29. Sports

The British are great lovers of sports, especially competitive sports. Many sport games originated from England and later were adopted in many countries of the world. The most popular organized sport is soccer, followed by Rugby Union, but other sports are also enjoyed, among them sailing, darts, snooker (billiards). Many people play golf. The English are avid walkers. Scotland is famous for its fishing.

Soccer. The most popular team game in Britain is association football, or soccer. The British invented it and it has spread to every corner of the world. Soccer is a national winter game in Britain. It is played from late August until the beginning of May.

Soccer in the present form dates from 1863, when eleven clubs got together in a London pub to form the Football Association (the F.A.). In the next twenty years many of England’s greatest clubs were born. There is no British team. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland compete separately in European and World Cup matches.

Cricket. In summer the English national game is cricket. It is played from May to the end of September. It is popular only in Britain and in Commonwealth countries, particularly in Australia and New Zealand.

The game is very slow. A cricket match may be an one-day match, or a two- and three-day match (when it lasts two or three days). Cricket is played between two sides of eleven players each. Cricket is also played by women and girls. The bat is the emblem of the game.

Rugby. Rugby football, or “rugger”, is a very popular sport activity in the British Isles. Rugby got its name from the English public school, Rugby, where about a century ago, a boy picked up a soccer ball and ran with it. Rugby is played between two teams of fifteen players with an edd-shaped ball.

Tennis. Modern lawn tennis was also first played in England and has become very popular all over the world. The centre of lawn tennis is Wimbledon, South London. The first world lawn tennis championship in Wimbledon was held in 1877. The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament is the most important championship for many tennis players.

Table tennis was first invented in England in about 1880. At first the game had several strange names like Gossima, Whiff Whaff and Ping Pong. Although the game was invented in England British players don’t have much chance in international championships.

30. Food and drink in Britain

The English breakfast. In a real English breakfast you have fried eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato and mushrooms. Then There’s toast and marmalade.

Pancakes. British people eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday (вторник на масляной недели) in February or March. For pancakes you need flour, eggs and milk. Then you it them with sugar and lemon. In some parts of Britain there are pancake races on Shrove Tuesday. People race with a frying pan in one hand. They have to “toss” the pancake, throw it in the air and catch it again in the frying pan.

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. This is a traditional Sunday lunch from Yorkshire in the north of England. It’s now popular all over Britain. This pudding is not sweet. It’s a simple mixture of eggs, flour and milk, but it’s delicious. Two common vegetables with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding are Brussels sprouts and carrots. And of course, there’s always gravy. That’s a thick, brown sauce. You make gravy with the juice from the meat.

Tea. Tea is Britain’s favourite drink. It’s also a meal in the afternoon. You can eat tea at home or in a hotel. You can drink Indian or China tea. There are cucumber sandwiches and scones (Scones are plain cakes. You eat them with jam and cream). There chocolate cakes and cream cakes too.

Grammar: Present Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous, Modal verbs (can, could, must, have to, may, should), Telling time