#43. The attractions of dangerous activities
People engage themselves in dangerous activities for various reasons, which probably includes money, pleasure, and perhaps ironically, nescience.
Perhaps the most direct drive might come from money, which is needed for everyone, any time and everywhere. People have enough wit to balance their certain choices, especially when they face danger and money. Those stunt men or women in Hollywood movies, photographers who shoot sharks or crocodiles, or those who participate in stock car racing, are always sophisticated enough to calculate whether the outcome outweigh the risk. If they are willing to take the risk, they must have evaluated well. They know exactly the rule: the more risks they take, the more they might get.
There also is another kind of people in this world. Money is of almost no importance to them. They perform dangerous activities just for their own pleasure. Perhaps the most appropriate example involves sports. Actually every kind of sports is dangerous, and even can be deadly. Danger always exists, but people tend to simply ignore it. Take parachuting for example, who can refuse the fascination of flying in the sky like a bird? On the other hand, it seems that danger itself makes the activity so fascinating as too hard to refuse. To conquer is the very nature of human being from the very beginning. Pheidippides said seconds before dropping dead two thousand years ago, "Rejoice, we conquer!" And it seems perfectly logical for some people that celebration follows conquer.
Ironically, sometimes blind brave comes out of nescience. Sometimes people simply don't know the activity is hazardous or how perilous it exactly is. It can be exemplified by a recent incident. Five students(three of them have a master's degree) lost their lives in a mountaineering expedition. Those students reportedly didn't, and it seems highly probable, make an adequate preparation before expedition, which made the tragedy ineluctable. People always praise alpinists with words such as strong, brave, courageous, but in this case none of these words is appropriate. Those young students traded their springtime with blind brave, and died in vain.
43. 危险活动的吸引力
人们出于各种原因从事危险的活动，其中有可能包括金钱、乐趣，或许有讽刺意味地是出于无知。
可能最直接的动力来自金钱，它是每个人在任何时间和任何地点都需要的东西。人们有足够的智力去权衡他们的某些选择，尤其是他们面对危险和金钱的时候。好莱坞电影中那些演特技的男女、拍摄鲨鱼或鳄鱼的摄影师或是那些参加改装车比赛的人都聪明得足以算出所冒的险是否值得，如果他们愿意冒险，他们肯定已经做好了评估。他们很清楚规则：冒的险越大，得到的也就越多。
这个世界上还有另一种人，钱对他们来说几乎不重要，他们只是为自己的乐趣才从事危险的活动。或许最恰当的例子就是体育。实际上每种体育都是危险的，甚至可能是致命的。危险一直存在，但人们趋向于完全忽略它。以跳伞为例，谁能拒绝像鸟儿一样在天空翱翔的吸引？另一方面，似乎是危险本身使这项活动变得如此迷人而令人难以拒绝。征服从一开始就是人类的本性。两千年前费迪皮迪兹(公元前5世纪的雅典长跑运动员)在猝死前几秒钟说道“我们因征服而欢乐！” 这对那些征服后进行庆祝的人来说实在是再合理不过了。
有讽刺意味的是，有时盲目的勇敢出自无知。有时人们仅仅是不知道这项活动的危险或不知它到底有多危险。这可以以最近的一场事故为例。五位学生（其中三位是硕士） 在登山探险中丧命。据说，事实上看来也极为可能，这些学生在探险前没有做恰当的准备，从而使这场悲剧变得不可避免。人们经常用强壮、勇敢、有勇气等词语来形容登山家，但在这里这些词都不合适。那些学生因为盲目的勇敢而青春消逝，白白死去。
- engage ［enˈgeidʒ］ vt. 使从事于，使参加
- stunt man 特技演员
- stock car racing 改装车比赛
- sophisticated ［səˈfistikeitid］ adj. 久经世故的
- evaluate ［iˈvæljueit］ vt. 评价，估计
- involve ［inˈva:lv］ vt. 包括
- nescience ［ˈneʃəns］ n. 无知
- hazardous ［ˈhæzədəs］ adj. 危险的，冒险的
- mountaineering ［ˌmauntnˈiəriŋ］ n. 登山
- expedition ［ˌekspiˈdiʃən］ n. 远征, 探险
- ineluctable ［ˌiniˈlʌktəbəl］ adj. 不可避免的，无法逃避的
- vain ［vein］ adj. 徒然的，无益的