Most young people enjoy some form of physical activity. It may be walking, cycling or swimming；

in winter, skating or skiing. It may be a game of some form — football, basketball, hockey, golf or tennis. It may be mountaineering. 

Those who have a passion for climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon with astonishment. Why are the men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks in high mountains? This astonishment is caused, probably, by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their leisure time.

Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no man-made rules, as others, as there are for such games as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of different kinds which it would be dangerous to ignore, but it is this freedom from man-made rules that makes mountaineering attractive to many people. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods.

If we compare mountaineering and other more familiar sports, we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a “team game”. We should be mistaken in this. There are, it is true, no “matches” between “teams” of climbers, but when climbers are on a rock-face linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is obviously teamwork.

The mountain climber knows that he may have to fight forces that are stronger and more powerful than man. He has to fight the forces of nature. His sport requires high mental and physical qualities.

A mountain climber continues to improve in skill year after year, while a skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty. But it is not unusual for men of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in the Alps. They may take more time than younger men, but they perhaps climb with more skill and less waste of effort, and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.

51. Mountaineering is a sport, not a game because ______.

A. it has more man-made rules                                   B. it is too dangerous for young climbers

C. it can’t bring people joy and leisure                 D. it is free for us to use our own methods

52. A mountain climber must be strong both mentally and physically because ______.

A. there is no regular man-made rule for him to follow

B. there is no teamwork and he has to depend on himself

C. his competitor is not one or several people but nature

D. mountaineering requires the skills practiced year after year

53. We know from the passage that ______.

A. mountaineering has not any appeal to ordinary people

B. physical quality is more important than mental one for climbers

C. it is possible for someone in his fifties to climb the Alps

D. a mountain climber would pass his best by the age of thirty