新概念英语初中早读 （25）最早的球类运动
The First Ball Games
最早的球类运动
The first interesting thing for sports use was the ball.
球是最早的有意思的体育用具。
In ancient Egypt, as in everywhere,
在古埃及，和其他地方一样，
throwing stones was a favorite children’s game.
丢石块是孩子们最喜欢的游戏。
But a stone could hurt a child.
但是石块会伤到孩子。
Looking for something less dangerous to throw,
为了找到可以降低危险的玩具，
the people in Egypt made,perhaps,the first balls.
埃及人做出了第一个球
At first,balls were made of grass or leaves held together
起初，人们把草或树叶塞紧做成了球。
Later they made balls with animals’ skin.
后来,他们用动物皮做球，
They put the pieces of animals’ skin together with thread
他们用线把动物皮缝起来，
and put in some birds’ feathers or grass.
再把鸟的羽毛或草塞进去。
This kind of ball was soft and not heavy.Everyone liked to play with it.
这种球又软又轻，人人都爱玩。
Although the people in Egypt liked fighting and wars,
尽管埃及人喜欢打架，征战，
they tried to save time for sports games.
但还是找时间参与体育游戏。
Before long they could play a lot of new ball games,each with its own rules.
不久他们能够玩很多新鲜的球类游戏，各个游戏有自己的规则。
Perhaps they thought
或许他们认为
the games were useful to help the young men run faster in wars.
这些游戏能使他们在战场上跑得更快。