陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (The Origin of Sports)

The Origin of Sports

When  did sport begin? If sport  is, in essence,  play, the claim  might

be made that sport  is much older than  humankind, for, as we all have

observed, the beastsplay. Dogs and cats wrestle and play  ball  games.  

Fishes  and birds  dance. The  apes  have simple,  pleasurable  games.

Frolicking infants,school children playing tag, and adult                  armwrestlers

are demonstrating strong,transgenerational and transspecies bonds with the

universe of animals -          past, present, and future. Younganimals,

particularly, tumble,chase, run, wrestle, mock, imitate, and laugh(or so

it seems) to the point ofdelighted exhaustion. Their play, and ours,

appears to serve no otherpurpose than to          give pleasure tothe players, and

apparently, to remove ustemporarily from the anguish of life in earnest.    

Some philosophers have claimedthat our playfulness is the most noble part

of our basic nature. Intheir generous      conceptions, playharmlessly and

experimentally permits usto put our creative forces, fantasy, and

imagination   into action. Play is release from the tediousbattles against

scarcity and declinewhich are the incessant, and                    inevitable,tragedies of

life. This is a grandconception that excites and provokes. The holders of

this view claim that theorigins of our highest accomplishments - liturgy,

literature, and law    - can be traced to a play impulse which,paradoxically,

we see most purelyenjoyed by young beasts and children. Our sports, in

this rather happy,    nonfatalistic  view of  human  nature, are  more  

splendid  creations of  the  nondatable, transspecies play impulse.

體育的起源 體育運動開始於何時?如果體育運動的本質就是遊戲的話，我們就可以宣稱體育運動比

人類古老，因為正如我們所觀察到的，野獸也進行嬉戲。  狗和貓會扭抱玩球，魚和鳥翩翩 起舞，猿類會進行一些簡單的、愉快的遊戲。  

雀躍的幼兒，捉迷藏的學童和成年摔跤者展 示出人與動物界的有力的跨越世代與物種的永恆的聯繫--特別是幼獸，它們翻筋斗、追逐、

奔跑、扭打、模仿、嬉笑(或者看起來是)，直到愉快地精疲力盡。  他們的玩耍，同我們的

一樣，似乎並沒有別的目的而只是給遊戲者以愉悅，暫時把我們從嚴肅生活的痛苦中拉出來。 一些哲學家稱我們的嬉戲是我們本質中最崇高的部分。  

依他們這些隨意性很大的見解，遊 戲無害而且實驗性地允許我們的創造力、幻想和想像發揮作用。  遊戲讓人們從永不間斷亦

不可避免的生活悲劇-與乏匱和衰退進行的枯燥抗爭中得到一種解脫。  這是一個令人興奮、 給人啟發的偉大見解。  

這種見解的持有者宣稱，我們的最高成就如宗教典禮、文學、法律 的起源可以追溯到遊戲的衝動。  但令人不解的是我們看到只有幼獸和小孩子才最純粹地享

受著這種衝動。  從這種比較豁達和非宿命的人性觀來看，我們的運動是超時代、跨物種的 輝煌的創造。