2 . Every year, millions of teenagers in the USA participate in team sports. Gallup research shows that over 50 percent of teenagers are on a school sports team. But, what about the remaining 50 percent? Certainly, plenty of those teenagers are happily involved in other extra-curricular activities. After all, not everyone prefers sports.
Still, there’s a sad story here, too. A significant number of teenagers once enjoyed sports, but no longer participate. They say it’s just not worth it. Why do promising athletes walk away from school sports, and what should you do if your athlete decides he or she no longer wants to play team sports?
Take Madeline, for example. When she was living with her family in Texas a few years ago, Madeline joined her middle school’s track team. She was new to the sport, but she was fast. She worked hard and won medals. Then one day, Madeline fell while taking a hurdle. She cracked a bone in her wrist. Her track season was over.
Her coaches were upset, but probably not in the way you’d expect. Rather than comforting (安慰) their promising athlete suffering from a disappointing sports injury or encouraging her to return next season, they turned their back on her. “They shunned me for the rest of the year,” recalls Madeline, who has since moved to the East Coast. “I guess because I would no longer be winning them any medals.”
“Sports lost their attraction to me,” says Madeline, adding that her coaches also verbally abused (辱骂) the team at practices. “I did end up trying out for the track team last year, but I actually found myself filled with memories and emotions from my experience the previous year and ended up dropping out. That’s the biggest regret in life.”
Talk to coaches, parents and teenagers about the problems of sports, and you’ll hear the same answer: by middle school and certainly by high school, it has, more often than not, become a game of medals. Not the plain old fun of playing. Not the benefits that sports offer. But winning period.
1. What is the real concern of the author?
| A．The general state of teenagers’ participation in sports. |
| B．The reasons for hopeful teenage athletes’ quitting sports. |
| C．The major benefits that school team sports offer to teenagers. |
| D．The relation between emotional support and sports involvement. |
2. The underlined word “shunned” in paragraph 4 can be replaced by “
”.
| A．took control of | B．got responsible for |
| C．kept away from | D．showed concern for |
3. What does Madeline regret about greatly?
| A．She lost interest in the once-favorable sport. |
| B．She failed to win medals in the team sports. |
| C．The coach’s verbal abuse hurt her emotionally. |
| D．The serious injury reduced her confidence in sports. |
4. What does the author think about sports?
| A．Hard training may take fun off sports. |
| B．It is related too much to coaches’support. |
| C．It has totally become an industry for profits. |
| D．People focus too much attention on winning. |
