Surfing: The Sport of Kings

　　Hundreds of places in the world have huge blue waves, white sand beaches, and beautiful young people carrying surfboards. But, when people think of surfing, many first think of Hawaii, U.S.A. Not only because Hawaii has some of the best, and most dangerous, surfing in the world, but also because the Polynesians, natives (1) of the island of Hawaii, were the first people to surf.

　　Historians believe that Hawaii natives migrated (2) from other Polynesian islands, including Tahiti, where the islanders are known to have ridden waves as they stretched out along on a board. While the first Hawaiian surfers may have ridden their long boards on their stomachs, we know that they soon started standing on the board. How do we know? They carved pictures of men standing on surfboards on lava rocks. They also passed chants from generation to generation that told of amazing surfing feats (3). They wanted to make sure the younger members of the tribe never forget the heroics (4) of their ancestors (5). In addition, explorers from other countries recorded seeing Hawaiians surfing hundreds of years ago.

　　The famous explorer Captain Cook died in Hawaii, but a member of his crew recorded the bravery and excellent skills of the local Hawaiian surfers. Many European sailors could not even swim at that time, so imagine how impressed they were to see surfers moving across the water at such a high speeds! It is thought that the chiefs and leaders of the Hawaiian native people used surfing as a means to show off their strength and agility (6), and to intimidate (7) and impress others. Traditionally, the ruling class had better crafted and more elaborate boards to show others their status and great importance. Making a surfboard had special steps. For example, a religious leader would say a prayer before the tree was cut down.

　　Today people around the world love to surf. People of all shapes and sizes, rich or poor, can try their hands at surfing. Basic equipment is affordable (8), and once a surfer buys his board, all he need is some waves!

　　WORD KEY

　　1. native adjective 本地的

　　2. migrate verb 迁移

　　3. feats noun 技艺, 功绩

　　4. heroics noun 勇敢

　　5. ancestors noun 祖先

　　6. agility noun 敏捷的手段

　　7 intimidate verb 恫吓

　　8 affordable adjective不论贫富