时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:晨读英语美文60篇


英语课

Rick Stevenson, 16 years old, spends every minute he can on the mountain. He and his friends go snow-boarding every weekend. “It's incredible,” he says. “The winds are so strong, the boards go 50 miles an hour.” His friend Laura Fields agrees. “No one goes skiing anymore,” she says.“That’s for the old folks.”


 Rick and Laura are part of a new trend in sports. It has its own language, words such as “rage,” “juice,” and “energy.” It has its own clothing, such as skin-tight bicycle suits in rainbow colors or baggy 1 tops and pants. And it’s not for the old or the easily frightened. Its philosophy is to get as close to the edge as possible. And more and more young athletes are taking part in these risky 2, daredevil activities called “extreme sports,” or “X-sports.”


 In the past, young athletes would play hockey or baseball. Today, they want risk and excitement—the closer to the edge the better. They snowboard over cliffs 3 and mountain-bike down steep mountains. They wind-surf near hurricanes, go white-water rafting through rapids, and bungy-jump from towers.Extreme sports started as an alternative to more expensive sports.


 A city kid who didn’t have the money to buy expensive sports equipment could get a skateboard and have fun. But now it has become a whole new area of sports, with specialized 4 equipment and high levels of skill.


 There’s even a special Olympics for extreme sports, called the Winter X-Games, which includes snow mountain biking and ice climbing. An Extreme Games competition is held each summer in Rhode Island. It features sports such as sky surfing, where people jump from airplanes with surfboards attached to their feet.


 What makes extreme sports so popular?


 “People love the thrill,” says Murray Nussbaum, who sells sports equipment. "City people want to be outdoors on the weekend and do something challenging. The new equipment is so much better that people can take more risks without getting hurt.” An athlete adds, “Sure there’s a risk, but that’s part of the appeal. Once you go mountain biking or snowboarding, it’s impossible to go back to bike riding or skiing. It’s just too boring.”


 Extreme sports are certainly not for everyone. Most people still prefer to play baseball or basketball or watch sports on TV. But extreme sports are definitely 5 gaining in popularity 6. “These sports are fresh and exciting. It’s the wave of the future. The potential is huge,” says Nussbaum.



1 baggy
adj.膨胀如袋的,宽松下垂的
  • My T-shirt went all baggy in the wash.我的T恤越洗越大了。
  • Baggy pants are meant to be stylish,not offensive.松松垮垮的裤子意味着时髦,而不是无礼。
2 risky
adj.有风险的,冒险的
  • It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险,但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
  • He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。
3 cliffs
n.悬崖,峭壁(cliff的复数形式)
  • the chalk cliffs of southern England 英格兰南部的白垩质峭壁
  • Local folklore has it that prehistoric men drove cattle over these cliffs. 当地民间传说中称,史前人类把野牛从这些悬崖上驱赶下去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 specialized
adj.专门的,专业化的
  • There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
  • These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。
5 definitely
adv.一定地,肯定地;明确地,确切地
  • The team will definitely lose if he doesn't play.如果他不参加比赛,这个队肯定会输。
  • I shall definitely be home before six o'clock.6点以前,我一定回家。
6 popularity
n.普及,流行,名望,受欢迎
  • The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
  • Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。
学英语单词
A Leopard Can't Change His Spots
adrie
alpha-particle decay
appropriateness
atropidaes
attenable
Aunon
battledore placenta
be on the strength
Beaver Valley
bisimines
blind sector
blue books
broad pk.
Brown-Twiss intensity interferometer
calculated area
calorific radiation
canaliculus cochle?
chromo-citronine
circuslike
Cladothrix thermophile
compressed coated tablet
credit hour
dipygal thoracopagus
dishdrawer
distill
dolphinarium
double canoe
dropped-scone
eaves fillet
El Jem
electrical analogue
exothermic recombination
extra super duralumin
fire-festival
Gowganda
gravesite
grishenko
Hochkirch
in - depth interview
in an effort to do
International Pen
Jennings L.
kudelka
leukomogenic virus
logical characteristic of database
Maissiat's band
manganelli
Maracaibo, Lake
marsupella yahushimensis (horik) hatt.
meditative
MF resin
mixed-type equation
mummychog
nemathecium
neurotropism
non programming language
non-attributions
on-line data acquisition
operating agreement
oversteering
parallel program
pasik
pentacamerous
petrologen
phosphoriboside
pilumnus orbitospinis
pin punching register
portises
psilotophytes
radioisotope smoke alarm
raid the sinking
reclock
round-wound
Saeed
scat-sing
separable rational mapping
short-hops
shortwave communication
shoult
silver freezing point
sniff out
source assembly display
stale
Suaeda
Talnakh
theoretically dry
time unit
time-mapping asynchronous simulation
traffic noise
tragophony
trihexosylceramides
unedo
unimpugnable
usace
visceral cleft
Vorstershoop
vulva constrictor muscle
well-acknowledged
win upon
Yazykovo
zoila