Some young Cambodians are learning a new sport — skateboarding. The country’s first skateboard park is located on the grounds of a local charity group at the edge of Phnom Penh, the capital.
Sports like Khmer boxing and soccer are wildly popular in Cambodia. But Chea, who has been skating for 6 months, says skating has already become his favorite sport.
The skaters are learning tricks like launching off a jump or half-pipe and flying through the air on their narrow wooden boards.
A non-governmental organization called Skateistan Cambodia organizes weekly programs at the park. Skateistan started its work in Afghanistan years ago. Rory Burke is working with the group which expanded to Cambodia last year.
Rory Burke points out, “Yeah, it’s definitely not a typical Cambodian pastime (消遣). And I think the idea of ‘why skateboarding’ is that it’s not been done before here. We want to use skateboarding as something saying, ‘Hey, this is new, this is something different.And that kind of itself becomes a little bit of hook. People see it and they think and they say, ‘Wow, what is that?’ and they want to get involved. ”
Skateistan partners with local groups that work with young people. The park is on the grounds of the group known as PSE, where children attend school and learn a trade. There are almost one hundred twenty participants. They all come from troubled lives.
Seventeen-year-old Sang Rotha is a student at PSE. “Sometimes I don’t do well in subjects like math,” he says, “I feel bad when I find it hard to keep up with my lessons. So that is why I skateboard ---to improve my bad feelings. ’，
He says he began skateboarding more than a year ago. Before he started training, it seemed very easy. But it was very difficult to learn tricks, and he got hurt a lot from falling off.
Rory Burke says learning to deal with the difficulties is part of the lesson for these young skateboarders.
小题1: According to the passage, PSE is a group ______.
A．that works with Cambodian students
B．for young Cambodians to learn a trade
C．for young Cambodians in troubled lives
D．for young Cambodians taking skateboarding小题2: What is said about skateboarding in the passage?
A．It was born in Afghanistan years ago.
B．It is easy for young Cambodians to learn.
C．It is as popular as Khmer boxing in Cambodia.
D．It is a good sport to help get good feeling again.小题3:The underlined part alittle bit of hook probably means ______.
A．something strange
B．something quite new
C．something different
D．something attractive小题4: It can be inferred from the passage that skateboarding is becoming ______.
A．a sport liked by most young Cambodians
B．an increasingly popular sport in Cambodia
C．a sport used to better young Cambodians’ life
D．a good way to train young Cambodians’ learning skills
