Most young people enjoy some form of physical activity. It may be walking, cycling or swimming, or in winter, skating or skiing. It may be a game of some kind, football, hockey, golf or tennis. It may be mountaineering.
Those who have a passion for climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon with astonishment. Why are men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks on high mountains? This astonishment is caused probably by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their leisure.
Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no manmade rules, as there are for such games as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of a different kind which it would be dangerous to ignore, but it is this freedom from man-made rules that makes mountaineering attractive to many people. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods.
If we compare mountaineering and other more familiar sports, we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a “team game”. We should be mistaken in this. There are, it is true, no “matches” between teams of climbers, but when climbers are on a rock face linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is obviously team work. The mountain climber knows that he may have to fight forces that are stronger and more powerful than man. He has to fight the forces of nature. His sport requires high mental and physical qualities.
A mountain climber continues to improve in skill year after year. A skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty, and most international tennis champions are in their early twenties. But it is not unusual for a man of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in the Alps. They may take more time than younger men, but they probably climb with more skill and less waste of effort, and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.
小题1:Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A．Differences between Golf and Mountaineering.
B．Sports and Games.
C．Mountaineering.
D．Why are so many people crazy about mountaineering?小题2: The biggest difference between golf and mountaineering lies in ____.
A．team game
B．enjoyment
C．age
D．rules小题3:The mountaineering can also be called a team sport because ____.
A．mountain climbers usually compete in groups
B．mountaineers depend on each other while climbing
C．mountaineering climbers are free to use their won rules to climb
D．mountaineering is a sport not a game小题4: In the author’s opinion, one of the most important reason why so many people enjoy
mountaineering is that ____.
A．there are no man-made rules for mountaineers
B．mountaineering is a sport and not a game
C．it is one of the most dangerous sports
D．mountaineering brings us more enjoyment than other sports
