11-year-old Courtney Thompson was so passionate about gymnastics that she would practice five hours a day until her arms were sore and her elbows swollen. She rarely complained about her tough schedule, and for good reason. Courtney was ranked the best gymnast in the state for her age , and she dreamed of going to the Olympics. But on January 12th,2005, while practicing a routine exercise, she felt an unbearable pain in the left elbow. The medical examination then revealed a severe injury, resulting in an immediate surgery and a slow, painful recovery.
What happened to Courtney Thompson is a red flag in America’s growing epidemic of youth sports injuries. Across the country, younger and younger athletes are injuring themselves in the pursuit of sports achievement. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that 2.8 million Americans aged 5 through 24 received medical treatment for a sports-related or recreation-related injury in 2003,Severe injuries that used to be limited to professionals are now showing up in high school and even junior high athletes.
There are many reasons behind the outbreak in sports injuries, but most experts agree on one: the extreme culture of organized youth sports. Gone are the days when children played a variety of games on playgrounds. Child kidnapping and street crime have ended casual neighborhood athletics in many places, leading parents to enroll their children in organized sports under the watchful, though demanding, eyes of adult volunteers and coaches. And movies like Friday Night Lights glorify the thrill of victory for young athletes with single-minded dedication to athletic achievement.
From high school gyms to county ball fields, 41 million children younger than 19 participated in organized youth sports in 2005, according to the latest research by the National Council of Youth Sports. The figure represents a 25 percent increase since 1997.
Parental involvement in youth sports has also made childhood games less about having fun and more about training and competing for the top spot , landing a college scholarship or launching a promising career. Hoping to nurture the next Michelle Kwan or Apolo Ohno, some parents guide their children into specializing in one sport. But the repetitive training required to master a sport places enormous stresses on bones and muscles that are still developing.
1．The passage is mainly about
A．children’ s participation in organized sports
B．the main causes of the youth sports injuries
C．the way to train children in organized sports
D．the common occurrence of youth sports injuries
2．The underlined part “red flag” in the second probably means “ ” .
A．warning B．problem C．symbol D．mark
3．Why is the number of sports injuries among children in America growing?
A．Because of their increasing fondness for sports.
B．Because children are not professional enough for sports.
C．Because more children are seeking for sports achievements.
D．Because of the involvement of the parents and more organized sports.
4．We can learn from the passage that .
A．about 10.25 million youngsters participated in organized sports in 1997
B．parents give limited chances for children to choose their sports
C．serious injuries often happened to young students in the past
D．Courtney Thompson will never become a famous gymnast