English Quiz 187

(English Quiz 187)

1. What would possess seemingly sane people to treat concrete walls like trampolines? To leap over handicap-access ramps like Donkey Kong? The answer is parkour, a jaw-dropping hybrid of gymnastics and cross-country running that is equal parts Spider-Man whimsy and hard-core stamina. The word is derived from the French term for obstacle course, and like it or not, U.S. college campuses are becoming hot spots for this exhilarating new breed of steeplechase--horse-free and adaptable to any setting. Google parkour, campus and map, and you'll find, among some 58,000 results, an annotated parkour map of the University of California at San Diego and photos, taken at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, of vault-worthy railings and bulwarks galore.
Q: 試翻 "What would possess ... hard-core stamina."

2. Most college campuses, with their airy courtyards and often zigguratish architecture, are well suited for testing the bounds of sneaker-clad samurai and, at least in a few cases, their school's insurance coverage. Grisly parkour injuries--from broken face bones to a bruised liver--have been reported to United Educators Insurance, a major insurer of colleges, but so far, schools' liability exposure has been minimal. The question usually comes down to, Did officials know that students were jumping from high places? If so, did they try to restrict access to those areas? In October, Christopher Fu, a junior at the University of Illinois, got past a tall chain-link fence before plummeting to his death from the school's TV tower. Because Fu had expressed interest in a local parkour group on Facebook.com campus police couldn't determine whether his fall was an accident or a suicide. Like cops on many campuses, Illinois' assistant chief Jeff Christensen had never heard of parkour until the death at his school but is now on the lookout for what he calls "very risky behavior." It's no surprise then that while students at a small number of colleges have registered parkour clubs with their schools, fear of crackdowns has kept the movement largely underground.
Q: 試翻 "Most college campuses, ... their school's insurance coverage."
Q: 試翻 "It's no surprise ... largely underground."