Riding a surfboard across the face of a breaking wave was once the preserve of ancient Polynesian islanders, but in the twentieth century it became something enjoyed by millions of people the world over. Modern surfing has spread well beyond its more recent Hawaiian, American, and Australian origins.

    脚踏冲浪板出没在海巅浪尖的运动原是古波利尼西亚岛人独有的，但到了20世纪，该运动开始受到世界各地人们的喜爱。现代冲浪运动是从夏威夷、美洲和澳洲开始而迅速风靡全球的。

    Surfing originated sometime between 1500 B.C. and A.D. 400 among the oceanic island cultures of Polynesia. From there, it spread to the Hawaiian Islands, where it was witnessed by the British explorer Captain James Cook in 1778. The missionaries that followed in Cook's wake discouraged the practice to such an extent that it had practically vanished by the end of the nineteenth century. It was revived early in the 1900s by young Hawaiians and promoted by the local tourist industry where it continued to spread on to Australia and the US.

    冲浪运动源于公元前1500年到公元400年之间的波利尼西亚的海岛 ......