When did sport begin? If sport is, in essence, play, the claim might be made that sport is much older than humankind, for , as we all have observed, the beasts play. Dogs and cats wrestle and play ball games. Fishes and birds dance. The apes have simple, pleasurable games. Frolicking infants, school children playing tag, and adult arm wrestlers are demonstrating strong, transgenerational and transspecies bonds with the universe of animals - past, present, and future.
Young animals, particularly, tumble, chase, run wrestle, mock, imitate, and laugh to the point of delighted exhaustion. Their play, and ours, appears to serve no other purpose than to give pleasure to the players, and apparently, to remove us temporarily from the anguish of life in earnest.
Some philosophers have claimed that our playfulness is the most noble part of our basic nature. In their generous conceptions, play harmlessly and experimentally permits us to put our creative forces, fantasy, and imagination into action. Play is release from the tedious battles against scarcity and decline which are the incessant, and inevitable, tragedies of life. This is a grand conception that excites and provokes.
The holders of this view claim that the origins of our highest accomplishments ---- liturgy, literature, and law ---- can be traced to a play impulse which, paradoxically, we see most purely enjoyed by young beasts and children. Our sports, in this rather happy, nonfatalistic view of human nature, are more splendid creations of the nondatable, transspecies play impulse.
Tree deaths linked to climate change
Sea life color codes food to evade danger
Dire warnings issued on diminishing Arctic ice(视频)
American's first exchange students from China
Turning industrial waste-heat into electricity
Apollo 13: 'Houston, we've had a problem here'
European farmers work to boost global grain supplies
From Giverny to Bronx: 'Monet's Garden' flowers in NY(视频)
Designing an alternative to antibiotics
IB program aims to form 'students of the world'(视频)
American history: Columbus discovers the New World
Protests spread over anti-Islam video
Teens help revive California nature
Cancer drug finds HIV hidden in the body
Man who found California gold died broke
To avoid humans, tigers take night shift
US drought renews debate on biofuel
Nokia, Microsoft promote new phones
懒癌患者的福音 十款快捷美味的早餐
After long fight, DC wins right to a statue in the Capitol Building
Scientists seek HIV vaccine using monkey model
US ambassador killed in Libya
US firms prospering in Asia, Russia(视频)
CPJ: Journalists need new ways to stay safe
Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico
让你更时髦的5样明星单品
Despite recession, blow-dry bars heat up
Mideast protests spark debate over free speech, religion(视频)
Can social media improve voter turnout?
'War of 1812' flag still inspires after 200 years
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |