1 . “Our research has shown that the No. 1 reason people become fans is that it's your connection to your first community,” said Adam Earnhardt, chairman of the communications department at Youngstown State University and co-author of Sports Fans, Identity and Socialization: Exploring the Fandemonium. “I don't care if a Seattle fan moves to China, he or she carries with them their love for the sports teams,” he said. “    1    ”

    2     And when a team begins to catch fire, as with, say, the Mariners in ' 95 or the Seahawks of recent vintage, well, it's easy to get swept up in the wave.

“It's phenomenal,” said Simons. “We have this ability to understand other people so remarkably that their victories literally become ours. Our testosterone literally responds to their victory.     3     They're us, and competing on a literal level as us—a little extension of us.

Professor Robert Cialdini at Arizona State University came up with the term BIRG— Basking In Reflected Glory—to describe the intense pride fans feel when their teams succeed. It can be used as a verb, as in, "Seahawks' fans are currently BIRGing up a storm." The counterpoint, as coined by researchers C. R. Snyder, Mary Anne Lassergard and Carol E. Ford, is the concept of CORFing—Cutting Off Reflected Failure.     4    We've all heard it in action: We won, but they lost.

This leads into another concept, that of cognitive bias, also known as confirmation bias, which causes fans to help explain away defeats by blaming outside factors, such as referees. I'm sure it would also help explain why Seahawks fans rallied around Richard Sherman after his postgame interview, rationalizing behavior that was widely criticized by many fans with no vested interest. It could also explain the notion of "eustress", invented by endocrinologist Hans Selye to refer to a combination of euphoria(极度愉快的心情)and stress, such as that resulting from watching tense sporting events. Indeed, it's much of the appeal.

A．It means that different team is accessible to you.

B．Belonging to your favorite team stimulates your confidence.

C．That identity is first and foremost.

D．The more we follow a team, the deeper the bond becomes.

E．In that sense, your favorite team can serve the same purpose as church and family: Fostering a sense of belonging.

F．This refers to the inclination by fans to distance themselves from their team after a defeat.

2 . Here is one of the world’s largest indoor ski-slopes. It covers an area of 22,500m², about the same size as three football fields, and the temperature is a constant -1℃ to -2℃. However, the strangest thing about this place is that it’s in the middle of the desert! It’s called Ski Dubai and the outside temperatures can rise to more than 40℃!

It sounds crazy, but it just shows how serious people are about having fun. We spend huge sums on sports facilities. We pay our sports stars ridiculous amounts of money. And we spend hour after hour playing games! I wonder if all the sports-lovers and game-players in the world aren’t a little crazy. I know I am. I was once driving past a football field where some kids were playing. I turned to watch and crashed my car. I know it’s stupid but I can do nothing about it. As someone said, “Football isn’t a matter of life and death. It’s much more important than that!”

Of course, it isn’t that important really. No game is. But the problem is that games are addictive (使人上瘾的). From the tennis court to the golf course, you’ll find participants and spectators who can’t live without the drug of their choice. It could be a good thing. After all, despite being addictive, it’s true that sports and games help us to relax. Maybe if it wasn’t for sport, our societies would be more violent. Perhaps sport is a substitute for war? It’s hard to think of a quieter, more peaceful game than chess, and what’s the objective? Capturing your opponent’s king. And surely, it’s better to have wars in athletics stadiums rather than on battlefields.

What’s more, playing is natural. Kittens chase balls of wool and puppies pretend to fight. Games help us perfect our skills and prepare us for the serious contest of survival.

But do all games help us relax and stay away from violence? What about computer games? A recent article in New Scientist suggests that playing violent video games (and most of them are extremely violent) makes people more aggressive and more likely to commit violent crimes.

Are these games a rehearsal (彩排) for life or a substitute for life? Do we play instead of facing up to our real problems? I don’t know. But what I do know is that I need a break. Something to help me relax. Skiing would be nice. I wonder how much it costs to get to Dubai?

1. According to the author, the most surprising thing about Ski Dubai is its ________.

A．slopes	B．size
C．location	D．facilities

2. The expression “the drug of their choice” in the 3rd paragraph refers to ________.

A．the game they are keen on	B．the medicine they take
C．the activity good for health	D．the sport in place of war

3. Which of the following statements does the author most probably agree with?

A．Sports stars should be paid more to play well.

B．Sports are more important than life and death.

C．Chess is too peaceful to be considered a sport.

D．Games can make one relaxed as well as violent.

4. What does the author mainly talk about in the passage?

A．The relationship between games and crimes.

B．Human natural craze for having fun with games.

C．Serious concerns about time that is spent on games.

D．Real problems facing game players in everyday life.