Practice Test Reading Comprehension - 10 | English Language for JAMB PDF Download

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

I find it astonishing when people claim that sports promote goodwill among nations and that if individuals from different countries could meet on the playing field, they would have no desire to engage in warfare. Even without concrete examples like the contentious 1936 Olympic Games, it can be deduced from general principles that international sports competitions often lead to outbursts of animosity. The majority of sports practiced today are inherently competitive. When you engage in a game, winning becomes crucial for it to hold meaning. On a casual village green, where teams are chosen without any sense of local patriotism, it is possible to play simply for fun and exercise. However, once prestige becomes a factor and the fear of disgrace if you lose sets in, the most ferocious combative instincts are awakened. Anyone who has participated in a school football match can attest to this fact. At the international level, sports become a reflection of simulated warfare. Yet, what truly matters is not the players' behavior, but the attitude of the spectators, and beyond them, the nations who become consumed by irrational fervor over these absurd contests, genuinely believing that running, jumping, and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue. Even a leisurely game that values grace over strength can breed hostility. Football, a sport where injuries are commonplace and each nation has its distinct style of play, is even worse. Boxing is deemed one of the most abhorrent sports due to the animosity it stirs among spectators of different races when white and colored boxers face off in front of a mixed audience.