4. Sports and superstitions.

in the realm of to resort to to ensure success to alleviate the pressure to drop to to concentrate on the wrapper from to peel the foil off

Although everyone has a superstition or two, athletes are champions in the realm of irrational fear. With the anxiety of intense pressure to perform and win, they often resort to lucky charms, or what they call ‘mojo’ to ensure success. Many athletes, in order to alleviate the pressure will focus on something to “throw up to the mojo gods” in hopes of luck that will cover that, so they can concentrate on their own performance. In the 1980 Olympics, the American hockey team beat the Russians for the gold medal in a game called the Miracle on Ice. Mike Eruzione, their captain, believed in some unusual mojos, the strangest of which was that he had to take the wrapper from a piece of gum, and peel the foil off in one piece before he’d allow himself to leave the locker room and go out on the ice.

3 Write down the extract starting “Quite a few people……. (19:18) up to …… and walk underneath.”

4 Who made these remarks on superstitions?

Write A if it was Professot Vyse

Write B if it was Steven King

Write C if it was the narrator

Write D if it was Alan Dundes

It’s a bad idea to stop on page, let’s say, 805 or 904 because of a book these numbers end up in the 13… Superstitions are such a pervasive part of the culture that it is hard to avoid some belief in it. Superstitions seem related to anxiety. It would be unthinkable if you get married in white in China. The theatre is a very typical Pandora’s Box of irrational beliefs.

B A C D C

5 Watch the episode again and fill in the gaps with the appropriate words and word combinations.

Some skeptics insist superstitions don’t work as a cure for irrational fears. “One of the things that’s interesting about superstitions is some people are so anxious to disprove them or to show that they are not superstitious that they go to clubs that meet on Friday the 13th. They are kind of dares, like daring the fates, like “I’m not superstitious, I can prove it.” One club meets on Friday the 13^th. The members fearlessly break mirrors, open umbrellas indoors and spill salt to prove their fearlessness.

“These people are actually superstitious in a way because when you are walking along a street and you see a ladder, even if you just think to yourself “So do I walk under or doI walk around it?“ – the very fact that you are thinking about it suggests that the superstition still has an impact on your life. To test people’s belief in superstition hidden cameras captured reactions when the pavement was blocked by a ladder. Pedestrians either had to walk under the ladder or step into the road.

6 Render the following extract into English, using the language of the episode.

Несчастливой считается не только пятница,13.Любой день календаря, на котором стоит цифра 13, вызывает опасение. По оценкам специалистов экономики стран Европы и Америки теряют миллиарды долларов в те дни, на которые выпадает 13-ое число. Люди отказываются выкупать билеты на самолеты и поезда, меньше посещают общественные места. Снижается объем продаж. Но некоторым людям в этот день, наоборот, улыбается удача. «Ну, число 13 приносит мне удачу. 33 года я работал страховым агентом, и именно в пятницу, 13-го я всегда продавал самое большое количество страховых полисов»

It isn’t only Friday the 13^th that is considered unlucky. Any calendar day marked 13 is considered troublesome. Estimates suggest that days numbered 13 cost economies throughout the Western world billions of dollars a year. People cancel plane and train reservations, go out less in public. Commerce is reduced. But some people actually have good luck on this day. “Well, the number 13 is good luck for me. I was an insurance broker for 33 years, and I always sold more insurance on Friday the 13^th than on any other day.”

7 SPEAKING POINTS. How far do you agree with the following statements? Provide real-life examples.

1. Superstitions get people through their trouble spots.

2. Superstition is an integral part of the culture.

3. Sportsmen resort to lucky charm in order to better concentrate on their performance.

4. Though sceptics insist that superstitions don’t work are still fearfully involved.

5. It is fear that breeds superstitions.

6. ‘Friday begun and never be done’.

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