挑战

CHALLENGES
  Human beings enjoy challenges. Many of them like physical challenges. They ask themselves questions like this: How fast can I run? How high can I climb? How deep can I dive? How far can I swim? How long can I hold my breath? How much can I lift? How high can I jump? Because people enjoy challenges, they like to play sports and watch other people play sports. They like climbing, running, diving, swimming, lifting, jumping, and so on. Every four years, millions of people all over the world enjoy the international sports competition called the Olympics. People also enjoy the excitement of climbing mountains or of riding in a boat on a river that is moving very quickly or of racing in a car around a track.
  Why do people enjoy these challenges? There are probably many reasons. One is curiosity. Another is the personal feeling of success, of achievement. And nowadays, for some people, it is a business.
  There are challenges that are not physical challenges. There are social and intellectual challenges, too. Leonardo Da Vinci, who lived in Italy during the fifteenth century, enjoyed every possible challenge. He was an artist and painted the well-known picture, the Mona Lisa. He was an inventor who invented a device to let people breathe under water. He was a scientist, and he learned a great deal about human anatomy.
  Another kind of challenge faced the Egyptians between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago when they decided to build the first Pyramid. People are not sure why they built this pyramid, but it must have been important. They used six million tons of rock. Four hundred thousand men worked for twenty years to build it.
  So, for thousands of years, people have accepted challenges. Today we still have many challenges before us. Medical science faces the challenge of conquering the many diseases which still attack human beings. Engineers and planners must build new cities and new kinds of transportation. Scientists must develop new forms of energy. And many of us are interested in the challenge of space. We live in an age of challenges.

          挑战
  人类愿意接受挑战。很多人喜爱体力上的挑战。他们自问诸如此类的问题：我能跑多快？我能登多高？我能潜多深？我能游多远？我能屏息多长时间？我能举起多重的东西？我能跳多高？因为人们喜欢挑战，他们就喜爱参加体育运动，也喜欢观看他人比赛。他们喜欢登山、赛跑、潜水、游泳、举重及跳高等。每四年，世界上千百万人就会欣赏一次被称为奥林匹克的世界性大赛。从登山中，从在湍急的河流里扬帆荡桨中以及从竞技车赛中人们获得刺激。
  人们为什么从挑战中得到乐趣呢？可能有许多原因。一是好奇，另一个是出于个人的成功感，成就感。而现在对某些人来说却成了买卖。
  有些挑战并不是针对体力的，还有社会的和智能方面的挑战。里奥纳多•达•芬奇生活在十五世纪的意大利，他喜欢各种可能的挑战。他是一名艺术家，画出了著名的油画 “蒙娜丽莎”；他是一个发明家，发明了让人能在水下呼吸的装置；他还是一位科学家，对人体解剖学也颇有研究。
  四千到五千年之前，埃及人建造第一座金字塔时面临着另外一种挑战。现在人们不能肯定他们建造这一金字塔的原因，但在当时一定是很重要的。他们共用了六百万吨石头。四十万人花二十年时间才建成了这座金字塔。
  因此千万年来人们一直在接受着挑战。当前我们也仍然面临着许多挑战。医学界面临着征服那些侵害人体的多种疾病的挑战；工程师与设计师必须建设出新型的城市，制造出新型的交通工具；科学家必须开发出新型能源。我们很多人还对来自太空的挑战深感兴趣。我们生活在一个充满挑战的时代。