新东方背诵文选 L21 The Origin of Sports
时间：2018-12-15 作者：英语课 分类：新东方背诵文选
英语课
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 beasts play. Dogs and cats wrestle 1 and play ball games. Fishes and birds dance. The apes have simple, pleasurable games. Frolicking infants, school children playing tag, and adult arm wrestlers are demonstrating strong, transgenerational and transspecies bonds with the universe of animals - past, present, and future. Young animals, particularly, tumble, chase, run wrestle, mock, imitate, and laugh (or so it seems) to the point of delighted exhaustion 2. Their play, and ours, appears to serve no other purpose than to give pleasure to the players, and apparently 3, to remove us temporarily from the anguish 4 of life in earnest.
Some philosophers have claimed that our playfulness is the most noble part of our basic nature. In their generous conceptions, play harmlessly and experimentally permits us to put our creative forces, fantasy, and imagination into action. Play is release from the tedious battles against scarcity 5 and decline which are the incessant 6, and inevitable 7, tragedies of life. This is a grand conception that excites and provokes. The holders 8 of this view claim that the origins of our highest accomplishments 9 ---- liturgy 10, literature, and law ---- can be traced to a play impulse which, paradoxically, we see most purely 11 enjoyed 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.
1 wrestle
vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付
- He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
- We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。
2 exhaustion
n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述
- She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
- His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。
3 apparently
adv.显然地；表面上，似乎
- An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
- He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
4 anguish
n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼
- She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
- The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。
5 scarcity
n.缺乏，不足，萧条
- The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
- The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。
6 incessant
adj.不停的，连续的
- We have had incessant snowfall since yesterday afternoon.从昨天下午开始就持续不断地下雪。
- She is tired of his incessant demands for affection.她厌倦了他对感情的不断索取。
7 inevitable
adj.不可避免的，必然发生的
- Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
- The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
8 holders
支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物
- Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
- It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。
9 accomplishments
n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就
- It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
- Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》