Unit 2　Sports events

　　【美文阅读】　

　　运动是我们生活中必不可少的一部分，它不仅是一种锻炼身体的方式，同时也是一种娱乐手段，并可以培养合作精神、锤炼意志。那么，运动到底是如何定义的？影响它的因素有哪些呢？读一读下面这篇文章吧，你会对运动有更多的了解。

　　Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical abilities of the competitor are the only or main determiner of the outcome(winning or losing)，but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports and motor sports.

　　"Sports"develops from the old French"disport"meaning"leisure"．In British English，sporting activities are commonly represented by the collective noun"sport"．In American English，"sports"is more used.In all English dialects，"sports"is the term used for more than one specific sport.For example，"football and swimming are my favorite sports"，would sound natural to all English speakers，whereas"I enjoy sport"would sound less natural than"I enjoy sports"to North Americans.

　　Art is close to sports.Perhaps the best example is Bull­fighting，which in Spain is reported in the arts pages of newspapers.There are other activities that have elements of sport and art in their execution(实行)，such as artistic gymnastics，Body building，Free running，performance art，professional wrestling，Yoga，baseball，etc.

　　Technology has an important role in sports，whether applied to an athlete's health，the athlete's technique，or equipment's characteristics.As sports have grown more competitive，the need for better equipment has arisen.Golf clubs，football helmets，baseball bats，soccer balls，hockey skates，and other equipment have all seen considerable changes when new technologies have been applied.

　　Ranging from nutrition to the treatment of injuries，as the knowledge of the human body has deepened over time，an athlete's potential has been increased.Athletes are now able to play to an older age，recover more quickly from injuries，and train more effectively than previous generations of athletes.

　　Advancing technology created new opportunities for research into sports.It is now possible to analyze aspects of sports that were in the past out of the reach of understanding.Advancing technology has greatly increased an athlete's ability to understand what they are doing and how they can improve themselves.

　　【诱思导学】

　　1．The underlined word"term"in the second paragraph probably means .