

An immature idea: sport is just facts to report (which sport, how often, with whom). The rewarded approach treats it as a topic with issues: benefits (health, teamwork) versus drawbacks (injury, pressure). Not just 我每星期打两次篮球, but 打篮球让我保持健康，也教会我和队友合作，不过输了比赛也会让我沮丧。(Dǎ lánqiú ràng wǒ bǎochí jiànkāng, yě jiāohuì wǒ hé duìyǒu hézuò, búguò shū le bǐsài yě huì ràng wǒ jǔsàng.)