闲暇时，你是否还会去打篮球或看电视？如果是这样，那么你已经有些落伍了。如今，“extreme sports”－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－——————————————————————“极限运动”已经成为时尚一族的最爱。

　　Rick Stevenson, 16 years old, spends every minute on the mountain．He and his friends go snowboarding(踏板滑雪)every weekend．“It’s great,”he says．“The winds are so strong; the boards go 50 miles an hour．”His friend Laura Fields agrees,“No one goes skiing any more．”She says,“That’s for the old folks．”

　　Rick and Laura are part of new trends(趋势)in sports．Its philosophy is to get as close to the edge as possible．And more and more young athletes are taking part in these risky(冒险的)activities called“extreme sports”or“X-sports”．

　　In the past, young athletes would play baseball．Today, they want risk and excitement－the closer to the edge, the better．They snowboard over cliffs(悬崖)and mountainbike down steep mountains．

　　Extreme sports started as an alternative to more expensive sports such as golf．A city kid who couldn’t afford expensive sports equipment could get a skateboard and have fun．But now it has become a whole new area of sports, with specialized equipment and high levels(水平)of skill．There’s even a special Olympics for extreme sports, called the Winter X-Games, which includes snow mountain biking and ice climbing．

　　What makes extreme sports so popular?“People love the risk,”says Murray Nussbaum, who sells sports equipment．“City people want to be outdoors on the weekend and do something challenging．The new equipment is so much better that people can take more risks without getting hurt．”An athlete adds,“Sure there’s a risk．Once you go mountain biking or snowboarding, it’s impossible to go back to bike riding or skiing．It’s just too boring．”

　　Now even the older crowd is starting to join in．Every weekend, groups of friends in their early 30s get together．On weekdays they work as computer programmers in the same office．On weekends they rent mountain bikes that cost ＄2, 000 each and ride down steep mountains together．

　　Extreme sports are certainly not for everyone．Most people still prefer to play basketball or watch sports on TV．But it has been a fact that extreme sports are gaining in popularity．“These sports are fresh and exciting．It’s the wave of the future,”says Nussbaum．

　　Help：

　　steep adj．rising or falling sharply, not gradually

　　alternative n．something that you can choose to do or use instead of doing something else

　　specialized adj．adapted or designed for a particular purpose

问题：

What kind of extreme sports would you prefer if you were given a chance to choose?Why?