Surfing: The Sport of Kings Hundreds of places in the world have huge blue waves, white sand beaches, and beautiful young people carrying surfboards. But, when people think of surfing, many first think of Hawaii, U.S.A. Not only because Hawaii has some of the best, and most dangerous, surfing in the world, but also because the Polynesians, natives (1) of the island of Hawaii, were the first people to surf. Historians believe that Hawaii natives migrated (2) from other Polynesian islands, including Tahiti, where the islanders are known to have ridden waves as they stretched out along on a board. While the first Hawaiian surfers may have ridden their long boards on their stomachs, we know that they soon started standing on the board. How do we know? They carved pictures of men standing on surfboards on lava rocks. They also passed chants from generation to generation that told of amazing surfing feats (3). They wanted to make sure the younger members of the tribe never forget the heroics (4) of their ancestors (5). In addition, explorers from other countries recorded seeing Hawaiians surfing hundreds of years ago. The famous explorer Captain Cook died in Hawaii, but a member of his crew recorded the bravery and excellent skills of the local Hawaiian surfers. Many European sailors could not even swim at that time, so imagine how impressed they were to see surfers moving across the water at such a high speeds! It is thought that the chiefs and leaders of the Hawaiian native people used surfing as a means to show off their strength and agility (6), and to intimidate (7) and impress others. Traditionally, the ruling class had better crafted and more elaborate boards to show others their status and great importance. Making a surfboard had special steps. For example, a religious leader would say a prayer before the tree was cut down. Today people around the world love to surf. People of all shapes and sizes, rich or poor, can try their hands at surfing. Basic equipment is affordable (8), and once a surfer buys his board, all he need is some waves! WORD KEY 1. native adjective 本地的 2. migrate verb 迁移 3. feats noun 技艺, 功绩 4. heroics noun 勇敢 5. ancestors noun 祖先 6. agility noun 敏捷的手段 7 intimidate verb 恫吓 8 affordable adjective不论贫富 |
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| 冲浪：国王的运动 |
世界上有成百上千的地方可以看到兰色的巨浪、白色的海滩和扛着冲浪板身着时髦泳装的帅男靓女们。然而，当谈到冲浪时，人们首先想到的总是美国的夏威夷，因为夏威夷拥有世界上最好的、最危险的冲浪运动，而且还因为夏威夷岛的本族人珀利尼西亚人被公认为是最早拥有站在木版上破浪前进的艺术的。 历史学家们认为早期的夏威夷殖民者是从其它的珀利尼西亚诸岛移民过来的，其中包括塔希提岛，岛上的居民据说在沿着木板伸展时是踏浪前进的。最早的夏威夷冲浪者是把肚子贴在长板上前进的，我们现在知道他们第二步才站起来的。什么原因呢？他们在熔岩上雕刻运动员站在冲浪板上的画面，以此来记录对这项运动的热爱，他们一代接一代传唱让人们想起高超冲浪技艺的圣歌，旨在提醒部族的年轻人永远不要忘记祖先的英雄壮志。虽然夏威夷本族人的历史已大部分流失，其它国家的探索者还是找到了几百年前夏威夷人冲浪的记录。 著名的探险家库克船长在时去世了，他的一位忠实的船员记录了他所见证的冲浪者的勇敢和高超技艺，考虑到许多欧洲水手那个时候甚至还不会游泳，你可以想象得到当他们看到冲浪者以那么快的速度划过水面的时候印象该是多么深刻呀。据说夏威夷本族人的首领把冲浪当作一种显示力量和敏捷的手段，威慑那些向他们的领导提出挑战的那些人，加深冲浪同胞们的印象。传统上，统治阶级使用的板做工比较精致，用以向他人展示他们的地位和重要性， 甚至冲浪板的制作都有特殊的礼仪，宗教领将做祈祷，数砍倒之前要先向它进贡一些鱼，当然，为国王、或敢于拿自己的生命在急浪中冒险的重要人物做冲浪板，这任务可就不是那么轻松了。 今天，想要去冲浪的你可以不必很有钱，也可以不必很出名。事实上，所有体形和大小的人，不论贫富，都可以去尝试冲浪。冲浪的基本设备相对来说还是可以买得起的，一旦冲浪手买好了必备的工具，等待的就是那些惊涛骇浪了。 |
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