英文杂志-Magazine：Physical education

Physical educationby Richard SidawaySchool days are supposed to be the best days of your life and part of that experience usually involves some strenuous¹ physical activity. I asked some colleagues to give me their recollections of what happened to them on the sports field and beyond, and this is what they told me…

Cup winnersWhen I was about ten, the football team from our year inexplicably² made it to the cup final of the local schools’ league. I say inexplicably because I only remember us losing nearly every match we played. Anyway, in the final I set up the winning goal, a brilliant cross to my mate David who headed the ball in just before the final whistle. I still have a photograph of the team holding the cup.

Forest hikeI remember having to lead a group of eight boys on a school expedition for the best part of two days when I was a teenager. Even though we got lost at one point, I managed to keep them all together and got them from one end of a large forest to the other and back by sheer force of will. I was chosen to be the leader, I think, because I was the only one who knew how to read a map! When we arrived back at the campsite we found out that all the other groups had cheated and hitched³ most of the way instead... I felt a bit of a mug, but also rather proud of myself at the same time for having done it properly.

Learning to swim, learning to drownI learned to swim comparatively late, I suppose, I was maybe nine years old, but my brother had a traumatic experience which nearly put him off for life. We lived in the USA for a while and had access to a university pool where the coaches had trained the American Olympic team. In those days, though, their idea of teaching kids how to swim was to tie a tin can to their ankles with a bit of string, throw them in the deep end and shout ‘Swim!’. I’m surprised my brother survived at all. He could only have been about six at the time.

Sponsored walkOne of my earliest physical feats⁴ was probably going on a ten-mile walk for charity when I was about seven. I went with my older brother and my Dad, but they didn’t make much allowance for the fact that my legs were shorter - I had to go at the same pace as them! Even so, I made it and raised quite a lot of money from school friends and teachers who had agreed to pay me for every mile I walked.

Cross-country ordealI remember one dark, wet afternoon in February being herded⁵ out onto the school field and having to run three miles across country while the rain came bucketing down. Soon we were all drenched⁶ to the skin, shivering with cold and the only way to stay warm was to keep running. One of the gym teachers, who had been sitting inside having a cup of tea, came out to meet us halfway⁷ around the course and told us to jump over a stream before we could start on the home stretch. This teacher actually stood on the hands of the boys he didn’t like as they were trying to climb up the muddy bank on the other side, so that they slid back down into the freezing water. I was disgusted by this, but of course I didn’t say anything, I was only twelve. I think it changed my view of human nature a bit after that, the fact that someone who I had previously⁸ respected could be so cynical⁹ and cruel.

Dwarfed¹⁰ in GermanyWe went on a tour of Germany one year from secondary school to play football against three different teams there. Everyone was violently sick on the ferry going across to Holland, and the whole thing was a bit of a farce¹¹ as the teacher who had arranged it didn’t speak German very well so we ended up playing teams who were three or four years older than us! Naturally we got beaten every time.

Climb every mountainOne of my best memories of early physical endeavour was climbing Ben Nevis, which is the tallest mountain in the British Isles¹². It was a glorious day, which is pretty rare for that part of Scotland, and we walked up in about five hours. The last bit is pretty hard going as it’s a zigzag¹³ path of big stones. We took the family dog and she had a really difficult time of it. The strangest thing was that we didn’t see too many people on the way up, and then when we reached the top it was suddenly covered with Japanese tourists. I can only presume they had been airlifted there by helicopter.

Down to earthMy cousins were always the outdoor, adventurous¹⁴ types, learning how to canoe and windsurf and abseil and so on. One day, one of them climbed onto the top of the house to fix some tiles with my uncle. The next minute he appeared at the kitchen door a little bit dazed and his mother, who was cooking lunch, looked at him in surprise and said: ‘What are you doing here? I thought you were helping¹⁵ your Dad.’‘I’ve just fallen off the roof, Mum’, he said.Apparently¹⁶ he had overbalanced and toppled over backwards¹⁷. Because he had recently been doing parachute training -his latest hobby- he had rolled over automatically when he hit the ground, without thinking. This was a big, old two-storey house and he must have been at least 10 metres from the ground, but he didn’t have a scratch on him!
 

1 strenuous   

adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的

参考例句：

• He made strenuous efforts to improve his reading. 他奋发努力提高阅读能力。
• You may run yourself down in this strenuous week.你可能会在这紧张的一周透支掉自己。

2 inexplicably   

adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是

参考例句：

• Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句

3 hitched   

（免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上

参考例句：

• They hitched a ride in a truck. 他们搭乘了一辆路过的货车。
• We hitched a ride in a truck yesterday. 我们昨天顺便搭乘了一辆卡车。

4 feats   

功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He used to astound his friends with feats of physical endurance. 过去，他表现出来的惊人耐力常让朋友们大吃一惊。
• His heroic feats made him a legend in his own time. 他的英雄业绩使他成了他那个时代的传奇人物。

5 herded   

群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动

参考例句：

• He herded up his goats. 他把山羊赶拢在一起。
• They herded into the corner. 他们往角落里聚集。

6 drenched   

adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体）

参考例句：

• We were caught in the storm and got drenched to the skin. 我们遇上了暴雨，淋得浑身透湿。
• The rain drenched us. 雨把我们淋得湿透。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

8 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

9 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

10 dwarfed   

vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The old houses were dwarfed by the huge new tower blocks. 这些旧房子在新建的高楼大厦的映衬下显得十分矮小。
• The elephant dwarfed the tortoise. 那只乌龟跟那头象相比就显得很小。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 farce   

n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹

参考例句：

• They played a shameful role in this farce.他们在这场闹剧中扮演了可耻的角色。
• The audience roared at the farce.闹剧使观众哄堂大笑。

12 isles   

岛( isle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the geology of the British Isles 不列颠群岛的地质
• The boat left for the isles. 小船驶向那些小岛。

13 zigzag   

n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行

参考例句：

• The lightning made a zigzag in the sky.闪电在天空划出一道Z字形。
• The path runs zigzag up the hill.小径向山顶蜿蜒盘旋。

14 adventurous   

adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的　

参考例句：

• I was filled with envy at their adventurous lifestyle.我很羨慕他们敢于冒险的生活方式。
• He was predestined to lead an adventurous life.他注定要过冒险的生活。

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

16 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• 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。

17 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。