英语听力—环球英语 1086 The Sport of Parkour

 　　Voice 1

 

　　Welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Ryan Geertsma.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　And I’m Robin² Basselin. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　A young man runs toward³ a wall. But he does not stop running.  He reaches the wall and kicks off it. He uses the force of his kick to push himself up the wall. Now, his hands can reach the top of the wall. He uses his arms to pull his body up. He quickly climbs over the top of the wall. He jumps down. His feet land on the ground. He keeps running, leaving the wall behind him. Now he searches the environment around him. He looks for another obstacle⁴ - a wall, steps, or any other natural structure that blocks his path.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　This young man is doing parkour. The sport of parkour concentrates on training and skilful⁵ movement.  It demands physical strength. It demands that a person knows her environment. But it does not require much equipment. As a result, a person can do parkour in almost any place. Today’s Spotlight is on the sport parkour.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　The goal of parkour is simple. A person who does parkour is called a traceur. Traceurs want to get from one place to another quickly and efficiently⁶. To do this, a traceur chooses their movements carefully.  They want movements that require the smallest amount of effort, but give the greatest result.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Traceurs do a lot of running, jumping, climbing, and rolling. They also do flips⁷ by jumping in the air and rolling their bodies forward or back. Often they do these movements on obstacles⁸ they find around them - like walls, steps, and hand rails or bars found next to walking paths. Experienced⁹ traceurs even do parkour on high places like the top of buildings.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　To some people, parkour sounds very risky¹⁰. But traceurs around the world claim that the sport is not about taking risks. Quentin Russell is a traceur in the United States.  He told his school newspaper,

 

　　Voice 3

 

　　“People see parkour. Then they go out, do it, and break a bone. That is not what parkour is. You have to start at a lower level and build up. If you get hurt, you are not training correctly. In some ways, it is dangerous. But that is only if you do it in a dangerous way. In all seriousness, if you are afraid of defeating an obstacle, you probably should not do it. You will not be prepared or concentrated enough on your movement.”

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　People must train a lot to have good parkour skills. Most traceurs begin by jumping only small distances, like 7 or 8 centimeters. They will spend days and weeks training. They will practice their runs and jumps over and over. Then, when the traceurs are sure their bodies are ready - they will increase the distance of their jumps. Over time, they will try moves that are more and more difficult.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Every serious traceur respects the limits of what his body can do. Yan Shopin is a traceur in Israel. He talked with a writer named Inbal Aharoni about parkour.  Shopin also showed Aharoni a few parkour movements.  But when performing, Shopin made a mistake. He tried to do too much too early in his training. Right away, he climbed the side of a large wall. Then he jumped. But his body was not ready. And he hurt his ankle.  He told Aharoni,

 

　　Voice 4

 

　　“You see. We are supposed to begin each time of training with simple things.  We do this so that we do not get injured. I did too big of a jump right at the start.”

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　The movements of parkour are not new. But combining the movements into a sport is new. Parkour’s creator is David Belle¹¹. Belle was born in France in 1973. His father believed physical health and strength were very important. So Belle worked hard to make his body strong. When he was older, he started training with a group of friends. This training method was the beginning of parkour.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Belle was very loyal¹² to his training.  And sometime between 1995 and 1997, Belle developed his training method into a sport. The sport slowly grew.  And in 1998, Belle began calling it parkour.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　As an adult, David Belle began doing parkour in action films. David’s friend, Sebastien Foucan, even performed parkour in the James Bond¹³ film, Casino Royale. These films have helped increase the world’s knowledge of parkour. As a result, more people have started training in the sport.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　People like parkour for many reasons. One reason is that it does not require special, costly¹⁴ equipment. Traceurs only need two basic things.  They wear loose fitting¹⁵ clothing so that they can move easily. They also wear good shoes to support their feet. This means almost anyone, anywhere can train in parkour.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Another reason people like parkour is because it helps them think differently about their environment. To do parkour, people must think creatively. Yanikov is another tracuer from Israel.  He explained to the Jerusalem Post,

 

　　Voice 5

 

　　“We search for a place that will give us as much creativity as possible. When we see things like, for example, a pole, we imagine how many things we can do with it.”

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Finally, many people enjoy parkour because it is more than just a physical sport. On his website, David Belle writes,

 

　　Voice 6

 

　　“Parkour is useful. It teaches people how to trust themselves. It helps them learn to be careful. The basic idea is always to go forward, never to stop. Parkour is like life, if you have an obstacle you must always continue forward.”

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　This attitude is why many people see parkour as a positive influence. And it is why people all over the world are involved in parkour. Dvir Rozen is another traceur in Israel. He believes parkour helps people to have faith in their abilities.  He also believes it helps people learn to have courage. He told the Jerusalem Post,

 

　　Voice 7

 

　　“It is both physical training and mental training. It strengthens the body. And it lets you do things that you did not think you could do in the past. Through parkour, you learn about the body, mind and soul. You work them together. You recognize you can defeat any obstacle.”

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　The writer of this program was Courtney Schutt. The producer was Mark Drenth.  The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted and voiced by Spotlight. You can find our programs on the internet at http://www.radioenglish.net This .program is called “The Sport of Parkour.”

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

3 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

4 obstacle   

n.障碍，障碍物，妨害

参考例句：

• She felt that her family was an obstacle to her work.她感到她的家庭妨碍她的工作。
• He is in the full flush of success;nothing was an obstacle.他的成就如日中天，锐不可当。

5 skilful   

(=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的

参考例句：

• The more you practise,the more skilful you'll become.练习的次数越多，熟练的程度越高。
• He's not very skilful with his chopsticks.他用筷子不大熟练。

6 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

7 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。

8 obstacles   

n. 干扰；障碍

参考例句：

• I think most of these obstacles can be surmounted. 我认为这些障碍大多数都是可以克服的。
• There's no formidable obstacles in the world. 世上没有无法逾越的障碍。

9 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

10 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

11 belle   

n.靓女

参考例句：

• She was the belle of her Sunday School class.在主日学校她是她们班的班花。
• She was the belle of the ball.她是那个舞会中的美女。

12 loyal   

adj.忠诚的，忠心的

参考例句：

• He is a loyal friend.他是一位忠诚的朋友。
• I judge him to be loyal.我认为他很忠诚。

13 bond   

n.结合，债券，契约，粘合剂，保证人，键，关栈保留；vt.存入关栈，粘着；vi.结合

参考例句：

• This glue makes a good firm bond.这种胶水粘得很结实。
• His word is his bond.他是讲信用的。

14 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

15 fitting   

n.[pl.]设备，家具，配件，试穿；adj.适合的

参考例句：

• I'm going to a fitting tomorrow.明天我要去试穿新衣。
• The President's address was a fitting end to a bitter campaign.总统的讲话为一场激烈的竞选运动适时画上了句号。