The Benefit of a Little Exercise 做點運動的好處

Andy Simmons

笪景行 編譯

Kyle Cassidy and other members of the Annenberg Running Group meet three days a week for a 30-minute jog1. But on this day last January， it would not be their normal run.

There was a man who ran quickly past them. Cassidy wondered why the man was so quickly when another man ran by， yelling， “Help！He took my phone and laptop2！”

At that moment， the group did what policemen should do： They ran， trailing3 the thief down the streets until he ran into a construction site. The runners split4 up. Cassidy ran around to the far side of the site to cut the thief off while the others wandered5 the neighborhood hoping he had thrown the loot6 in a backyard. No luck. So they decided to ask the people there whether theyd seen the guy. When they knocked on the door of one row house7， they were in for a surprise. The thief was hiding behind a bush by that very house. As the owner opened the door， the thief rushed out from behind the bush and right into the arms of the runners.

The members of this running group are not hard-core jocks8. But they do understand the benefit of a little exercise.

“Running is typically a useless sport，” Cassidy said. “But somethimes it can be useful， and here was one of those opportunities.”

凱爾·卡西迪和其他安納伯格跑步小組的成員每周碰頭三次，每次進行30分鐘的慢跑。但在去年一月的這一天，他們進行的卻不是平常的跑步活動。

有個人從他們身邊快速超過了他們。卡西迪不知道為什么這個人跑得那么快，這時另一個人跑了過來，喊道：“救命！他拿走了我的手機和筆記本電腦！”

在那一刻，這個小組做了警察該做的事情：他們一邊跑，一邊在街道上追蹤小偷，直到小偷逃進了一個建筑工地。這群跑步者分頭行動，卡西迪跑向工地的另一邊，斷掉小偷的后路，其他人則在附近徘徊，希望小偷已經把贓物扔在后院了。可惜他們一無所獲。所以他們決定詢問附近的人是否見過那個家伙。在敲開一棟小排房的門時，他們十分驚訝。原來小偷正躲在那棟房子旁的灌木叢后面。當房主打開門時，小偷從灌木叢后面沖出來，直接沖進了跑步者們的“懷抱”。

這個跑步小組的成員不是鐵桿運動健將。但他們確實明白了做點運動的好處。

“跑步通常是一項無用的運動。”卡西迪說，“但偶爾也會有用，這就是其中一次機會。”

（英語原文選自：www.rd.com）