Reading Comprehension

Term 1 Week 10 Reading Comprehension

Question 1: Summary Finding the Points

Paragraph 1 Sporting activities are essentially modified forms of hunting behaviour. Viewed biologically, the modern footballer is viewed as a member of a disguised hunting pack. His killing weapon has turned into a harmless football and his prey into a goal-mouth. If his aim is accurate and he scores a goal, he enjoys the hunter’s triumph of killing his prey.

Paragraph 1 [1] Sporting activities are essentially modified forms of hunting behaviour. Viewed biologically, the modern footballer is viewed as a member of a disguised hunting pack. His killing weapon has turned into a harmless football and his prey into a goal-mouth. If his aim is accurate and he scores a goal, he enjoys the hunter’s triumph of killing his prey.

Paragraph 2 To understand how this transformation has taken place we must briefly look back at our ancient ancestors. They spent over a million years evolving as co-operative hunters. Their very survival depended on success in the hunting field. Under this pressure their whole way of life, even their bodies became radically changed. They became runners, chasers, jumpers, aimers, throwers and prey-killers. They co-operated as skilful male-group attackers.

Paragraph 3 Then about ten thousand years ago, after this immensely long formative period of hunting their food, they became farmers. Their improved intelligence, so vital to their old hunting life, was put to new use- that of penning, controlling and domesticating their prey. The hunt became suddenly obsolete. The food was there on the farms, awaiting their needs. The risks and uncertainties of the hunt were no longer essential for survival.

Paragraph 3 Then about ten thousand years ago, after this immensely long formative period of hunting their food, they became farmers. Their improved intelligence, so vital to their old hunting life, was put to new use- that of penning, controlling and domesticating their prey. [2] The hunt became suddenly obsolete. The food was there on the farms, awaiting their needs. The risks and uncertainties of the hunt were no longer essential for survival.

Paragraph 4-1 The hunting skills and hunting urges remained however and demanded new outlets. Hunting for sport replaced hunting for necessity. This new activity involved all the original hunting sequences. But the aim of the operation was no longer to avoid starvation. Instead the sportsmen set off to test their skill against prey that were no longer essential to their well-being. To be sure, the kill may have been eaten, but there were other, much simpler ways of obtaining a hearty meal.

Paragraph 4-1 [3] The hunting skills and hunting urges remained however and demanded new outlets. Hunting for sport replaced hunting for necessity. This new activity involved all the original hunting sequences. But the aim of the operation was no longer to avoid starvation. Instead the sportsmen set off to test their skill against prey that were no longer essential to their well-being. To be sure, the kill may have been eaten, but there were other, much simpler ways of obtaining a hearty meal.

Paragraph 4-1 [3] The hunting skills and hunting urges remained however and demanded new outlets. [4] Hunting for sport replaced hunting for necessity. This new activity involved all the original hunting sequences. But the aim of the operation was no longer to avoid starvation. Instead the sportsmen set off to test their skill against prey that were no longer essential to their well-being. To be sure, the kill may have been eaten, but there were other, much simpler ways of obtaining a hearty meal.

Paragraph 4-1 [3] The hunting skills and hunting urges remained however and demanded new outlets. [4] Hunting for sport replaced hunting for necessity. This new activity involved all the original hunting sequences. But the aim of the operation was no longer to avoid starvation. Instead [5] the sportsmen set off to test their skill against prey that were no longer essential to their well-being. To be sure, the kill may have been eaten, but there were other, much simpler ways of obtaining a hearty meal.

Paragraph 4-2 The chase became exposed as en end in itself. The logical extension of this trend was the big-game hunter who never ate his kill, but merely hung its stuffed head on his wall and the fox-hunter who bred foxes in order to release them and hunt them down. Hence there was no longer even any pretence that the chasing and killing were a means to an end. They were openly accepted as their own reward.

Paragraph 4-2 [6] The chase became exposed as en end in itself. The logical extension of this trend was the big-game hunter who never ate his kill, but merely hung its stuffed head on his wall and the fox-hunter who bred foxes in order to release them and hunt them down. Hence there was no longer even any pretence that the chasing and killing were a means to an end. They were openly accepted as their own reward.

Paragraph 5-1 An alternative solution was to transform the activities of the hunting pack into other patterns of behaviour. Superficially these new activities did not look like hunting but beneath the surface all the basic elements were there. The key to the transformation lies in the fact that there was no longer any need to eat the prey. This being so, then why bother to kill an edible animal? Why indeed kill any animal at all?

Paragraph 5-2 A symbolic killing is all that is needed, provided the thrill of the chase could be retained. The Greek solution was athletics- field sports involving chasing (track-running), jumping and throwing (discus and javelin). The athletes experienced the vigorous physical activity so typical of the hunting scene and the patterns they performed were all elements of the ancient hunting sequence but their triumph was now transformed from the actual kill to a symbolic one of “winning”.

Paragraph 6-1 In other parts of the world, ancient ball games were making a small beginning: a form of polo in ancient Persia, bowls and hockey in ancient Egypt, football in ancient China. Here the element of the primeval hunting sequence to be retained and amplified, was the all important hunter’s action of aiming.

Paragraph 6-2 Whatever the rules of the game, the physical act of aiming was the essence of the operation. This more than any other has come to dominate the world of modern sport. There are more aiming sports today than all other forms of sport put together. One could almost define field-sports now as competitive aiming behaviour.

Question 1: Summary Formulating An Answer

In Your Own Words

Question 1: Summary A Sample Answer

A Sample Summary Answer Modern sports are the transformation of ancient hunting behaviour. When the need to hunt disappears, the desire to be able to hunt resulted in its transformation to modern sports. The desire to win became the main focus of the hunt as sportsmen revel in the pleasure of competition.

Reading Comprehension