【英语趣味课堂】将拳击作为一项运动-Boxing as a Sport

 Erina: So Mike, I heard that you box?

Mike: Well I don't box any more but I was boxing, mostly kick boxing for a while.

 

Erina: Wow, that sounds crazy. How did you get into it?

 

Mike: Well, from a young age, from about the age of twelve, I started doing karate¹ in Vancouver and I was training in karate for about seven or eight years and then once I graduated from high school I moved and I moved to Japan and there I continued and didn't have much time to do training but I got involved in the kick boxing circle with some friends that did a lot of kick boxing and different types of martial² arts.

 

Erina: Wow, kick boxing, so I assume the training is pretty hard too, right?

 

Mike: Yeah, the training was brutal³.

 

Erina: What kind of training do you do?

 

Mike: Well, I was never professional but I had a couple of amateur fights and I don't think people quite understand how much goes into one fight because leading up to the fight, a couple of months before the fight, a friend of mine and I would be training at least five times a week.

 

Erina: Wow.

 

Mike: And we would do really brutal sprints⁵ up a hill over and over again and we'd do interval⁶ training on the sand and in addition, of course, we were doing lots of sparring and lots of conditioning and stuff that would just really push your body to the limit and really test you.

 

Erina: Wow, that must have been very tough. So were you ever worried about head injuries?

 

Mike: Well, especially with boxing, you get a lot of head injuries and more so over time because unlike other martial arts, boxing is designed to keep you standing⁷ and taking hits and that's why you see a lot of professional boxers⁸ as they get older and near the end of their career or even after their career, a lot of them have severe brain damage. Their speech is impeded⁹ and you can tell that they've really done some damage to their head over the years.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

get into

 

 

How did you get into kickboxing?

 

When you 'get into' something, you either begin to like it or begin to do it. Notice the following:

 

How do people get into ceramics¹⁰ and jewelry¹¹ making?

I was about 5 years old when I started getting into tennis.

kickboxing circle

 

 

I got involved in a kickboxing circle with some friends.

 

A 'kickboxing circle' is an informal association or group of people who like to do kickboxing. Notice the following:

 

There is a women's reading circle that I meet with every week.

Every place that he moves he quickly gets involved with the music circle.

brutal

 

 

The training was brutal.

 

Here, 'brutal' just means that the training is something that is really difficult or tiring. Notice the following:

 

That workout video is brutal. You will be sore for days after doing it.

I'm exhausted¹². Today was a brutal day at school.

sprints

 

 

We were doing brutal sprints up a hill.

 

When you 'sprint⁴' your run as fast as you can for a short period of time or a short distance. Notice the following:

 

Playing baseball doesn't require lots of running training, because all you do is short, little sprints.

As part of basketball practice, we usually do sprints around the gym.

sparring

 

 

We were doing lots of sparring.

 

Two boxers 'spar' to practice their movements for defense¹³ and attack. Notice the following:

 

They aren't really fighting, just sparring.

Most of what we do in class is just sparring, so I don't know what it would feel like to really get hit.

push to the limit

 

 

You do lots of conditioning that pushes your body to the limit.

 

Doing an activity that 'pushes your body to the limit' means that it is very difficult and you get to a point where you can't do any more. Notice the following:

 

Do you ever feel pushed to the limit in your job?

Having a personal trainer will push you to the limit in your workouts.

impeded

 

You see a lot of professional boxers with impeded speech.

 

Here, 'impeded speech' refers to boxers talking in a slower manner because of the number of head injuries they have had.

 

Older people have more impeded recoveries from injuries.

Young children who are not given enough food will frequently have impeded physical abilities.

1 karate   

n.空手道(日本的一种徒手武术)

参考例句：

• Alice's boyfriend knew a little karate.艾丽斯的男朋友懂一点儿空手道。
• The black belt is the highest level in karate.黑腰带级是空手道的最高级别。

2 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

3 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

4 sprint   

n.短距离赛跑；vi. 奋力而跑，冲刺；vt.全速跑过

参考例句：

• He put on a sprint to catch the bus.他全速奔跑以赶上公共汽车。
• The runner seemed to be rallied for a final sprint.这名赛跑者似乎在振作精神作最后的冲刺。

5 sprints   

n.短距离的全速奔跑( sprint的名词复数 )v.短距离疾跑( sprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• You can run sprints only so long before you're out of breath. 你死命地跑，只能跑那么一段时间，到了喘不上气的时候，只好停下来。 来自辞典例句
• The cheetah finds the open grasslands ideal footing for its lightning-quick sprints. 非洲猎豹把开阔的草原作为它们闪电猎食的理想处所。 来自互联网

6 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 boxers   

n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boxers slugged it out to the finish. 两名拳击手最后决出了胜负。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 impeded   

阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Work on the building was impeded by severe weather. 楼房的施工因天气恶劣而停了下来。
• He was impeded in his work. 他的工作受阻。

10 ceramics   

n.制陶业；陶器

参考例句：

• an exhibition of ceramics by Picasso 毕加索陶瓷作品展
• The ceramics bore the imprint of Luca della Robbia. 陶器上印有卢卡·德拉·罗比亚的字样。

11 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

12 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

13 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。