UNIT 9: A SPORTING LIFE

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1. SPORTS AND GAMES
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
1. Which of these sports can you see in the pictures?
football

motor racing

climbing

darts

windsurfing

cycling

athletics

ice hockey
volleyball

karate

parachuting
sailing

swimming
basketball
boxing

tennis

soccer

cricket

snow-boarding

golf

rugby

horse-riding

skiing

skating

sleighing

aerobatics

badminton

judo baseball

table-tennis

skydiving

surfing

weightlifting

2. In small groups, discuss the following questions:

a) Which of these sports do you do / practice or watch?
b) Which of these sports are shown on television a lot?
3. Put the sports in the box into groups according to what you think they have in common. Think
of different groupings.
For example:
water sports: swimming, surfing, sailing and scuba-diving.
ball games:; winter sports:; indoor games:; team sports:; individual sports:, etc.
4. Match the following adjectives with the sports in the vocabulary box:
popular, expensive, tiring, dangerous, fashionable, difficult, exciting, safe.

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5. What verbs would you use with each sport: do, play or go?
For example: go swimming; play tennis; do weightlifting

READING AND SPEAKING PRACTICE

SPEAKING ABOUT SPORTS

Katy: Whats your favourite sport, Andrew?

Andrew: Well, I like most sports, but I suppose I like football most of all. Like most people.
Katy: Yes, I suppose football is the most popular sport. Personally, I dont like football. I dont
enjoy competitive sports. I like cycling and horse-riding.
Andrew: Isnt horse riding very expensive?
Katy: Yes, its more expensive than cycling.
Andrew: What do you think is the most tiring sport?
Katy: Well, for me, tennis is the most tiring. What do you think is the most dangerous sport?
Andrew: I think hang gliding is very dangerous.
Katy: Well, thats what many people think. But you know, there are more accidents to do with
windsurfing than there are with hang gliding.
Andrew: I didnt know that. Which is the most difficult sport, in your opinion?
Katy: How about climbing? I think climbing is very hard.
Andrew: Well, I think skiing is more difficult than climbing.
Katy: No, I dont agree. Climbing looks incredibly difficult.
Andrew: And what do you think is the most exciting sport?
Katy: It has to be motor racing. Motor racing is the most exciting sport for me.

1. What of the statements in the dialogue between Katy and Andrew do you agree with?
2. Put these paragraphs from a story about the Olympic Games in the right order:
A. He then caught the train back to Stockholm, made a reservation into a hotel, got a boat to Japan,
got married, had six children and ten grandchildren.
B. In 1966, Shizo Kanakuri finished the Olympic marathon in record time. To run the
42 kilometres, he took 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, and 32 minutes.
C. Then he went back to the place where he stopped for a drink in 1912, and finished
the marathon for Japan.
D. He started in 1912 in Stockholm, and after a few miles he saw some people having a drink. He

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was thirsty, too, so he joined them.

Adapted from The Return of the Heroic Failures by Stephen Pile
3. Choose the best title for the above story:
a) The most expensive game.
b) The slowest run.
c) The worst match.
4. Read the text and put the following pictures in the order in which they happen.

Mountain Men
The history of Sumo wrestling goes back over 2000 years. Its origins are connected to the Japanese
belief in Shinto, the way of the gods, where winning gains favour with the gods. This is why the ritual
of a sumo match is taken so seriously
The clay fighting ring is itself a sacred shrine. On entering it, the enormous wrestler first claps, to
attract the gods attention and indicate his own purity of heart. Having done that, he shakes his apron to
drive away evil spirits, and raises his arms to show he carries no weapons. Next comes his most
dramatic gesture. With his left hand on his heart and his right arm extended to the east, the huge fighter
raises his right leg as high as possible to send it crashing down with all his force. Then he performs
the same earth-shaking stamp with the other leg. After that, he purifies himself and the ring by
throwing salt, wiping himself, and rinsing his mouth with water. Finally, the opponents spend three or
four minutes trying to intimidate each other with grimaces and threatening postures.
The fight itself is brief and brutal and consists of a thunderous collision that rarely lasts more than
ten seconds, which ends when one giant is pushed to the ground or outside the circle.

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5 Work in a group with other students and describe a sport that you know.
- Refer to the following if appropriate:
- where you play
- what you play with
- what you wear
- who you play with
- the object of the game the basic rules
- what makes a good player.
6. Read the following text and choose the correct alternative below to fill in the gaps.
(1) net/goal

(6) line/net

(2) scored/pointed

(7) fight/struggle

(3) club/team

(8) court/ring

(4) racket/bat

(9) round/game

(5) play/game

(10) umpire/referee

I never really enjoyed sports at school. I remember when I played football, I was always put in (1)
...., but I used to get bored and read a book. Then when the other side (2) ....., the rest of my (3) ....
would shout at me. Later on I tried tennis which wasnt much better. I used to have this habit of
dropping the (4) .... each time I went to hit the ball. The worst thing was once when I actually won a (5)
.... I was so pleased that I ran and jumped over the (6) ....., but caught my foot on it, fell and broke my
arm. My latest attempt to get fit was when I tried boxing at a local gym. I remember my first (7) ..... I
climbed up inside the (8) .... and the bell went for the start of the first (9) .... . I just shut my eyes and
swung my fist. Unfortunately, I hit the (10) .... and not my opponent. Needless to say, that was the end
of my boxing career.
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2.WOMEN IN SPORTS_____________________________________________

A. AN INTERVIEW
- Now, this is a question that everyone asks you: how did you get interested in boxing?
- I saw a documentary about women boxing in America about six years ago. It was just a little
television program, it was about an hour long, and I watched the program and it changed my life. I was
fascinated and I thought Im going to do that.
- Were you interested in sport at school?
- No. I wasnt even fit or anything. I used to smoke, I used to drink. I didnt look after myself at

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all. I didnt eat very well, but this just changed my life
- How long did it take you to get fit?
- It took meabout two years to reach the level I needed to be at.
- Do you know how many female boxers there are in Britain?
- There are about three hundred women boxing as amateurs, and there are about eight women
boxing professionally in the U.K. at the moment, but throughout the world
- And what do critics say?
- At the outset, it was difficult. It was like women shouldnt box, you know, they shouldnt be
doing this, and they shouldnt be doing that, and should be at home looking after kids, and everything.
And a woman is never as good as a man
- What do you think are the prime skills to have as a boxer?
- Well, believe it or not, youve got to have a pretty good brain to be a good boxer. Anyone can
fight, but to make it to the top, youve to have a pretty cute brain, and the fitness side of it is very, very
important.
- How do you relax?
- I dont. I never do. I dont sleep too much, and when I do, I dream about boxing. I work really
hard, I just constantly working
- How do you prepare for a match?
- For a ten-round world title fight, obviously I go to the training camp outside Bristol, for eight
weeks before each fight, and once I go to training camp thats it. I dont do anything else. Ive got a
very good trainer, Ive got a very good team around me
- Have you been seriously hurt in a match?
- Not really seriously. Not lasting damage. Things that take a couple of weeks to mend, like broken
cheek bone, broken nose, lost a few teeth
- Do you think youve changed after your success?
- Changed as a person? I think Ive changed in the life-style. Im travelling a lot, I live out of a
suitcase. But as a person, definitely not. My feet are just so firmly on the ground, you wouldnt believe
it.
*
*

B. GIRLS MUSCLE IN ON BOYS SPORTS

Nicole Stocks male teammates once locked her in a changing stall and stuffed her hockey gear

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into a toilet.
The boys picked on me because Im a girl,, says Nicole, from Glenview, Illinois. They thought
hockey was their sport.
Nicole is one of the growing number of U.S. girls now competing in sports once reserved for boys.
Ten years ago, 5,500 girls played ice hockey. But the sport gained popularity among girls after the U.S.
womens ice-hockey team won Olympic gold in 1998. In 1999, more than 18,000 girls under 16 picked
up hockey sticks and took to the ice.
Female hockey players arent the only pioneers in sports that now have boys and girls on the same
team. More than 2,000 girls pinned male foes to wrestling mats in 1999.
At the high school level, the number of girls taking part in traditionally male sports is also on the
rise.
Playing sports increase girls confidence and self-esteem. But some critics still worry that boys,
who may be bigger or stronger, might hurt female players.
That fear hasnt stop Nicole. She has this advice for other girls who want to get in the game:
Stand out and just keep going.
Adapted from Scholastic News, vol. 68, no 25/2000

SPEAKING AND WRITING PRACTICE

1. Answer the questions:

- What do the two texts above have in common?
- What sports are the two women practising?
- Do you think these sports are unsuitable for women?
- Are there any sports you consider unsuitable for women? Why?
2. Translate into English:
1. Facei sport? 2. mi place s joc tenis, dar nu joc prea bine. 3. Ce alte sporturi v intereseaz? 4.
M intereseaz sporturile de iarn. 5. Ce ntreceri sportive v place s urmrii la televizor? 6. mi plac
cursele de coborre pe ski, patinajul vitez i artistic, hocheiul pe ghea, scrima, halterele, hipismul,
ciclismul, cursele cu automobilul i sporturile nautice. 7. Vrei s mergem s vedem un meci de fotbal?
8. Atletismul presupune i probe ca: aruncarea suliei, sritura cu prjina, aruncarea discului, ciocanului
i aruncarea greutii.
3.What is your favourite sport? Justify your option in 10 15 lines.

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LISTENING PRACTICE
Following instructions about a sport
Which sport is being taught? Put a check (P) in the box below the correct photo. Make a list
of the important words that helped you reach the conclusion.

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