Passage 51

学霸导读　自由潜水具有一定的危险性，但这依然阻挡不了人们对这项运动的热爱，因为它能带给人们“宁静感”。

Free-diving is diving underwater， holding your breath， without the use of equipment. In ancient times， people had to free-dive to get food， such as f ish and shellf ish. Free divers also　c 1 treasures lying at the bottom of the ocean. The Mediterranean Sea， south of Europe， had many trading ships passing through. Often ships sank， sometimes because of storms. Free　divers would swim down to the shipwreck （ 沉船 ） and try to lift the most precious pieces. In　modern times， free-diving is a part of many different a 2 such as underwater photography and spearf ishing. Sports such as underwater football， rugby and hockey also involve free-diving.

The most dangerous free-diving is practised by a small group of extreme sportsmen and sportswomen who swim very deep. They aim to go to great depths and d 3 for a long time on a single breath, wearing only a wetsuit. Deep under the water it is cold and black. The weight or pressure on your body is much h 4 than that at the surface. That weight, and going so long on only one breath, can cause a person to become unconscious because of a lack of oxygen, and　then die.

Why do people want to take part in a sport that is so dangerous?

You need to be f it to swim so deep, and you also need to be very strong mentally. At f irst it is diff icult to sink. You have to stay c 5 and even slow your thinking. But f inally the air is pushed from your body, and you start to sink. It is as if the water were d 6 you down. This is a very peaceful feeling.

Natalia wrote many poems about her love of being in the deep blue ocean. She felt at one with nature there, as if in an ancient space. She would go into a deep state of being quiet and thinking

before she went into the water. She would leave b 7 her the stress of life, which she called “surface fuss”. According to Natalia, when you stop breathing, most of your body’s functions stop. It is as if time itself stopped.

1.__________2.__________3.__________4.__________5.__________6.__________7.__________

高频词汇

underwater /ˌʌndə'wɔːtə（r）/ adv. 在水下，在水中　mentally /'mentəli/　 adv. 精神上，思想上