Choose the correct variant.

1. Competitions involving physical strength___________________

A. have interested people since the 19th century

B. date from prehistoric times

C. were initiated by the American Indians

2. Interest in sports and games increased_________

A. as a result of greater participation in them

B. during the 19th century

C. due to the improvement of the facilities and wider coverage of the events

3. The phrase "Administered by Jockey Club" means:__________

A. the Jockey Club applies the rules

B. the Jockey Club grants the awards

C. the Jockey Club controls horse racing

4. Sailing events in Great Britain include:____________________

A. regattas

B. rowing races

C. swimming and windsurfing

5. What is the idea of the second to last paragraph?_____________

A. The revival of athletics in England and the US.

B. Professional and amateur sports in the US.

C. Sports as a part of the educational system in the US.

6. Which of the following is not true?__________________

A. The chief professional sports in the US are baseball and Ameri­can football.

B. The principal amateur sports in the US are college football and basketball.

C. Among amateur sports for individual competition are boxing, wrestling, golf, tennis and hockey.

3.Look through the text and find the English equivalents of the following word com­binations.

1. Требующие физической силы и выносливости.

2. Относиться к доисторическим временам.

3. Широкое освещение в средствах массовой информации.

4. Участвовать в соревнованиях на кубок мира.

5. Развивать командные виды спорта.

6. Возник в Шотландии (Англии).

7. Открытый чемпионат по гольфу.

8. Считается самым важным соревнованием по теннису в мире.

9. Установить правила.

10. Календарь соревнований по гребле.

11. Водные виды спорта.

12. Возрождение спорта.

13. Представлять важную часть образовательной системы-

14. Заниматься спортом для развлечения.

15. Основные любительские виды спорта.

Text B.

The Olympic games

Pre-reading. Learn how to pronounce the following words and word combinations:

religious, Zeus, javelin, Olympiad, Hellenic calendar, controversies, en­thusiast, inauguration, officiating

 The Olympic Games were originally an ancient Greek religious festival in honor of Zeus, which was held in Olympia near Mount Olympus, the myth­ical home of the gods. The Games were first held in 776 ВС. They were held every four years, in the middle of the summer. The festival was only held if there was peace throughout Greece. The ceremonies included contests in oratory, poetry, music and art, as well as in athletic skills like wrestling, throw­ing the javelin, and running.

 The Olympic Games were an exclusively male festival. Women were not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games, or even to attend and watch them. The victors were traditionally crowned with olive leaves rather than with gold medals. Their importance in Greek life was so great that the Olympiad, the four-year interval between Games, was a main unit of the Hellenic calendar. To be a victor in the classical Olympic Games was a great honor not only for the athlete but also for his city.

 The classical Games continued for over a thousand years. Factionalism and controversies over the status of competitors became so fierce and disrup­tive in later years that the Games were finally suppressed by the Roman Emperor Theodosius in AD 392 as a disturbance of Roman peace.

 With growth of interest in sport in the 19th century, and the organization °f annual and traditional sport competitions, especially between schools and universities, the idea arose of reviving the Olympic Games in the modern world. A Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was the enthusiast whose personal drive and initiative brought about the inauguration of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 with the participation of 311 athletes from thirteen countries, competing in nine sports.

 At first, the modern Games were limited to men. Women first competed in the Games in 1910, playing golf, but real women's participation only be­gan in Paris in 1924 with the inclusion of women's athletics in the program.

 Winter sports were brought into the Olympic program through the orga­nization of special winter Games, first held in France at Chamonix in 1924, with competitions in ice-hockey, speed skating, figure-skating, and skiing. These are still the basic events of the winter program, with the addition of bobsled and toboggan races.

 The most impressive event of the opening ceremony of the Games is the taking of the Olympic oaths. First a representative athlete from the host coun­try, holding a corner of the Olympic flag, takes the following oath on behalf of all the participants:

 "In the name of all competitors, I promise that we will take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."

 After the representative athlete, a judge from the host country takes an oath on behalf of all those judging and officiating in the Games.

 The Olympic flag has a motif of five interlocking rings on a white back­ground. The five rings represent five continents of the world and symbolize universal brotherhood. The six colors, the white of the background and the blue, yellow, black, green and red of the rings, represent the nations of the world, since every national flag contains at least one of these colors. The ceremonial embroidered flag, by the Olympic rules, must reside in the prin­cipal municipal building of the host city until the next Games.

 The motto of the Games, "Citius, altius, fortius" (Latin - faster, higher, braver), puts the emphasis on personal winners — not team performance and achievements. Officially, there are individual and team winners but no win­ning countries; from the very beginning of the games, however, the press has made an unofficial count of the medals won by the sportsmen of each partic­ipating country and has kept an unofficial points score. Until the 1952 Olym­pics the United States teams dominated the Summer Games because of their strength in athletics, swimming and boxing. Since the Helsinki Games, when the USSR took part in them for the first time, competition in all events of the program has become keener, and one country has ceased to dominate: the US hold on first place was successfully challenged by the USSR and the German Democratic Republic.

 Each Olympiad the size of the Olympic Games has been growing in the scale of competition, number of competitors and size of the audience watch ing them — live or on television. Huge stadiums accommodate tens of thou­sands of spectators, while television brings the scene directly to the homes of the whole world.

Comprehension

Read the text and answer the questions.

1. When were the first classical Games held?

2. How were the winners of the Games honored?

3. How many countries took part in the first modern Games?

4. What sports are included in the Winter Games?

5. What does the Olympic flag look like?

Choose the best variant.

1. The main idea of the first paragraph is_________________

A. Mount Olympus was a mythical home of the gods

B. the first Olympic Games were held in Greece

C. the Olympic Games were originally a religious festival

2. The Olympiad is _______________________

A. a period of peace throughout Greece

B. an annual and traditional sporting contest

C. a four-year period between the Games

3. Women didn't take part in the Games_______

A. until 1896

B. until 1910 С until 1924

4. The first Winter Games were held____________ after the revivalof the Olympic Games.

A. 30 years

1. 24 years
2.  28 years

5. The five rings on the Olympic flag represent _________________________

A. the true spirit of sportsmanship

B. five continents of the world

C. the host country

6. Which of the following sports was not mentioned among the basic events of the winter program?_________________

A. bobsledding

B. figure skating

C. field hockey

7. Which of the following is not true?_______________________

A. It's personal, not team performance, is emphasized in the Olym­pic Games.

B. All athletes from the host country take the oath on behalf of all the participants.

C. The winners were traditionally crowned with olive wreaths.

8. What conclusion can we draw about the ancient Greeks?________

A. They were good sportsmen.

B. They liked different ceremonies.

С.They couldn't count, so they used "Olympiads" for dates

Text C

Unusual Sports and Games

 Curling is a popular sport in Canada. However, it probably started in Scotland or Holland around three hundred years ago. There are two teams with four people on each team in curling. The teams play on a sheet of ice that is 45 meters long and 4.3 meters wide.

 Each player slides two heavy stones toward the "house" circle at the op­posite end of the ice sheet. The stones weigh almost twenty kilos. Each stone is flat on the top and bottom and has a handle on the top. The player swings the stone off the ice and it curls as it slides along.

 While one player throws the stone, his teammates sweep in front of the-stone. This smoothes the ice. The players believe that the stone travels faster on smooth ice. The captain of the team yells "Sweep!" and the teammates start sweeping the ice.

 Lacrosse is another popular sport in Canada. It is one of the oldest organized sports in America. It is also popular in Britain and Australia. It was invented by Indians in northern New York and southern Ontario. They used it to train for war before Columbus arrived in the New World.

 People play lacrosse outdoors. The lacrosse field is 70 meters long. At each end of the field there is a goal. There are ten players on each team. Each player hits a ball that is 21 centimeters around and weighs 140 grams. They try to hit the ball into the net as many times as possible. Lacrosse is a very fast game because the players can catch and pass the ball at high speed with their sticks.

 Sumo wrestling is the national sport in Japan. Every year there are six tournaments, and millions of Japanese watch them on television. Sumo is almost as old as the nation of Japan itself. Stories say there was sumo wrestling over 2000 years ago.Sumo wrestlers weigh from 100 to 160 kilos. One famous wrestler weighed 195 kilos. Sumo wrestlers do not look beautiful, and sumo wrestling is a very slow sport.Sumo wrestlers start training when they are boys. They exercise to make their bodies strong. They also eat, eat, and eat.Sumo wrestlers wrestle in a round ring with a sand floor. A wrestler loses the match if he leaves the ring or if any part of his body except his feet touch­es the floor. Each wrestler tries to push the other down on the floor or out of the ring.People from other countries usually think sumo is very strange, but the Japanese love it.

 The most recent unusual sport is the triathlon, which became popular in the US before spreading elsewhere. This most demanding sport came from a late-night discussion in a Honolulu bar in 1977 about which sport was the most exhausting: swimming, bicycle racing, or long-distance running. Some­one suggested that they all be put together. The result was the first triathlon, the "Ironman", in 1978, with 15 participants. This contest was a 3.9-kilome­ter ocean swim, followed immediately by a 180-kilometer bicycle race, and ending with a 42 kilometer run. Five years later there were already 1,000 such competitions throughout the US, and the triathlon is becoming more and more popular in Europe, too.

Comprehension

1. Answer the questions.

1. Where is curling popular?

2. Who invented this game?

3. How many people play curling at one time?

4. Why is the game called curling?

5. How do the players slide the stones?

6. Who invented lacrosse?

7. What countries play lacrosse?

8. How many players are on each team?

9. In what countries is lacrosse played?

10. Where is sumo wrestling popular?

11. Is sumo an old sport?

12. How do sumo wrestlers train?

13. How are sumo wrestlers different from other athletes?

14. How does a sumo wrestler lose the match?

15. Why is triathlon referred to as "the most demanding sport"?

16. Where did it appear?

17. What country is triathlon most popular in?

Vocabulary Exercises

1. What do you call a man who can:

Wrestle, ski, skate, run, shoot, fence, box, climb, race, do weightlifting, swim, cycle, dive, play football/chess/draughts/volleyball/basketball/ hockey/tennis, go boating/yachting/ gliding/parachuting

e.g. to ski - a skier, to play basketball --a basketballer, to play hockey -a hockey-player, to do parachuting/sky diving - a parachute-jump­er/a sky diver, to go gliding — a glider-pilot, to go yachting — a yacht­sman