Athletes and stress - IELTS Reading with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Luyện tập đề IELTS Reading Practice với passage Athletes and stress được lấy từ cuốn sách IELTS Mock Test Vol 19 - Test 2 - Passage 2 với trải nghiệm thi IELTS trên máy và giải thích đáp án chi tiết bằng Linearthinking, kèm list từ vựng IELTS cần học trong bài đọc.
Athletes And Stress IELTS Reading Answers with Explanation
❓ Câu hỏi (questions)
Question 1 - 5
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F.
1
an athlete’s own account of what she believed had caused her difficulties
2
an explanation of the two opposing elements whose balance gives rise to stress
3
reference to specific sports in which a strong reaction to pressure has improved athletes’ results
4
a description of the many bodily symptoms that anxiety can bring about
5
examples of techniques that help competitors manage pressure
Question 6 - 9
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
6
Reaching a high level of success calls for a great deal of bodily and mental
.
7
In a challenge state, adrenaline sends extra energy to the brain and the
.
8
Through visualisation, an athlete can build a feeling of
over a demanding, pressured moment.
9
Positive stress responses can be encouraged by the
that athletes and the people around them use.
Question 10 - 11
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO facts about Nika Beran’s withdrawal from the Fairhaven Championships are mentioned in the text?
A
the specific physical symptoms she experienced while playing
B
the round of the competition she had reached when she stopped
C
features of the event that added to the pressure on her
D
steps she had previously taken to keep her stress under control
E
how the public reacted to what she shared online
Question 12 - 13
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO facts about anxiety are mentioned in Paragraph E of the text?
A
how long its effects take to appear
B
what determines how intense it becomes
C
the harm that repeated episodes can cause
D
the symptom that athletes experience most often
E
the category of sportsperson most affected by it
DOL IELTS Đình Lực
📖 Bài đọc (reading passage)
ATHLETES AND STRESS
A
A. Life as a professional athlete is far from easy. The bodily demands alone would overwhelm most ordinary people, and on top of them competitors must withstand fierce mental pressure every time they compete. It was precisely this that the Slovenian tennis player Nika Beran described in a post she shared online after withdrawing from the 2019 Fairhaven Championships. She had been performing strongly until then, but partway through one match she found her breathing and heartbeat impossible to steady — a reaction she later put down to what she called ‘everything piling up at once, the thrill and the sheer noise of it’.
B
B.
For any competitor, a certain amount of performance stress is more or less inescapable. Precisely how a given person’s body and mind react to a stressful moment, though, is shaped by a wide array of factors. In essence, stress emerges from a kind of trade-off between two things: the demands being made and the resources available to meet them. Should the demands appear to exceed what an athlete can manage, stress is likely to follow. Among the demands are the heavy physical and mental effort that success requires, alongside the athlete’s anxieties about how testing the event will be, their prospects of winning, and any threat of harm such as injury. The resources, by contrast, amount to a person’s capacity to handle those demands — their level of confidence, the degree to which they believe the outcome is theirs to control, and whether they face the event with eagerness or with dread.
C
Every fresh demand, or shift in circumstances, helps decide whether someone reacts to stress well or badly. As a rule, the greater the resources a person believes they can bring to bear, the more favourable their stress response — a positive reaction of this sort is termed a challenge state. Where the demands instead feel overwhelming, a negative response becomes more likely, and this is known as a threat state. Studies indicate that challenge states tend to produce strong performances, whereas threat states are linked to weaker ones. For Beran, then, a far bigger crowd, loftier expectations and an opponent of greater ability may together have convinced her that the demands upon her had grown — without her having the resources to match them. The result was a threat response.
D
In effect, our challenge and threat responses shape the way the body reacts under stress, since each alters the output of two hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, commonly labelled ‘stress hormones’. Within a challenge state, adrenaline raises the volume of blood the heart pumps and widens the blood vessels, so that additional energy reaches the muscles and the brain. That combination of increased blood flow and reduced pressure in the vessels has repeatedly been tied to better sporting results — in disciplines as varied as batting at cricket, putting in golf and taking penalties at football. In a threat state, by contrast, cortisol suppresses adrenaline’s benefits, leaving the vessels narrower, blood pressure higher, mental reactions slower and the heartbeat quicker. Put simply, a threat state heightens anxiety: choices worsen and performance suffers. Among tennis players, cortisol has been connected with a greater number of failed serves and with heightened anxiety.
E
Even so, anxiety is something athletes routinely feel when the pressure is on. It can drive up the heart rate and perspiration, trigger palpitations, muscle tremors and breathlessness, and in the worst cases bring on headaches, nausea, stomach pain, weakness and an urge to flee. Anxiety can likewise blunt concentration and self-control while fuelling overthinking. How fiercely a person feels it comes down to the demands they face and the resources they hold. Depending on the stress response, moreover, the same anxiety may surface as excitement or as nervousness. Negative responses can harm body and mind alike — and bouts of anxiety, repeated and paired with such responses, can raise the likelihood of heart disease and depression.
F
There are, however, plenty of ways for athletes to make sure they respond well when the pressure mounts. The language used by the athletes themselves, and by those around them like coaches or parents, can encourage a positive response. Psychologists, too, can teach athletes to reinterpret their bodily reactions — to read a racing heart as a sign of excitement rather than of nerves. Cultivating mental skills such as visualisation likewise helps dampen the body’s threat responses. In visualisation an athlete might rebuild in the mind a moment when they competed well, or imagine themselves succeeding in some future contest; either way it fosters a sense of control over the stressful situation. Reproducing competitive pressure in training is another route: awarding athletes scores against their teammates, for instance, manufactures a feeling of rivalry, raising the demands beyond those of an ordinary session while still letting them rehearse how to cope with stress.
For any competitor, a certain amount of performance stress is more or less inescapable. Precisely how a given person’s body and mind react to a stressful moment, though, is shaped by a wide array of factors. In essence, stress emerges from a kind of trade-off between two things: the demands being made and the resources available to meet them. Should the demands appear to exceed what an athlete can manage, stress is likely to follow. Among the demands are the heavy physical and mental effort that success requires, alongside the athlete’s anxieties about how testing the event will be, their prospects of winning, and any threat of harm such as injury. The resources, by contrast, amount to a person’s capacity to handle those demands — their level of confidence, the degree to which they believe the outcome is theirs to control, and whether they face the event with eagerness or with dread.
C. Every fresh demand, or shift in circumstances, helps decide whether someone reacts to stress well or badly. As a rule, the greater the resources a person believes they can bring to bear, the more favourable their stress response — a positive reaction of this sort is termed a challenge state. Where the demands instead feel overwhelming, a negative response becomes more likely, and this is known as a threat state. Studies indicate that challenge states tend to produce strong performances, whereas threat states are linked to weaker ones. For Beran, then, a far bigger crowd, loftier expectations and an opponent of greater ability may together have convinced her that the demands upon her had grown — without her having the resources to match them. The result was a threat response.
D. In effect, our challenge and threat responses shape the way the body reacts under stress, since each alters the output of two hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, commonly labelled ‘stress hormones’. Within a challenge state, adrenaline raises the volume of blood the heart pumps and widens the blood vessels, so that additional energy reaches the muscles and the brain. That combination of increased blood flow and reduced pressure in the vessels has repeatedly been tied to better sporting results — in disciplines as varied as batting at cricket, putting in golf and taking penalties at football. In a threat state, by contrast, cortisol suppresses adrenaline’s benefits, leaving the vessels narrower, blood pressure higher, mental reactions slower and the heartbeat quicker. Put simply, a threat state heightens anxiety: choices worsen and performance suffers. Among tennis players, cortisol has been connected with a greater number of failed serves and with heightened anxiety.
E. Even so, anxiety is something athletes routinely feel when the pressure is on. It can drive up the heart rate and perspiration, trigger palpitations, muscle tremors and breathlessness, and in the worst cases bring on headaches, nausea, stomach pain, weakness and an urge to flee. Anxiety can likewise blunt concentration and self-control while fuelling overthinking. How fiercely a person feels it comes down to the demands they face and the resources they hold. Depending on the stress response, moreover, the same anxiety may surface as excitement or as nervousness. Negative responses can harm body and mind alike — and bouts of anxiety, repeated and paired with such responses, can raise the likelihood of heart disease and depression.
F. There are, however, plenty of ways for athletes to make sure they respond well when the pressure mounts. The language used by the athletes themselves, and by those around them like coaches or parents, can encourage a positive response. Psychologists, too, can teach athletes to reinterpret their bodily reactions — to read a racing heart as a sign of excitement rather than of nerves. Cultivating mental skills such as visualisation likewise helps dampen the body’s threat responses. In visualisation an athlete might rebuild in the mind a moment when they competed well, or imagine themselves succeeding in some future contest; either way it fosters a sense of control over the stressful situation. Reproducing competitive pressure in training is another route: awarding athletes scores against their teammates, for instance, manufactures a feeling of rivalry, raising the demands beyond those of an ordinary session while still letting them rehearse how to cope with stress.
