At the end of his workday in steamy midtown Manhattan, Joel Terry craves relaxing outdoors. But these days, instead of starting

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问题     At the end of his workday in steamy midtown Manhattan, Joel Terry craves relaxing outdoors. But these days, instead of starting his hour-long commute home to the mellow shore town of Long Branch, New Jersey, Terry stops at an unlikely source of nature: downtown Manhattan.
    There, he boards a sailboat and is soon tacking against the winds of New York Harbor. Terry, 37, who works in retail finance, is a newly minted member of the Manhattan Sailing Club, one of an increasing number of community sailing clubs across the country. Dozens of its sailboats sit in the North Cove marina, bobbing among mega-yachts near the World Financial Center. But sailing these days doesn’t have to mean blue blazers, clubhouse dining rooms, and strict rules of etiquette. Next to multimillion-dollar yachts, and in the shadow of shiny towers housing financial giants Goldman Sachs and American Express, members socialize on plastic lawn chairs while drinking beers.
    "Sailing has had the reputation of being an expensive, elitist sport, but it really isn’t," says Jack Gierhart, executive director of U. S. Sailing, the governing body for the sport. With more than 550 community sailing programs across the United States, these open-to-the-public and mostly nonprofit clubs account for the recent revival of a pastime whose popularity has declined since its heyday in the 1970s and ’80s, when sailing was an elegant alternative to motorized boats during the energy crisis. The number of these organizations has risen 10 percent over the past three years, according to Gierhart.
    The pastime has also suffered what could be described as a branding problem. "Sailing has traditionally been portrayed as being just for rich white people, and yachting has such a snooty reputation," says Charlie Nobles, executive director of the American Sailing Association, which certifies instructors and students. "The average age of yacht-club members 10 years ago was 50. Now it’s 60. They’re not getting replacement members. The challenge we have today is how to get youth interested. "
    To that point, a less formal atmosphere and social friendship are big selling points for these sailing clubs, especially in young professional Manhattan. The Manhattan Sailing Club hosts "full moon" parties on the floating bar it runs next to the Statue of Liberty, where members have a view of the new One World Trade Center on one side and New Jersey sunsets on the other. In the winter, it organizes annual trips where members can island-hop in the Caribbean.
    While promoting the social side of sailing may be the key to attracting people to the sport, the appeal of speeding along the open water tugs at something more fundamental. " It’s an amazing feeling, using the wind and tide to propel your boat forward," says Terry. "It clears your mind, and you’re just in that moment. "
According to Charlie Nobles, the sailing clubs should

选项 A、emphasize the energy-saving characteristic of the sport.
B、be aware of the risk elderly people may take in the sport.
C、make sure the staffs are all qualified and certified.
D、take effort to lower the average age of their members.

答案D

解析 事实细节题。根据题干关键词Charlie Nobles定位到第四段。该段提到,查理.诺伯尔斯说现在俱乐部成员的平均年龄在不断上升,而他们目前所面临的最大挑战是如何让年轻人对这项运动感兴趣,这样才能让这项运动拥有后续力量,维系下去。由此可见,俱乐部应该想办法降低其成员的平均年龄,以吸引更多的年轻人加人,因此选[D]。查理并没有提到帆船的绿色环保特性,故排除[A];也没有提到在进行帆船运动时,上年纪的人可能会承担的风险,故排除[B];虽然第四段第二句中提到了证书,但这是该帆船协会的功能和资质,并不是帆船俱乐部的下一步任务,故排除[C]。
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