那些年,英國(guó)人發(fā)明的運(yùn)動(dòng)

1、那些年 ,英國(guó)人發(fā)明的運(yùn)動(dòng)Like everyone, everywhere, the British are dreaming of winning piles of Olympic medals. But if other athletes from other nations happen to run off with the lion ' s share最大的一 份 of the golds again, the Brits will know how to console 安慰 themselves.They' ll head for the pub, order

2、a beer, and ruminate反復(fù) 思考 on the fact that half of these sports wouldn ' t even exist if it wasn' t for them. There ' s a curious conviction深信among the British, that the best games on this planet were invented by them. Well, maybe not by them directly; by their sporty ancestors祖先 , looki

3、ng for something wholesome 有益身心的 to do when they needed a break from drinking and running the British Empire.The list of sports the Brits say they created is surprisingly long. It includes tennis, field hockey, soccer, badminton, golf, squash壁球 and modern boxing.Everyone knows the Chinese are the ma

4、sters of ping pong. They' ve won far more Olympic gold medals than anyone else.Yet, if you suggest they invented that sport, the British will swiftly 很快地 put you straight. They ' ll point out it began as an after-dinner game, played on the dinner table by cigar-puffing 噴出 Victorian gentlemen

5、, using a champagne 香 檳 cork 軟木塞 as the ball, and books as the net and paddles球拍.They called it wiff waff.Some Brits even suggested this nation invented baseball, after a 260-year-old diary surfaced in England, containing a description of a kid, playing something that sounded a little like that grea

6、t game.There's more. The British also firmly believe Britain is the birthplace of the modern Olympics. In the heart of rural England in a county called Shropshire lies the little market town of Much Wenlock. Its inns旅館and crooked彎曲的 houses go back to medieval中世紀(jì)的times.In the mid-19th century, th

7、e local doctor was a man called William Penny Brookes. Brookes was a passionate 充滿熱情的 believer that sport's good for mind, body and soul, and that everyone should be allowed a crack嘗試at it, from farm hands to the local gentry 鄉(xiāng)紳 . So he organized the Much Wenlock Olympics.The games began with a

8、procession行列，隊(duì)伍 through town, led by a band the model, perhaps, for today' s opening ceremony儀式.There were wheelbarrow獨(dú)輪手推車(chē)races, singing, and quoits擲鐵環(huán)游戲 another Old English invention that involved throwing a piece of rope or a horseshoe. Townsfolk ran around a track, and tossed 投，擲 a big rock.

9、 Much Wenlock still holds its Olympics annually 一年一次 , though with different sports.Brookes was as interested in ancient Greece as he was in sports. He began to bombard炮轟the Greek government with letters, urging力勸it to revive（使）復(fù)興the Olympic Games in Athens. Eventually, Brookes recruited 征募 the supp

10、ort of a sports-mad French baron 注 who took up his cause 事業(yè) with g u sto 由衷的高興 and won the Greeks around.In 1896, the first modern Summer Olympics were held in Athens, four months after Brookes died. The rest is history.As this year' s games approach接近,the British are already reveling 陶醉 in all

11、their sporting inventions. In a new book, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, boasts 自夸 that these reveal顯示the essential本質(zhì)的difference between Britain and the rest of the world. The people of other nations, like the French, looked at a dining table and merely saw the opportunity to have dinner, says

12、Johnson. The ingenious 有獨(dú)創(chuàng) 性的 British looked at the same table and played wiff waff.I know, I know big deal. But don 't we all need something to hang onto緊緊抓住when we ' re weeping into our beer?就像任何地方的所有人一樣，英國(guó)人也夢(mèng)想著贏得成堆 的奧運(yùn)獎(jiǎng)牌。但如果其他國(guó)家的運(yùn)動(dòng)員碰巧再次卷走大部分 金牌，英國(guó)人也深諳自我安慰之道。他們會(huì)走進(jìn)酒吧，叫一杯啤酒，反復(fù)回味這件事情一一 如果不是因?yàn)?/p>

13、他們，半數(shù)運(yùn)動(dòng)項(xiàng)目壓根不會(huì)存在。英國(guó)人有 一種莫名其妙的想法，認(rèn)為地球上大多數(shù)最好看的比賽都是 他們發(fā)明的。好吧，或許不是由他們直接發(fā)明，而是由他們 熱愛(ài)運(yùn)動(dòng)的祖先發(fā)明的在舉杯暢飲和治理大英帝國(guó)之 余，祖先們需要休息片刻， 便尋找一些有益身心的事情來(lái)做。英國(guó)人自稱(chēng)由他們發(fā)明的運(yùn)動(dòng)能列出長(zhǎng)得出人意料的 清單，單子上包括網(wǎng)球、曲棍球、足球、羽毛球、高爾夫球、 壁球和現(xiàn)代拳擊等。眾所周知，中國(guó)人擅長(zhǎng)打乒乓球。他們?cè)趭W運(yùn)會(huì)乒乓球 項(xiàng)目贏得的金牌數(shù)量遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)其他國(guó)家。然而，假如你認(rèn)為 中國(guó)人發(fā)明了這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)， 英國(guó)人會(huì)馬上糾正你。 他們會(huì)指出， 乒乓球始于一項(xiàng)飯后游戲，維多利亞時(shí)期的紳士們抽著雪 茄，用香

14、檳酒的軟木塞當(dāng)作球，用書(shū)當(dāng)作球網(wǎng)和球拍，在餐 桌上玩這種游戲。 他們把這種游戲叫做 “乒乓球( w iff waff )一些英國(guó)人甚至認(rèn)為英國(guó)發(fā)明了棒球：人們?cè)谟⒏裉m發(fā)現(xiàn)了一本有 260 年歷史的日記，其中有一段描述，寫(xiě)到一個(gè) 小孩在玩游戲，聽(tīng)起來(lái)與這項(xiàng)偉大的運(yùn)動(dòng)有點(diǎn)相似。他們的發(fā)明還不止這兩種呢。他們還深信英國(guó)是現(xiàn)代奧運(yùn)會(huì)的發(fā)祥地。在英格蘭鄉(xiāng)村的中心一個(gè)叫什羅普郡的地方，有一個(gè)叫馬奇溫洛克的小集鎮(zhèn)。那里的小旅館及歪歪 斜斜的房子可以追溯到中世紀(jì)。在 19 世紀(jì)中期，當(dāng)?shù)赜幸晃煌??彭尼 ?布魯克斯醫(yī)生。布魯克斯是一名運(yùn)動(dòng)狂，他相信運(yùn)動(dòng)有益于心靈、身體和靈 魂，下至農(nóng)夫，上至地方鄉(xiāng)紳，每個(gè)人都應(yīng)該參與其中。因 此，他舉辦了馬奇溫洛克奧運(yùn)會(huì)。運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)由隊(duì)伍穿越小鎮(zhèn)開(kāi)始，領(lǐng)頭的是一組樂(lè)隊(duì) 這或許就是今天奧運(yùn)會(huì)開(kāi)幕式的雛形。運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)上有獨(dú)輪手推車(chē) 賽跑、唱歌和套環(huán)項(xiàng)目（又一項(xiàng)古英國(guó)發(fā)明，需要拋出一段 繩子或一塊馬蹄鐵） 。小鎮(zhèn)的居民會(huì)沿著跑道奔跑，拋起一 塊大石?，F(xiàn)在的馬奇溫洛克每年依然會(huì)舉辦自己的奧運(yùn)會(huì)， 不過(guò)運(yùn)動(dòng)項(xiàng)目已經(jīng)不一樣了。就像他的運(yùn)動(dòng)熱情一樣，布魯克斯對(duì)古希臘同樣很有興 趣。他開(kāi)始寫(xiě)信炮轟希臘政府，力勸其在雅典重新舉辦奧運(yùn) 會(huì)。最后，布魯克斯得到了一位熱衷于運(yùn)動(dòng)的法國(guó)男爵的支 持。這位