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  3. Is athlete prowess attained or innate? Those who have suffered the scolding of a tyrannical games master at school might be forg

Is athlete prowess attained or innate? Those who have suffered the scolding of a tyrannical games master at school might be forg

admin2022-08-06  4
问题     Is athlete prowess attained or innate? Those who have suffered the scolding of a tyrannical games master at school might be forgiven for doubting the idea that anyone and everyone is capable of great sporting achievement, if only they would put enough effort into it. Practice may make perfect, but not all are built in ways that make it worth bothering in the first place.
    The latest evidence of this truth has been gathered by Sabrina Lee of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and Stephen Piazza at Pennsylvania State University. They have looked at the anatomy of sprinters and found that their feet are built differently from those of couch potatoes.
    They looked at seven university sprinters who specialize in the 100-metre dash and five 200-metre specialists, and compared them with 12 non-athletic university students of the same height. In particular, they looked at the sizes of bones of the toes and heel. They also used ultrasonic scanning to measure the sliding motion of the Achilles tendons (the tendon inside the back of your leg just above your heel) of their volunteers as their feet moved up and down. This allowed them to study the length of the lever created by the tendon as it pulls on the back of the heel to make the foot bend and push off the ground.
    Dr Lee and Dr Piazza found that the toes of their sprinters averaged 8.2cm in length, while those of non-sprinters averaged 7.3cm. The length of the lever of bone that the Achilles tendon pulls on also differed, being a quarter shorter in sprinters. These findings suggest sprinters get better contact with the ground by having longer toes. That makes sense, as it creates a firmer platform to push against. In a sprint race, acceleration off the block is everything.
    The reason for the difference in the Achilles tendons, though, is less immediately obvious. At first sight, sprinters might be expected to have more Achilles leverage than average, not less. First sight, however, is wrong. When muscles have to contract a long way, they usually do so quickly and with little force. When contracting short distances, though, they move more slowly and generate more force. Having a short Achilles lever allows the muscles that pull on the tendon to generate as much as 40% more force than the same muscles in a non-sprinter would be able to manage.
    It is possible—just—that these anatomical differences are the result of long and rigorous training. But it is unlikely. Far more probable is that the old saying of coaches, that great sprinters are born not made, is true. Everyone else, games masters included, should just get used to the idea.
Longer toes of a sprinter are helpful in that they enable him to
选项 A、touch the ground more safely.
B、contract muscles more quickly.
C、have a better starting speed.
D、generate more force in the feet.
答案C
解析 根据题干中的Longer toes of a sprinter定位到第四段。该段前半部分讲短跑运动员的脚趾长度为8．2厘米，而非短跑运动员的脚趾长度为7．3厘米。由后半段可知运动员较长的脚趾可使他们与地面的接触面产生更大的起跑助力，从而起跑时加速更好，故C项正确。由最后一句可知较长的脚趾使运动员脚与地面的接触面能更稳固地产生反作用力，而非能更安全地接触地面，故A项错误；文中并没有提到脚趾长度与肌肉的关系，故B项错误；长脚趾是使地面给脚更大的作用力，而非直接产生更大的力，故D项错误。
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