[al:新概念英语（四）] [ar:MP3 同步字幕版（英音）] [ti:The Sporting Spirit] [by:更多学习内容，请到chazidian.com搜索“新概念”] [00:01.46]Lesson 6 [00:03.05]The sporting spirit [00:11.70]How does the writer describe sport at the international level? [00:18.65]I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, [00:25.26]and that if only the common peoples of the world [00:28.60]could meet one another at football or cricket, [00:31.74]they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. [00:36.47]Even if one didn't know from concrete examples [00:40.13](the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) [00:43.47]that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, [00:49.13]one could deduce it from general principles. [00:53.86]Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. [00:58.33]You play to win, [00:59.94]and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. [01:04.77]On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, [01:11.55]it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: [01:16.30]but as soon as a the question of prestige arises, [01:20.00]as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, [01:26.00]the most savage combative instincts are aroused. [01:30.76]Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. [01:36.01]At the international level, sport is frankly mimic warfare. [01:41.53]But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators: [01:48.89]and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe [01:59.51]-- at any rate for short periods -- that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.