2006年VOA标准英语-Young People Taking Traditional Sports to Extre

By Paige Kollock
Washington
28 June 2006

Surfing has fascinated¹ Americans for decades, and in some parts of the country has given birth to its own surfing culture and dialect. Some people grow up surfing, while others come to it from other sports like skateboarding or skiing.

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Jamy Donaldson spent much of his childhood in downhill skiing and ski jumping, and has now been surfing for 10 years, in part to satisfy his love for speed.

"I've always liked to go fast, if I'm on skis, or on a snowboard, on a motorcycle, in a car, you know, just going fast, something about it makes me feel really good," he said. "I love having adrenaline and I like it when I'm at speed and things slow down for me, so I feel comfortable at speed."

Recently, he has been testing new limits with the sport of kite surfing, in which a surfer holds onto a large kite to steer² and pull himself across the water.

"I pretty much took all those skills that I got from skiing and snowboarding and just kind of applied³ them to kite surfing," said Jamy. "It pretty much takes all those skills and adds a new element in a third dimension. You can kite on the snow, you can kite on a pavement, you can kite on grass, you can kite on dirt, you can kite on the sand. I think my favorite is kiting on the water."

Kites also are being used by snow skiers and snowboarders to generate⁴ more speed and create entirely⁵ new extreme sports. Many credit the French for being the first to use inflatable kites with water skis and other watercraft, and advances in kite technology in the 1980s have helped the sport become more popular among people of all ages.

Jamy says the equipment for kite surfing costs about $1,500, and then all you need is water and some good wind.

"You want to be in a place where it's just unobstructed wind, you know, where the wind can just flow freely, and it's just wide open space," he said. "You can travel really quickly, really efficiently⁶ and it's free, you know, you just hang on the wind, and there's plenty of it."

Jamy says he can go as fast as 50 kilometers per hour, and has traveled distances up to 160 kilometers in one day. He has kite-surfed all over North and South America, from Chile to Mexico to his hometown San Francisco.

Sometimes he gets lost trying to find a place to launch, but he says that is part of the adventure.

"There's places to go skiing, there's places to go play tennis, places to go play golf. But with kite surfing, you know, we're just looking for new locations all over, you know," said Jamy.

Jamy warns there is a risk that kite-surfers can be arrested for crossing private property to reach the water. Other risks include high-speed accidents, which have caused serious injury and even death in the Netherlands, Germany, Taiwan and other places.

Despite the concerns, kite surfing is growing in popularity⁷ and may be included in the Olympics or an extreme sports competition known as the X Games, which Jamy says could be a mixed blessing⁸.

"I'm kind of sitting on the fence about that. In one respect, I want it to be popular and I want to have established spots all over the place that people already know," he said. "I hate to see like a governing body, not destroy the sport, but just give it tons of rules, because what's cool about it is that there are no rules."

More people are being drawn⁹ to kite surfing, and schools are popping up all over, with 10 in Britain alone. The American Kite Surfing Association says its membership¹⁰ is anticipated to reach 30,000 before the end of the year.

1 fascinated   

a.被强烈地吸引住，感到着迷的

参考例句：

• China has always fascinated me. 中国一直令我心驰神往。
• The children watched, fascinated, as the picture began to appear. 电影开始以后孩子们入迷地观看着。

2 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 generate   

vt.生成，产生（光、热、电等）导致

参考例句：

• We need someone to generate new ideas.我们需要有人出新主意。
• This book will continue to generate excitement for a long time.这本书将在很长一段时间里继续使人们为之激动。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

7 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• 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。

8 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

9 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

10 membership   

n.成员资格，会员全体，从属关系

参考例句：

• I must renew my membership of the sailing club.我必须延续我的航海俱乐部会员的资格。
• He made up his mind to apply for membership in the Party.他决心申请入党。