B

An extreme sport is a popular term for certain activities regarded as having a high level of danger. These activities often involve speed, height, and a high level of physical effort. In the past young athletes would play baseball. Today, they want risk and excitement—the closer to the edge, the better. They snowboard over cliffs and mountains, or bike down steep mountains.

Extreme sports started as an alternative to more expensive sports such as golf. A city kid who couldn’t afford expensive sports equipment could get a skateboard and have fun. But now it has become a whole new area of sports, with specialized equipment and high levels of skill. There is even an Olympics for extreme sports, called the winter X-game, which includes snow mountain biking and ice climbing.

What makes extreme sports so popular? People love the risk. City people want to be outdoors on the weekend and do something challenging. The new equipment is so much better that people can take more risks without getting hurt. Sure there’s a risk. Once you go mountain biking or snowboarding, it’s impossible to go back to bike riding or skiing. It’s just too boring.

Now even the older crowd is starting to join in. Every weekend, groups of friends in their early 30s get together. On weekdays they work as computer programmers in the same office. On weekends they rent mountains together.

Extreme sports are certainly not for everyone. Most people still prefer to play basketball or watch sports on TV. But it has been a fact that extreme sports are gaining in popularity.

Nowadays more and more young athletes are taking part in the risky activities.

66. All the following sports are X-sports EXCEPT_____.

A. ice-climbing B. snowboarding C. skiing D. mountain-biking

67. Which of the following is NOT the characteristic of extreme sports?

A. Risky. B. Challenging. C. Exciting. D. Unskilled.

68. The underlined word “alternative” in Paragraph 3 more probably means _____.

A. replacement B. activity C. equipment D. competition

69. Extreme sports have become so popular because _____.

A. people can get better equipment to make sure they will not get hurt

B. people are not interested in the traditional sports any more

C. people want to do something risky after doing the same thing on weekdays

D. extreme sports are easy to learn and less expensive.

70. From the passage, we can learn that _____.

A. all young people like extreme sports

B. playing basketball is still a popular game

C. people prefer extreme sports to traditional sports

D. bike riding and skiing are boring sports