Level 3 Reading 1B

Ch.2 Reading 1B

第2章 阅读1B

WHAT MAKES AN OLYMPIC CHAMPION? How does a person become an Olympic champion—someone capable of winning the gold? In reality, a combination of biological, environmental, and psychological factors, as well as training and practice, all go into making a super athlete. Perhaps the most important factor involved in becoming an elite athlete is genetic. Most Olympic competitors are equipped with certain physical characteristics that differentiate them from the average person. Take an elite athlete's muscles, for example. In most human skeletal muscles (the ones that make your body move), there are fast-twitch fibers and slow-twitch fibers. Fast-twitch fibers help us move quickly. Olympic weightlifters, for example, have a large number of fast-twitch fibers in their muscles— many more than the average person. These allow them to lift hundreds of kilos from the ground and over their heads in seconds. Surprisingly, a large, muscular body is not the main requirement to do well in this sport. It is more important to have a large number of fast-twitch fibers in the muscles. The legs of an elite marathon runner, on the other hand, might contain up to 90 percent slow-twitch muscle fibers. These generate energy efficiently and enable an athlete to control fatigue and keep moving for a longer period of time. When we exercise long or hard, it's common to experience tiredness, muscle pain, and difficulty breathing. These feelings are caused when the muscles produce high amounts of a substance called lactate and can't remove it quickly enough. Athletes with many slow-twitch muscle fibers seem to be able to clear the lactate from their muscles faster as they move. Thus, the average runner might start to feel discomfort halfway into a race. A trained Olympic athlete, however, might not feel pain until much later in the competition. For some Olympic competitors, size is important. Most male champion swimmers are 180 cm or taller, allowing them to reach longer and swim faster. For both male and female gymnasts, though, a smaller size and body weight mean they can move with greater ease, and are less likely to suffer damage when landing on the floor from a height of up to 4.5 meters. Some athletes' abilities are naturally enhanced by their environment. Those raised at high altitudes in countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, and Morocco have blood that is rich in hemoglobin. Large amounts of hemoglobin carry oxygen around the body faster, enabling these athletes to run better. Cultural factors also help some athletes do well at certain sports. Tegla Loroupe, a young woman from northern Kenya, has won several marathons. She says some of her success is due to her country's altitude (she trains at about 2,400 meters) and some to her cultural background. As a child, she had to run 10 kilometers to school every day. "I'd be punished if I was late," she says. Although genes, environment, and even culture play a part in becoming an elite athlete, training and practice are needed to succeed. Marathon runners may be able to control fatigue and keep moving for long periods of time, but they must train to reach and maintain their goals. Weightlifters and gymnasts perfect their sills by repeating the same motions again and again until they become automatic. Greg Louganis, winner of four Olympic diving gold medals, says divers must train the same way to be successful: "You have less than three seconds from takeoff until you hit the water, so it has to be reflex. You have to repeat the dives hundreds, maybe thousands, of times." Training this way requires an athlete to be not only physically fit but psychologically healthy as well. "They have to be," says Sean McCann, a sports psychologist at the Olympic Training Center in the United States. "Otherwise, they couldn't handle the training loads we put on them. [Athletes] have to be good at setting goals, generating energy when they need it, and managing anxiety." How do athletes adjust to such intense pressure? Louganis explains how he learned to control his anxiety during a competition: "Most divers think too much ...," he says. "They're too much in their heads. What worked for me was humor. I remember thinking about what my mother would say if she saw me do a bad dive. She'd probably just compliment me on the beautiful splash."

是什么造就了奥运冠军？ 一个人如何成为奥运冠军——一个有能力赢得金牌的人？ 事实上，生物、环境和心理因素的结合， 除了训练和练习，所有这些都有助于成为一名超级运动员。 也许成为精英运动员最重要的因素是基因。 大多数奥运选手都具备某些身体特征，这些特征使他们与普通人不同。 以精英运动员的肌肉为例。 在大多数人类骨骼肌（使身体运动的肌肉）中， 有快肌纤维和慢肌纤维。 快肌纤维帮助我们快速移动。 例如，奥运举重运动员的肌肉中有大量的快肌纤维-- 远远超过普通人。 这使他们能够在几秒钟内从地面和头顶举起数百公斤的重物。 令人惊讶的是，在这项运动中，身材高大、肌肉发达并不是取得好成绩的主要要求。 更重要的是肌肉中有大量的快肌纤维。 另一方面，精英马拉松运动员的腿， 可能含有高达90%的慢肌纤维。 这些可以有效地产生能量，使运动员能够控制疲劳并保持更长时间的运动。 当我们长时间或剧烈运动时，经常会感到疲劳、肌肉疼痛和呼吸困难。 当肌肉产生大量称为乳酸的物质时，就会产生这些感觉 并且不能足够快地将其移除。 有许多慢肌纤维的运动员 似乎能够在运动时更快地清除肌肉中的乳酸。 因此，普通跑步者可能会在比赛进行到一半时开始感到不适。 然而，受过训练的奥林匹克运动员可能要到比赛后期才会感到疼痛。 对于一些奥运选手来说，体型很重要。 大多数男性冠军游泳运动员身高180厘米或更高，这使他们能够伸得更远，游得更快。 然而，对于男性和女性体操运动员来说，更小的体型和体重意味着他们可以更轻松地移动， 并且当从高达4.5米的高度落在地板上时不太可能受到损坏。 一些运动员的能力自然会因环境而增强。 在肯尼亚、埃塞俄比亚和摩洛哥等国家的高海拔地区长大的人，血液中富含血红蛋白。 大量的血红蛋白能够更快地将氧气携带到身体周围，使这些运动员能够跑得更好。 文化因素也有助于一些运动员在某些运动中取得好成绩。 来自肯尼亚北部的年轻女子Tegla Loroupe赢得了几场马拉松比赛。 她说，她的成功部分归功于她的国家的海拔高度（她在2400米左右训练） 还有一些与她的文化背景有关。 小时候，她每天必须跑10公里去上学。 她说：“如果我迟到了，我会受到惩罚的。”。 尽管基因、环境甚至文化都在成为精英运动员的过程中发挥了作用， 成功需要训练和实践。 马拉松运动员可能能够控制疲劳并长时间保持运动， 但他们必须训练才能达到并保持目标。 举重运动员和体操运动员通过一次又一次地重复相同的动作来完善他们的底线，直到它们变成自动动作。 四枚奥运会跳水金牌得主Greg Louganis表示，跳水运动员必须以同样的方式训练才能取得成功： “从起飞到下水，你只有不到三秒钟的时间，所以这必须是反射。 你必须重复潜水数百次，也许数千次。" 这种训练方式要求运动员不仅身体健康，而且心理健康。 美国奥林匹克训练中心的运动心理学家肖恩·麦肯说：“他们必须这样。”。 “否则，他们无法承受我们给他们施加的训练负荷。 [运动员]必须善于设定目标，在需要时产生能量，并管理焦虑。" 运动员如何适应如此巨大的压力？ Louganis解释了他是如何在比赛中学会控制焦虑的： “大多数潜水员想得太多了……”他说。 “他们脑子里想得太多了。对我有效的是幽默。 我记得我在想，如果妈妈看到我跳水跳得不好，她会说什么。 她可能只是称赞我漂亮的泼水。"

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