那些年,英国人发明运动.docVIP

那些年,英国人发明运动 Like everyone, everywhere, the British are dreaming of winning piles of Olympic medals. But if other athletes from other nations happen to run off with the lion’s share[最大的一份] of the golds again, the Brits will know how to console[安慰] themselves. Theyll head for the pub, order a beer, and ruminate[反复思考] on the fact that half of these sports wouldnt even exist if it wasn’t for them. There’s a curious conviction[深信] among the British, that the best games on this planet were invented by them. Well, maybe not by them directly; by their sporty ancestors[祖先], looking for something wholesome[有益身心的] to do when they needed a break from drinking and running the British Empire. The list of sports the Brits say they created is surprisingly long. It includes tennis, field hockey, soccer, badminton, golf, squash[壁球] and modern boxing. Everyone knows the Chinese are the masters of ping pong. Theyve won far more Olympic gold medals than anyone else. Yet, if you suggest they invented that sport, the British will swiftly[很快地] put you straight. Theyll point out it began as an after-dinner game, played on the dinner table by cigar-puffing[喷出] Victorian gentlemen, using a champagne[香槟] cork[软木塞] as the ball, and books as the net and paddles[球拍]. They called it wiff waff. Some Brits even suggested this nation invented baseball, after a 260-year-old diary surfaced in England, containing a description of a kid, playing something that sounded a little like that great game. There’s more. The British also firmly believe Britain is the birthplace of the modern Olympics. In the heart of rural England—in a county called Shropshire—lies the little market town of Much Wenlock. Its inns[旅馆] and crooked[弯曲的] houses go back to medieval[中世纪的] times. In the mid-19th century, the local doctor was a man called William Penny Brookes. Brookes was a passionate[充满热情的] believer that sports good for mind, body and soul, and that everyone should be allowed a crack[尝试] at it, from