CItius,ALtius,Fortnite

Why the next Olympic games should feature Fortnite

第一段

Champions from many countries are dropped on an island, wearing tight , garish outfits that show off their muscles.They search for weapons, such as guns and rocket-launchers. In terms of two, they try to kill everyone else on the island. The last pair standing wins gold medals and global adulation.

重点词汇

• garish

  • unpleasantly bright:

    • a pair of garish Bermuda shorts
    • The coffee shop, painted a garish pink, is a landmark in the neighborhood.

• outfit

  • a set of clothes worn for a particular occasion or activity:

    • I'm going to wear my vampire outfit for Halloween
    • Susan wore a black outfit.

• adulation

  • very great admiration or praise for someone, especially when it is more than is deserved:

    • As a born performer, she loves the excitement and she loves the adulation.
    • He couldn’t deal with the adulation of his fans.

第二段

The Tokyo Olympics, which were supposed to start next month, have been postponed until 2021,thanks to covid-19. That delay offers a chance for reflection. The international Olympic Committee wants to make the games more popular with young people. To that end, it is introducing new events, such as skate-boarding, surfing and climbing . Why not go further and let national teams compete at video games? Electronic sports such as "Fortnite", described above, are vastly more popular than most mainstream sports.Only 28% of British boys aged 16-19 watch any traditional live sports ;57% play video games.

重点词汇

• postpone

  • to delay an event and plan or decide that it should happen at a later date or time:

    • They decided to postpone their holiday until next year.
    • We've had to postpone going to France because the children are ill.
    • We've postponed the wedding until next year.

• reflection

  • the image of something in a mirror or on any reflective surface

    • In Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water.
    • He put silver foil around the fire to increase heat reflection.

• mainstream

  • considered normal, and having or using ideas, beliefs, etc. that are accepted by most people

    • This is the director's first mainstream Hollywood film.
    • Many youngsters have been out of mainstream education for so long that they cannot adapt to a formal learning environment.
    • Many estimate that up to 20% of children in mainstream classrooms may have some special needs.

第三段

Stick-in-the-muds may grumble that e-sports are not proper sports. Many parents ,observing their surly teenagers sitting on the sofa all day twiddling their thumbs and shouting "Quick , pass me the shotgun!" at a screen , would agree. Yet video games are highly competitive , with professional leagues that play to packed stadiums. There are perhaps only 200 tennis stars in the world who can make a living from playing in tournaments. By contrast " League of Legends", a fantasy game played by teams of five, supports over 1000 on good wages. Its World Champion-ship final last year was watched by 44m people

重点词汇

• Stick-in-the-mud

  • someone who is old-fashioned and too serious and avoids enjoyable activities:

    • My dad's a real stick-in-the-mud.

• grumble

  • to complain about someone or something in an annoyed way:

    • She spent the evening grumbling to me about her job.
    • "You never hang your coat up," she grumbled.
    • When the teacher assigned extra homework, she heard a few grumbles from the kids.

• surly

  • often in a bad mood, unfriendly, and not polite:

    • We were served by a very surly waiter.
    • He gave me a surly look.

• tournaments

  • a competition for teams or single players in which a series of games is played,

    • a tennis/chess/golf tournament
    • They were defeated in the first round of the tournament.
    • Our ambitions for this tournament have been defeated by the weather.

第四端

New sports have always been unpopular at first. King Edward II of England tried to ban football in 1314, because he thought boys should be learning archery instead. In 19th-century America churchy types objected to baseball , which they worried was too much fun. The best e-sports require as much skill and dexterity as many conventional sports-professional gamers typically carry out five distinct actions every second. Video games are also cheaper and more accessible than, say , sailing or horse-riding.

重点词汇

• archery

  • the art or sport of shooting arrows

    • Other entertainments like card-games, dice, archery and drinking were exclusively male.

• churchy

  • looking like or suitable for a church

    • churchy music

• dexterity

  • the ability to perform a difficult action quickly and skilfully with the hands:

    • He caught the ball with great dexterity.
    • Young children lack the dexterity to brush their teeth effectively.
    • He answered the reporters' questions with all the dexterity of a politician.
    • The duo's vocal dexterity is something to behold.

第五段

Critics of e-sports offer moral objections , too. They are addictive . Prince Harry has called for "Fortnite" to be banned for this reason .They are violent. Surely , at a time of global disharmony , it is a bad idea to make simulated killing an Olympic sport? The Olympics aim to promote peace. Finally , video games are crassly commercial . Nobody owns basketball; "League of Legends" is owned by Tencent, a Chinese megacorporation.

重点词汇

• promote

  • to encourage people to like, buy, use, do, or support something:

    • Advertising companies are always having to think up new ways to promote products.
    • The Institute is intended to promote an understanding of the politics and culture of the Arab world.
    • Greenpeace works to promote awareness of the dangers that threaten our planet today.
    • It has long been known that regular exercise promotes all-round good health.

• crassly

  • in a way that is stupid and does not consider how other people might feel:

    • He is a crassly egocentric politician.
    • The demonstrations were crassly handled by the authorities.
    • He did not have to behave so crassly, but he did.

第六段

None of these arguments is very convincing . The idea that an activity , rather than a substance , can be addictive is contentious among dockers, as is the existence of a causal link between gaming and violence. And the notion that warlike sports have no place in the Olympics is hard to square with history. Javelin-throwing and wrestling were introduced in 708BC. They are still there. Modern pentathlon, which includes shooting and fencing, was designed to train soldiers. The imaginary mayhem in "Fortnite " cannot be compared to the real harm caused by boxing. Packs of e-sports fans do not rampage through town centres as soccer or ice-hockey fans sometimes do .

重点词汇

• substance

  • material with particular physical characteristics

    • an organic/chemical substance
    • What sort of substance could withstand those temperatures
    • a natural substance
    • This substance stretches to any shape you want.
    • Rubber is a flexible substance.

• contentious

  • causing , involving, or likely to cause disagreement and argument:

    • a contentious decision/policy/issue/subject
    • She has some very contentious views on education.
    • The director had a contentious relationship with the eccentric actor.
    • The proposal is highly contentious.

• pentathlon

  • a sports event in which athletes compete in five different sports:

    • The pentathlon consists of running, swimming, riding, shooting, and fencing.

• mayhem

  • a situation in which there is little or no order or control:

    • With 20 kids running around and only two adults to supervise, it was complete mayhem.
    • The movie includes a considerable amount of violence and mayhem.

第七段

As for the fact that e-sports belong to companies , so What? The Olympics already generates billions from broadcasting and sponsorship. Commercial pressure can make for livelier entertainment. Having a video game named as an Olympic sport would be a huge prize. Companies would vie to create games as exciting to watch as they are to play. This sounds like a recipe for fun. Those who disagree can always watch the 20,000-metre speed-walk. Put "Fortnite" in the Olympics ,and millions will tune in who might otherwise not have bothered . They might even stumble across a traditional sport and decide to try it ,too. And if the experiment fails, no matter. The International Olympic Committee could drop it in 2024 , as it has previously dropped croquet, tug-of -war and solo synchronised swimming

重点词汇

• sponsorship

  • money that is given, usually by a company, to support a person, organization or activity:

    • The orchestra receives £2 million a year in sponsorship from companies.
    • the brands sponsorship of sports events

• recipe

  • For real South Asian food, just follow these recipes.
  • Do you know a good recipe for wholemeal bread?
  • You'll need a can of tuna for this recipe.
  • Baking a cake isn't difficult - it's just a matter of following the recipe.

• stumble

  • to step awkwardly while walking or running and fall or begin to fall:

    • Running along the beach, she stumbled on a log and fell on the sand.
    • In the final straight Meyers stumbled, and although he didn't fall it was enough to lose him first place.
    • He pulled on his clothes and stumbled into the kitchen.

• synchronised

  • to (cause to) happen at the same time:

    • The show was designed so that the lights synchronized with the music.
    • We'd better synchronize our watches if we all want to be there at the same time.