2. Join these to make correct sentences, check your answers in the text.

1. Deck tennis appeared ...	a. tennis and quoits.
2. Deck tennis is now established as ...	b. a much smaller area than Lawn tennis.
3. Ring tennis is a combination of ...	c. in the 1920s.
4. Ring tennis can be played in ...	d. a land game known as Ring tennis or Beach tennis.
5. Lawn tennis is a game played...	e. in Australia and court tennis in America are played in an indoor court.
6. A winner is a player who seeks to collect more points ...	f. with long-handled, oval- headed rackets.
7. Real tennis in Britain as royal tennis ...	g. by maneuvering a cloth-covered rubber ball

Base jumping

1. Read the text and choose the right answer.

One of the most extreme of all extreme sports is base jumping, the sport of jumping off tall buildings, towers, mountain cliffs and bridges with the help of a parachute.

In fact, BASE is an acronym that stands for the four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: B stands for Building, A stands for Antenna (an uninhabited tower), S stands for Span (a bridge, arch or dome), E stands for Earth (a cliff or other natural formation).

Founded in 1980, BASE jumping grew out of skydiving. Actually, most people who try BASE jumping have already learned to skydive. But BASE jumping is much more dangerous than skydiving, that’s why it is banned in many countries. Legal jumps now happen on specific days and from approved structures.

In the United States, for example, you can only do BASE jumping once a year, on “Bridge Day” which takes place on the third Saturday in October at the New River George Bridge in West Virginia. The event attracts about 450 BASE jumpers and hundreds of spectators.

BASE jumping is extremely dangerous, but of course that’s why BASE jumpers love it. Like over extreme sports, it is the risk of disaster that makes BASE jumping so exciting. As one BASE jumper said, “There aren’t many injuries in BASE jumping; you either live or you die.”

Notes:

• Antenna – (зд) необитаемая башня

• Span – пролетное строение

• acronym – акроним (выражение или слово, образованное от начальных букв словосочетания или предложения)

According to the passage, base jumping originated in …

a) 1450

b) 1980

c) 1990

In many countries base jumping is …

a) permitted.

b) extremely popular.

c) forbidden.

According to the passage, in the USA you can do base jumping once a year from …

a) any building

b) the definite bridge

c) all bridges

Base jumping is …

a) a safe sport

b) a risky sport

c) a widespread sport

Extreme Sports

1. Read the text and say of which of the sports, a-g are the following true?

• You do not need to have any special skills.

• You need to cooperate with a group of people.

• It was started by the inventors of another extreme sport.

• You can hurt yourself whilst trying to stop.

• You need to be both strong and psychologically prepared.

• It offers reasonably good protection from injury.

• It could get you into trouble with the police.

• You can make your own protection for your feet.

1. Skydiving consists of jumping with a parachute, out of an airplane for recreation or in competitions. Competitive events include jumping for style, landing with accuracy, and making free-fall formations. Modern skydivers typically free-fall from 3 657 m above the ground until 762 m, where they open their parachutes.

2. Skiboarding is the art of descending a hill on skiboards. Skiboards are basically a cross between skis and a snowboard. They are about half the length of regular skis (between 80 and 100 cm. long), and about twice as wide. The design allows the rider to do everything that skiers and snowboarders do plus go backwards, turn 360’s on the ground, execute one foot turns and perform more tricks than was ever thought possible on normal skis.

3. Bungee jumping consists of jumping from a great height while attached to a long piece of elastic that is just short enough to prevent the jumper from hitting the ground.

4. Base jumping consists of jumping with a parachute from high places such as buildings or mountains

5. Street luge is the pavement version of ice luge. Both involve lying flat on your back and steering a luge not much bigger than skateboard with your head just inches off the ground. Complete fearlessness is essential for this sport, as well as a thick piece of rubber, preferable from a car tyre, as footwear. Top lugers can reach speeds of 145 kilometres per hour, yet their only way of braking is to use their feet, which often causes painful injuries.

6. Ice-climbing. As the name suggests, practioners of this activity climb glaciers with the aid of an ice axe and a great deal of other specialists equipment. As well as the equipment, incredible physical and mental strength are essential, together with the ability to work closely with other team members in the most dangerous situations.

7. Zorbing is the latest adventure experience from New Zealand. It involves rolling around in a ball, or zorb three metres in diameter. It requires no more skill than a hamster running in its wheel as centrifugal force keeps the zorbonaut pinned inside the zorb. Although zorbonauts have hurtled downhill at speeds of 50 kilometres per hour, the air cushioning inside means they do not risk hurting themselves too seriously.

Notes:

• formation – (зд.) фигура

• cross – гибрид

• execute – исполнять

• zorbing – зорбинг (спуск человека со снежной горы в прозрачном шаре – зорбе)

• zorbonaut – человек занимающийся зорбингом