首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Sports Many animals engage in play, but homo sapiens is the only animal to have invented sports. Since sports are an inventi
Sports Many animals engage in play, but homo sapiens is the only animal to have invented sports. Since sports are an inventi
admin
2013-06-02
71
问题
Sports
Many animals engage in play, but homo sapiens is the only animal to have invented sports. Since sports are an invention, a part of culture rather than an aspect of nature, all definitions of sports are somewhat arbitrary. Whether sports are a human universal found in every known culture or a phenomenon unique to modern society depends upon one’s definition of sports. Men and women have always run, jumped, climbed, lifted, thrown, and wrestled, but they have not always performed these physical activities competitively. Although all literate societies seem to have contests of one sort or another in which men, and sometimes women, compete in displays and tests of physical skill and prowess, sports may be strictly defined as physical contests performed for their own sake and not for some ulterior end. According to this strict definition, neither Neolithic (新石器时代的) hunters nor contestants in religious ceremonies such as the ancient Olympic Games were engaged in sports. Insistence on the stipulation that sports must be performed for their own sake means the paradoxical elimination of many activities which are usually thought of as sports, such as exercises done for the sake of cardiovascular fitness, races run to satisfy a physical education requirement, ball games played to earn a paycheck. Strict definition also means abandonment of the traditional usage in which "sport", derived from Middle English disporter, refers to any lighthearted recreational activity. In the minds of some 18th-century aristocrats, a game of backgammon (15子游戏) and the seduction of a milkmaid were both considered good sport, but this usage of the term has become archaic.
Strict conceptualization allows the construction of an evolutionary history of sports in which extrinsic political, economic, military, and religious motivations decrease in importance as intrinsic motivations—participation for its own sake—increase. The disadvantage, however, is that the determination that a given activity is truly a sport depends on the answer to a psychological question: What is the motivation of the participants? The question of motivation cannot be answered unambiguously. It is probable that the contestants of the ancient Olympic Games were motivated by the intrinsic pleasure of the contest as well as by the religious imperatives of Greek cult. It is also probable that modern professional athletes are motivated by more than simply economic motives. Thus most scholars assume quietly that popular usage cannot be completely wrong to refer, for instance, to U. S. professional National Football League games as sports.
The psychological aspects of sports are more difficult to assess because factors such as motivation are more difficult to measure than the size of audience or the amount of a contract. The psychological tests that have been administered have produced such a welter of contradictory results that many specialists are ready to abandon the attempt to pinpoint motives. Some generalizations, however, seem tenable. On the whole, physical fitness and the desire for simple relaxation seem to motivate those who shun competitive sports in favour of noncompetitive physical activities such as jogging, hiking, recreational swimming, and aerobics (although the development of aerobics contests testifies to the protean (变化多端的) nature of the competitive urge). Important to those who choose sports is the challenge of the contest, the opportunity to test one’s physical and mental skills against another person, against nature, or against the abstraction of the sports record. The choice of one sport over another depends on the cultural availability of the sport (few Laotians play baseball), on social group (few truck drivers own polo ponies), on gender (women are not supposed to box), and on individual temperament (some people cannot enjoy golf). There is reason to believe that the distinction between team sports, which emphasize cooperation within the contest, and individual sports, which call for a greater sense of autonomy, is a fundamental one, although an individual may enjoy both.
The will to win is a powerful motive, and individual athletes as well as coaches and administrators have studied such matters as the most efficient type of leadership and the optimal level of pregame stress. Psychologists differ among themselves, but some contend that democratic leadership produces greater individual satisfaction while authoritarian leadership provides "results" (i. e. , a higher level of achievement and, consequently, more victories). Many psychological studies have shown that female athletes tend to attribute failure to their lack of effort or skill while male athletes point to external factors such as luck or the strength of the opposition. It has also been established that the ideal level of pregame stress falls between utter relaxation and hypertension and depends in part on the sport; successful archery, for instance, calls for less pre-match aggressiveness than rugby does. Athletes in many sports such as golf, tennis, diving, high jumping, and pole vaulting, where form and timing are crucial, often resort to a different method of pregame "psyching" called imaging or visualizing. This does not so much build aggressiveness as write a visual mental script to be followed in the contest to come.
Induced aggressiveness is, of course, a common technique, but "psyched-up" players can be a menace to themselves and others. Injuries are but one consequence. As the desire to win increases in intensity, especially when the players symbolically represent schools, cities, nations, races, religions, or ideologies, considerations of fair play are liable to be lost in the scuffle (扭打). In such situations, aggressiveness on the field is often accompanied by violence in the stands, where crowd psychology operates (often in conjunction with alcohol) to reduce normal inhibitions on rowdy behaviour.
Sports-related spectator violence is, however, often more strongly associated with social group than with the specific nature of the sport itself. Roman gladiatorial (格斗的) combats were, for example, history’s most violent sport, but the closely supervised spectators, carefully segregated by social class and gender, rarely rioted. In modern times, association football is certainly less violent than rugby, but "soccer hooliganism" is a worldwide phenomenon, while spectator violence associated with the more upper-class but rougher sport of rugby has been minimal. Similarly, crowds at baseball games have been more unruly than the generally more affluent and better-educated fans of American football, although football is unquestionably the rougher sport. Efforts of the police to curb sports-related violence are often counterproductive because the young working-class males responsible for most of the trouble are frequently hostile to the authorities. Media coverage of disturbances can also act to exaggerate their importance and to stimulate the crowd behaviour simultaneously condemned and sensationalized, as is violence on the field. The frequent fights between U. S. National Hockey League players seem to be a consistent feature of sports highlights on television.
Personal temperament influences some people in their choice of sports.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
A
解析
文章第三自然段第六句The choice of one sport over another depends on..., and on individual temperament.即某些人对体育运动项目的选择也受其个人性格的影响。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/rgB7777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
Olderpeoplewhoholdtemporaryorpart-timejobsafterretirementenjoybetterphysicalandmentalhealththanthosewhostopw
Olderpeoplewhoholdtemporaryorpart-timejobsafterretirementenjoybetterphysicalandmentalhealththanthosewhostopw
Thehumancriterionforperfectvisionis20/20forreadingthestandardlinesonaSnelleneyechartwithoutahitch.Thescore
Thehumancriterionforperfectvisionis20/20forreadingthestandardlinesonaSnelleneyechartwithoutahitch.Thescore
Peoplewithdisabilitiescomprisealargepartofthepopulation.Itis【C1】_____thatover35millionAmericanshavephysical,【C2
Insciencethemeaningoftheword"explain"suffers【C1】______civilization’severystepinsearchofreality.Sciencecannotre
Manyprivateinstitutionsofhighereducationaroundthecountryareindanger.Notallwillbesaved,andperhapsnotall【B1】__
A、Thewomanistheman’sboss.B、Themanisthewoman’shusband.C、Thewomanistheheadmasterofaschool.D、Thewomanwantsto
A、Theyaretidalwaves.B、Theycanbecausedbythefallofanasteroidintothewater.C、Theycannotbedetectedbeforetheyh
A、Itisclosed.B、12noonto9P.M.C、9A.M.to5P.M.D、9A.M.to12noon.D星期六时,银行营业时间为早9:00到中午12:00,故选D
随机试题
Thefamilylookedonhelplesslyastheirhouse______.
首选药物为胆酸螯合剂+贝特类或烟酸,次选他汀类,也可考虑他汀类中的阿伐他汀的是首选药物为贝特类,次选他汀类+海鱼油制剂,贝特类或烟酸的是
依据《安全生产违法行为行政处罚办法》,发证机关暂扣有关许可证和暂停有关执业资格、岗位证书的期限一般不得超过()个月。
红河公司是广东省的一家小企业,属于生产规模小、账册不健全、财务管理和会计核算水平较低、产品零星、税源分散的纳税人。2010年,国内经济复苏,红河公司利润得到了大幅度提升。但由于信誉良好的长期客户仍未挽回因金融危机带来的损失,为了维持与客户间的合作关系,红河
“漏接”现象指的是客人到达,导游员无出现的情形。()
一注意事项(1)申论与写作考试是对应考者阅读能力综合分析能力提出和解决问题能力文字表达能力的测试。(2)参考时限:阅读资料40分钟,参考作答110分钟。(3)仔细阅读给定资料,按照后面提出的“作答要求”作答。二给定资料1.金融危机,俨然成了时下街
幸福教育是师生发挥主体创造性的教育。在幸福教育中,师生都是教育活动的创造者。师生在教育活动中是主动还是被动,是创造的活动还是机械的活动,直接决定着教育的状态和境界。没有教育者的主观能动性的发挥,亦没有教育者的主体性,没有教育者的创造性,幸福教育就很难体现崇
范例教学
在软件需求分析阶段,分析人员要解决的一个主要问题就是了解用户要让软件“做什么”,需求分析阶段的输出是软件需求规格说明书。软件需求规格说明书内容不应该包括1._____。软件需求规格说明书在软件开发中具有重要作用,但其作用不应当包括2.______
HDLC是一种什么协议?__________________。
最新回复
(
0
)