Going to extremes.

Pickup truck (= небольшой грузовик) rolls to the center of a deserted bridge. Several people get out. Two of them, a thirty-something young man and a twenty-something young woman, are both wearing a strange-looking harness (= крепления) on their backs. The others with them check their harnesses to make sure all is well. As soon as they complete these preparations, they attach a long cord to each harness and securely fasten the cords to the bridge. When that is finished, the young man and woman climb up onto the bridge rail (= перила), wave to the crowd below, and jump. No, this is not a suicide attempt. The elastic cords attached to their backs are so strong and flexible that the young people will be able to drop close to the canyon floor below without hitting it. This is bungee jumping; one of a new set of sports that are being described as "extreme."Most people, if they're really honest with themselves, will admit they like sports at least a little bit. When the first Olympic Games began in Greece in 776 b.c., something within the human spirit was tapped.

Most of us like to be challenged, and many of us are at least moderately competitive. Sports provide benefits: they amuse and excite us, provide jobs for many people, and allow individuals who might not have other opportunities to achieve success. Although sports have long been popular, something significant has changed in the last ten to twenty years. An entirely new set of sports has been created. They are called "extreme" because participants are pushing themselves to extreme (and even dangerous) levels.

By now, someone somewhere is probably mounting a campaign to make extreme sports safer to save extreme sports enthusiasts from themselves. Are these sports too dangerous? Perhaps. Even if they are, isn't a personal choice involved here? It occurs to this writer that the development of extreme sports is understandable, even quite predictable. We live in such a globalized, homogenized world today that a counterrevolution seems to have started. Wherever we go, we see sameness: a McDonald's in Moscow is only marginally different from the one in Paris or in Pensacola, Florida. There seem to be far fewer singular, individualized experiences today than there were in the past. Maybe extreme-sports people are merely striking a blow for truly individualized and unique experiences.

Why do people participate in extreme sports? Mark Musgrave, an "extreme" sportsman who windsurfs all year around, says people do it because it's a question of attitude, not the activity per se (= по сути). “These sports are so hard,” says Musgrave, "they don't attract the masses; I think that's one of the appealing things about it. You can excel in it if you put your mind to it. There's a riot of thousand people out there crowding you or doing what you're doing." He adds, "There is no right. There is no wrong. There are no rules. You can do what you want and no one cares." So what are sonic of these new extreme sports? Musgrave's own sport of windsurfing is one, though windsurfing on a quiet summer day at a speed of 2 miles an hour hardly qualifies. If you want to become extreme, you'll have to travel much faster, above the water, with a much more powerful wind blowing while you are trying to do a forward flip. Then there's mountain hiking, although riding your mountain bike down a gentle slope at a leisurely speed doesn't make you an extreme biker. What about piloting that bike down a steep, rocky mountain path at a speed of at least 35 miles per hour. You can also call yourself an extreme sports enthusiast if you ski on cliffs, jump out of a plane and sky surf, or go in-line skating.

(Based on information in Mara Schoenberg, "Carrying Things to the Extreme, Pushing it to the Limit Seems to Be, Absolutely Everywhere. " St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 4, 1996)

Ex. 30. Read the text again and find the English equivalents in the text to the word combinations and to the sentences given below.

(a) Опасный, однородный, преимущество, бросить вызов, попытка самоубийства, помахать рукой, толпа, нанести удар, уникальный опыт, достичь успеха, убедиться, закончить подготовку, делать рывок вперед, достичь превосходства.

(b) (1) Большинству из нас нравится, когда нам бросают вызов, и многие из нас, по край ней мере, относительно склонны к борьбе за первенство.

(2) Резиновый тросс, прикрепленный к спинам, столь прочен и гибок, что молодые люди могут стремительно падать почти на самое дно каньона, не задевая его.

(3) Спорт приносит успех, он доставляет удовольствие и восхищает нас, дает работу множеству людей, делаeт знаменитыми отдельных людей, которые, вероятно, не имеют других возможностей достигнуть успеха в жизни.

(4) Мы живем в столь глобализованном однородном мире, что восстание против него, кажется, уже началось.

(5) Кажется, что сегодня намного меньше личных, индивидуальных впечатлений, чем это было в прошлом.

Ex. 31. Find the synonyms to the words below among highlighted words from the text.

part, as such, fix, finish, simply, unusual, fall, give, important completely, clear, exeiting, effort,let, whole, extraordinary, flight, hazardous, reach..

Ex. 32. Answer the questions.

1. Which sports can be qualified as extreme?

2. Why do people participate in extreme sports?

3. What are the extreme sports per se?

4. What is the most important in the extremes: the kind of sports or the process or both?

5. Are the extremes considered to be mass sports and why?

6. Why must the extremes be safer?

7. What does the word "sameness" mean?

8. What about the sense of unique in the extreme and general kinds of sports?

9. Is the author right in his opinion about extreme sports?

10. Do you like sports? Are you competitive?

11. Do you think you could be an extreme sports enthusiast? If yes, what kind of sports would you prefer?

Дата добавления: 2015-03-31