Amateur sport

Ex. 13. Study the text:

No sweat? no extra years

Harried executives may shoehorn an occasional squash game or a round of golf into their overscheduled lives. Office clerks may sometimes trade a quick bite for a gym class during lunch hours. But if they want to get more out of their exercise routine, than a competitive attitude or a leaner look, they are going to have to step up the pace. At least, hat is the conclusion of a Harvard study reported last week. The research tracked 17300 middle-aged men over 20 years and found that those who exercised vigorously almost every day lived longer than those who broke a sweat only once or twice a day.

Only two weeks ago, another study determined that any improvement in fitness translated into longer life. Such low intensity activities as gardening and walking the dog could be as beneficial as rigorous workouts. However, even if moderate exercise does not always prolong your life, it improves your quality of life. So the best exercise that you can do probably turns out to be something that you enjoy — whether it is a strenuous workout or just a brief walk. All it takes is getting up from the couch, turning off the TV and striding — briskly — out of the door.

executives shoehorn step up vigorously beneficial rigorous

Исполнители Втискивать Усилить Энергично Выгодный Строгий

workout prolong strenuous couch stride briskly

Разминка Продлить Напряженный Кушетка Шагать Оживленно

Ex. 14. You are a doctor and you are trying to persuade your patient of the multiple benefits of physical activities.

Ex. 14. In the text below you’ll find out about one more attitude towards sport. A would-be sportsman

Timothy was keen on sport, especially football, which everybody played at break. Being light and agile, he was rather good at playground football, where you needed to dodge not just the opposing players, but other players in other games sharing the same pitch. But the school game was rugby, which he hated. He didn’t like getting banged and knocked like you did in rugby, and he didn’t have the courage to tackle other play­ers round the legs when they were running. He learned to run about on the edge of the play, looking as if he were interested, without actually touch­ing the ball or another player. Sometimes he would fall over on purpose to get his knees muddy so that it would look as if he had tackled some­body. It was the same with cricket in the summer. He enjoyed playing in the playground, and with an old tennis ball that had had most of the fur rubbed off it he could turn off-breaks quite sharply. But cricket with a real ball, hard and deadly, was a different matter. The only other school sport was running, and he was no good at that either. Usually he was elimi­nated in the heats before Sports Day, and so he would sit with his par­ents to watch the races, and see the winners go up at the end to receive their cups.

“It’s a shame they don’t give cups for lessons,” his mother would say.

“Then you’d win something, Timothy.”

But Timothy coveted athletic success, and coming first in Art or Maths gave him only a fleeting satisfaction. Sport was his chief interest in life. Sometimes his father took him to watch Charlton Athletic in the football season, and Surrey in the cricket season. He followed the fortunes of these teams in the Daily Express with passionate interest, and enacted their triumphs in fantasy, kicking a ball in the street against the front garden fence, or batting for hour after solitary hour, a rubber ball suspended by a string from the clothes-line in the back garden. But his achievements stopped short in the street or the playground. They passed into no records, were engraved upon no trophies, brought no credit to his school, and reflected no glory upon himself. He was resigned to a life of humble obscurity.

David LODGE, Out of the Shelter, 1970

agile dodge pitch bang tackle edge rub off off-break elimi­nate heats

Проворный Увертываться Подача Ударяться Зд. бросаться Край Стирать Зд. Удар Устраненять Отборочные соревн.

covet fleeting solitary suspend engrave trophy credit resign humble obscurity

Жаждать Мимолетный Уединенный Подвешивать Гравировать Трофей Честь Смириться, уходить Смиренный Мрак, безвестность

Ex. 15. Choose one of the following tasks on the text above:

1. retell the text on Timothy’s part;

2. you are Timothy’s father. Tell about your son;

3. you are Timothy’s teacher of PE. Tell what you think about Timothy;

4. you are a school psychologist. Describe Timothy’s personality.

Ex. 18. Let’s talk about amateur sport. There are some phrases and ideas to guide you:

The reasons and imperatives (common, medical, pleasure, socialising etc.)

The idea of healthy living (components).

Sport for physical fitness and health, psychological health included.

Individual and social benefits.

Governmental concern.

Somatic disorders have roots in psychological disorders, ‘seasonal’ fitness, to win self-confidence, to feel better, to reduce the number of sick-leaves significantly, to become more attractive, to impress people, to work harder, to be more energetic, to set and reach an aim, to socialise, to be promoted, to make a better career.

Ex. 19. Write an essay on your life in sport.