雅思閱讀模擬試題（10）

雅思閱讀模擬試題（10）關(guān)于這個(gè)問(wèn)題下面小編就來(lái)為各個(gè)考生解答下。

雅思閱讀模擬試題（10）

D Calisthenics experienced its second golden age in the 1800s. This century saw the

birth of gymnastics, an organised sport that uses a range of bars, rings, vaulting horses

and balancing beams to display physical prowess. This period is also when the

phenomena of strongmen developed. These were people of astounding physical

strength and development who forged nomadic careers by demonstrating outlandish

feats of strength to stunned populations. Most of these men trained using hand

balancing and horizontal bars, as modern weight machines had not yet been invented.

E In the 1950s, Angelo Siciliano – who went by the stage name Charles Atlas – was

crowned “The World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man”. Atlas’s own approach stemmed

from traditional calisthenics, and through a series of mail order comic books he taught

these methods to hundreds of thousands of children and young adults through the 1960s

and 1970s. But Atlas was the last of a dying breed. The tides were turning, fitness

methods were drifting away from calisthenics, and no widely-regarded proponent of the

method would ever succeed him.

F In the 1960s and 1970s calisthenics and the goal of functional strength combined

with physical beauty was replaced by an emphasis on huge muscles at any cost. This

became the sport of body building. Although body building’s pioneers were drawn from

the calisthenics tradition, the sole goal soon became an increase in muscle size. Body

building icons, people such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sergio Oliva, were called

mass monsters because of their imposing physiques. Physical development of this

nature was only attainable through the use of anabolic steroids, synthetic hormones

which boosted muscle development while harming overall health. These body builders

also relied on free weights and machines, which allowed them to target and bloat the

size of individual muscles rather than develop a naturally proportioned body.

Calisthenics, with its emphasis on physical beauty and a balance in proportions, had

little to offer the mass monsters.

G In this “bigger is better” climate, calisthenics was relegated to groups perceived to

be vulnerable, such as women, people recuperating from injuries and school students.

Although some of the strongest and most physically developed human beings ever to

have lived acquired their abilities through the use of sophisticated calisthenics, a great

deal of this knowledge was discarded and the method was reduced to nothing more than

an easily accessible and readily available activity. Those who mastered the rudimentary

skills of calisthenics could expect to graduate to weight training rather than advanced

calisthenics.

H In recent years, however, fitness trends have been shifting back toward the use of

calisthenics. Bodybuilding approaches that promote excessive muscle development

frequently lead to joint pain, injuries, unbalanced physiques and weak cardiovascular

health. As a result, many of the newest and most popular gyms and programmes

emphasise calisthenics-based methods instead. Modern practices often combine

elements from a number of related traditions such as yoga, Pilates, kettle-ball training,

gymnastics and traditional Greco-Roman calisthenics. Many people are keen to recover

the original Greek vision of physical beauty and strength and harmony of the mind-body

connection.

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