4. Discuss the following questions with your partner. Then write a brief report.

• What sport do you do? How often/ where/ when do you do it?

• Do you take sport seriously or do you do it just for fun?

• Are you competitive?

• Are you good at any sports? Which?

• Have you taken up a new sport recently?

• Have you ever given up a sport? Why?

4. A) Read the text and answer the questions. Sports in Great Britain

English people are fond of all kinds of sports. During autumn and winter shooting and fox-hunting are the great sports in Great Britain. Boxing is very popular especially in large towns and important boxing matches are attended by many spectators.

Horse-racing is also a great national sport. Among games football and cricket take the first place in public interest; huge crowds watch matches between the most important clubs, while practically every school or large business firm has its own cricket and football clubs.

Tennis is another very popular game while golf has firmly established itself and there are golf-links all over the country.

The numerous rivers offer excellent opportunities for swimming and rowing and the Oxford and Cambridge boat-race, in which crews from these two universities compete, takes place every spring on the Thames.

1. What are the great winter sports in Britain?

2. What games are especially popular?

3. What sports event takes place every spring on the Thames?

2. Work in pairs. Write a similar text about sports in Russia using the underlined words and word combinations.

4. A) Read the text and complete the sentence.

This text is about ………………………………………………………………………

The Olympic Games have a very long history. They began more than 2000 years ago in Greece. The Greeks were very fond of music, plays and all kinds of physical exercises. The games took place every four years at Olympia. All the cities in Greece sent their best athletes to take part in the Olympic Games. The strongest athletes ran, jumped, wrestled, threw a discus, and boxed. There were also chariot races.

The Games were very popular, thousands of Greeks used to watch them. It was a tradition to stop wars during the Olympic Games. The competition lasted five days. The winners got olive wreaths. It was the highest honour. When the champions came home people greeted them with flowers.

For a long time from 394 till 1896 there were no Olympic games. Since 1896 the best athletes of the world have met again every 4 years. The games have always been exciting. The winners who show the best results are awarded gold, silver and bronze medals.

2. Answer the questions.

1. When were the first Olympic Games held?

2. What did the strongest athletes do during the competition?

3. What was the highest honour for the winners?

4. When were the Olympic Games revived?

5. What awards do the winners get?

4. A) Read the text and translate the text. My first big match

The first football match I went to was a few years ago, when a friend gave me a ticket to the FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Liverpool. I had never been to such a big stadium before, so it was a new experience for me.

I remember being a bit nervous on my way into the ground because there were so many people everywhere. But once we had found our seats I began to relax and enjoy myself. The atmosphere was really great, and it got even better when the teams came out onto the pitch.

It turned out to be a good game. Both teams played well and there were lots of chances at both ends of the pitch. Arsenal scored first, only twenty minutes from the end, but Michael Owen scored twice in the last ten minutes for Liverpool. The supporters went crazy and when the referee blew the whistle for the end of the match the noise was incredible. I’ve been to quite a few matches since then, but none of them has been as exciting as my first Cup Final.