READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1—13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

How Much Higher? How Much Faster?

— Limits to human sporting performance are not yet in sight?

多高？多塊逐工？

——人類運(yùn)動(dòng)極限沒有盡頭

Since the early years of the twentieth century, when the International Athletic Federation began keeping records, there has been a steady improvement in how fast athletes run, how high they jump and how far they are able to hurl massive objects, themselves included, through space. For the so-called power events — that require a relatively brief, explosive release of energy, like the 100-metre sprint and the long jump — times and distances have improved ten to twenty percent. In the endurance events the results have been more dramatic. At the 1908 Olympics, John Hayes of the U.S. team ran a marathon in a time of 2:55:18. In 1999, Morocco's Khalid Khannouchi set a new world record of 2:05:42, almost thirty percent faster.

自從20世紀(jì)早期國際田徑聯(lián)合會(huì)開始記錄铡溪，運(yùn)動(dòng)員奔跑的速度、跳躍的高度和投擲重物的距離泪喊、跳遠(yuǎn)的距離都一直持穩(wěn)步上升的趨勢(shì)棕硫。對(duì)于需要相對(duì)短促的爆發(fā)力的所謂力量型項(xiàng)目，例如100米短跑和跳遠(yuǎn)——時(shí)間和距離都有了10%到20%的提高袒啼。在耐力項(xiàng)目張哈扮，結(jié)果更加驚人。在1908年奧運(yùn)會(huì)中蚓再，美國隊(duì)的John Hayes跑出了2:55:18的馬拉松成績(jī)灶泵。在1999年，摩洛哥的Khalid Khannouchi跑出了2:05:42的新世界紀(jì)錄对途，快了將近30%赦邻。

No one theory can explain improvements in performance, but the most important factor has been genetics. ‘The athlete must choose his parents carefully,’ says Jesus Dapena, a sports scientist at Indiana University, invoking an oft-cited adage. Over the past century, the composition of the human gene pool has not changed appreciably, but with increasing global participation in athletics — and greater rewards to tempt athletes — it is more?likely that individuals possessing the unique complement of genes for athletic perfomance can be identified early. ‘Was there someone like [sprinter] Michael Johnson in the 1920s?’ Dapena asks. ‘I’m sure that there was, but his talent was probably never realized.’

沒有一種理論可以完整地解釋運(yùn)動(dòng)員表現(xiàn)的進(jìn)步，但是最重要因素是基因实檀』讨蓿”運(yùn)動(dòng)員一定要小心地選擇父母按声，”Jesus Dapena，一位印第安納大學(xué)的運(yùn)動(dòng)科學(xué)家引用了諺語說道恬吕。在過去的一個(gè)世紀(jì)里签则，人類基因庫的構(gòu)成并沒有明顯變化，但是隨著全球參與體育運(yùn)動(dòng)——再加上吸引運(yùn)動(dòng)員的獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)越來越多——現(xiàn)在更有可能盡早地發(fā)現(xiàn)具備獨(dú)特運(yùn)動(dòng)基因的個(gè)體铐料〗チ眩“在19世紀(jì)20年代，還有沒有像短跑名將邁克爾·約翰遜一樣的人了钠惩？”Dapena問道柒凉。“我確定是有的篓跛，但是他的天賦可能一直不為人所知膝捞。”

Identifying genetically talented individuals is only the first step. Michael Yessis, an emeritus professor of Sports Science at California State University at Fullerton, maintains that ‘genetics only determines about one third of what an athlete can do. But with the right training we can go much further with that one third than we’ve been going.’ Yessis believes that U.S. runners, despite their impressive achievements, are ‘running on their genetics’. By applying more scientific methods, ‘they’re going to go much faster’. These methods include strength training that duplicates what they are doing in their running events as well as plyometrics, a technique pioneered in the former Soviet Union.

發(fā)現(xiàn)有基因天賦的個(gè)體只是第一步愧沟。Michael Yessis蔬咬，加州大學(xué)Fullerton分校的退休教授認(rèn)為，“基因只能決定一個(gè)運(yùn)動(dòng)員能力的三分之一沐寺。但是輔以正確的訓(xùn)練林艘，我們能做的遠(yuǎn)不止這三分之一。Yessis認(rèn)為混坞，美國的跑步運(yùn)動(dòng)員北启，不論他們有多令人印象深刻的成就，都是在”靠著基因跑步”拔第。通過使用更多的科學(xué)手段咕村，“他們將會(huì)跑得更快”。這些手段包括重復(fù)運(yùn)動(dòng)員在比賽中動(dòng)作的力量訓(xùn)練蚊俺，還有前蘇聯(lián)首先使用的一種技術(shù)——增強(qiáng)式訓(xùn)練懈涛。

Whereas most exercises are designed to build up strength or endurance, plyometrics focuses on increasing power — the rate at which an athlete can expend energy. When a sprinter runs, Yessis explains, her foot stays in contact with the ground for just under a tenth of a second, half of which is devoted to landing and the other half to pushing off. Plyometric exercises help athletes make the best use of this brief interval.

雖然大部分鍛煉都是為了增強(qiáng)體力和耐力，增增強(qiáng)式訓(xùn)練卻專注于力量——運(yùn)動(dòng)員使用能量的速度泳猬。Yessis解釋說批钠，當(dāng)一個(gè)短跑運(yùn)動(dòng)員的腳與地面接觸時(shí)間少于十分之一秒時(shí)，一半的時(shí)間用于著地得封，另一半時(shí)間用于蹬地埋心。增強(qiáng)式訓(xùn)練幫助運(yùn)動(dòng)員充分利用這短暫的一瞬間。

Nutrition is another area that sports trainers have failed to address adequately. ‘Many athletes are not getting the best nutrition, even through supplements,’ Yessis insists. Each activity has its own nutritional needs. Few coaches, for instance, understand how deficiencies in trace mineral can lead to injuries.

營養(yǎng)是運(yùn)動(dòng)員教練不夠重視的方面忙上】酱簦“很多運(yùn)動(dòng)員即使吃著補(bǔ)品，也得不到最好的營養(yǎng)〔绺”Yessis堅(jiān)持說腰懂。每種運(yùn)動(dòng)都有它所需要的營養(yǎng)。幾乎沒有有教練懂得缺乏微量礦物質(zhì)元素會(huì)帶來什么樣的傷害项秉。

Focused training will also play a role in enabling records to be broken. ‘If we applied the Russian training model to some of the outstanding runners we have in this country,’ Yessis asserts, ‘they would be breaking records left and right.’ He will not predict by how much, however: ‘Exactly what the limits are it’s hard to say, but there will be increase even if only by hundredths of a second, as long as our training continues to improve.’

在打破記錄方面绣溜，集中訓(xùn)練也扮演著重要的角色÷Π“如果我們采用俄羅斯人訓(xùn)練模特的方法來訓(xùn)練這個(gè)國家中一些出色的運(yùn)動(dòng)員怖喻，”Yessis說，“他們會(huì)處處破紀(jì)錄的岁诉∶校”然而，他并不會(huì)語言能破多少記錄唉侄≈渫拢“很難說極限到底在哪里野建，但只要我們的訓(xùn)練繼續(xù)改進(jìn)属划，就一定會(huì)進(jìn)步，哪怕是一秒鐘只提高百分之一候生。

One of the most important new methodologies is biomechanics, the study of the body in motion. A biomechanics films an athlete in action and then digitizes her performance, recording the motion of every joint and limb in three dimensions. By applying Newton’s laws to these motions, ‘we can say that this athlete’s run is not fast enough; that this one is not using his arms strongly enough during take-off,’ says Dapena, who uses these methods to help high jumpers. To date, however, biomechanics has made only a small difference to athletic performance.

最重要的新方法論之一就是生物力學(xué)同眯，研究運(yùn)動(dòng)中的身體的學(xué)科。生物力學(xué)拍攝運(yùn)動(dòng)員運(yùn)動(dòng)的過程唯鸭，然后將其表現(xiàn)數(shù)字化须蜗，并記錄每一個(gè)關(guān)節(jié)和四肢運(yùn)動(dòng)的三維動(dòng)態(tài)。通過在這些運(yùn)動(dòng)中采用牛頓定律目溉，“我們可以說明肮，這個(gè)運(yùn)動(dòng)員跑得還不夠快；這個(gè)運(yùn)動(dòng)員在拋擲時(shí)手臂還不夠用力缭付，”Dapena說柿估，他用這種方法幫助跳高運(yùn)動(dòng)員。但是陷猫，迄今為止秫舌，生物力學(xué)在運(yùn)動(dòng)員表現(xiàn)上只發(fā)揮了一點(diǎn)作用。

Revolutionary ideas still come from the athletes themselves. For example, during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, a relatively unknown high jumper named Dick Fosbury won the gold by going over the bar backwards, in complete contradiction of all the received high-jumping wisdom, a move instantly dubbed the Fosbury flop. Fosbury himself did not know what he was doing. That understanding took the later analysis of biomechanics, who put their minds to comprehending something that was too complex and unorthodox ever to have been invented through their own mathematical simulations. Fosbury also required another element that lies behind many improvements in athletic performance: an innovation in athletic equipment. In Fosbury’s case, it was the cushions that jumpers land on. Traditionally, high jumpers would land in pits filled with sawdust.But by Fosbury’s time, sawdust pits had been replaced by soft foam cushions, ideal for flopping.

革命性的觀點(diǎn)還是來自于運(yùn)動(dòng)員本身绣檬。比如說足陨，在1968年的墨西哥奧運(yùn)會(huì)，一個(gè)相對(duì)不知名的跳高運(yùn)動(dòng)員Dick Fosbury通過向后跳躍的方法贏得了金牌娇未，這個(gè)動(dòng)作與所有已知的跳高方式都是相反的墨缘，立刻被命名為福斯貝立式挑高（即背躍式）。Fosbury本人其實(shí)不知道自己在做什么。生物力學(xué)專家經(jīng)過之后的分析理解了這一做法飒房。他們絞盡腦汁地理解那些數(shù)學(xué)模擬法無法創(chuàng)造出來的搁凸，過于復(fù)雜，非傳統(tǒng)的方法狠毯。Fosbury也需要很多運(yùn)動(dòng)員表現(xiàn)進(jìn)步背后的另一個(gè)因素：運(yùn)動(dòng)員裝備創(chuàng)新护糖。在Fosbury的例子中，這個(gè)裝備就運(yùn)動(dòng)員著陸的墊子嚼松。在過去嫡良，跳高運(yùn)動(dòng)員會(huì)著陸在裝滿木屑的深坑里。但是在Fosbury的時(shí)代献酗，裝滿木屑的深坑變成了柔軟的泡沫塑料墊子寝受，非常適合摔落。

In the end, most people who examination human performance are humbled by the resourcefulness of athletes and the powers of the human body. ‘Once you study athletics, you learn that it’s a vexingly complex issue,’ says John S.Raglin, a sports psychologist at Indiana University. ‘Core performance is not a simple of mundane thing of higher, faster, longer. So many variables enter into the equation, and our understanding in many cases is fundamental. We’ve got a long way to go.’ For the foreseeable future, records will be made to be broken.

最終罕偎，大部分測(cè)算過人類表現(xiàn)的人都被運(yùn)動(dòng)員的潛力和人類的身體的力量所折服很澄。“當(dāng)你研究運(yùn)動(dòng)員時(shí)颜及，你會(huì)懂得這是一個(gè)極其復(fù)雜的問題甩苛，”印第安納大學(xué)的運(yùn)動(dòng)心理學(xué)專家John S.Raglin說，核心表現(xiàn)不是一個(gè)更高俏站，更快讯蒲，更遠(yuǎn)的簡(jiǎn)單平凡問題。很多變量都要引入這一方程肄扎，而且在很多情況下我們的理解只是最基礎(chǔ)的墨林。我們還有很長(zhǎng)的路要走》胳簦”在可以預(yù)見的將來旭等，記錄還會(huì)繼續(xù)打破。