Федеральное агентство по образованию

Государственное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования

ВОЛГОГРАДСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ТЕХНИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ

(ВолгГТУ)

Кафедра иностранных языков

Семестровая работа за II семестр

по английскому языку

Тема: «Спорт в Великобритании»

Выполнила:

Савостина А.А ХТ-145

Проверила: Терещенко А.В.

Оценка работы _________________ баллов

Волгоград 2011

Introduction.

To begin a conversation about sport it is important to say some words about it’s history. And I’d like to tell you about Olympic Games. An athletic festival with competitions in music and poetry was held every four years on the island of Peplos in Southern Greece. The period between the games was called an Olympiad.

The games were held in honour of Zeus, the principle god of the Greeks, who according to the legend lived on Mount Olympus. The festival lasted five days and became a symbol of peace and friendship because in keeping with the decree of that time no wars should be waged during an Olympiad.

The athletes competed in running, boxing, wrestling, horse and chariot racing and the like. The winners were given laurel wreaths in the temple of Zeus.

And nowadays the Olympic Games have been regularly held in different countries of the world and have become a wonderful tradition which helps to bring people closer together.

People all over the world are fond of sport. Some people do morning exercises, train themselves in clubs and in different sections. There are many sport clubs that anyone can join. Light athletics gives much opportunity to those who go in for it. It includes track field events: running, long-jumping, high jumping, and others. But there’re a lot of people, who like sport too but they only watch sport games and listen to sport news. They prefer to read interesting stories about sportsmen. But they don’t go in for sport.

Many children are fond of ball games: basketball, volleyball, football. They are so exiting. Children like to take part in the competitions to see who is the quickest, the strongest, who can jump best, and who is the best swimmer or player. Pupils in different classes hold competitions in different kinds of sport. All the competitions and games are very popular with the pupils. A lot of fans always come to watch them.

But there’re some bad sides of sport. Sport today means big business for both players and sponsors. Sporting events like the World Cup, which has a big TV audience, make huge amounts of money. Companies like Coca Cola and Adidas have paid a lot of money to sponsor a sport events. They know that their names and logons at the sport stadiums and participants’ clothes. The high rewards have encouraged some sportsmen to take drags to improve their performance. I think sport helps people to stay in a good shape, keeps them fit, healthy and makes them more organized and better disciplined in their daily activities.

Why have I chosen such theme? Sport is supposed to be interesting only for men, not for women. But I think it is a mistaken opinion. Sport is one of the most amusing things in the world, because of fillings experiences, excitements connected with it. Particularly it is so when we speak about the UK.

Sport probably plays a more important part in people’s life in Britain than it does in most other countries. For a very large number it is their main form of entertainment. Millions take part in some kind of sport at least once a week. Many millions more are regular spectators and follow one or more sports. There are hours of televised sport each week. Every newspaper, national or local, quality or popular, devotes several pages entirely to sport.

The British are only rarely the best in the world at particular sports in modern times. However, they are one of the best in the world in a much larger number of different sports than any other country (British individualism at work again).

The British are so fond of competition that they even introduced it into gardening. Many people indulge in an informal rivalry with their neighbors as to who can grow the better flowers or vegetables. But the rivalry is sometimes formalized. Though the country, there are competitions in which gardeners enter their cabbage, leeks, onions, carrots or whatever in the hope that they will be judged ‘the best’. There is a similar situation with animal. There hundreds of dog and cat shows throughout the country at which owners hope that their pet will win a prize.

Sports in Great Britain.

National sports in Great Britain is a very interesting question, because many kinds of sport have taken the origin in England.

The Englishmen love sports, they are called sports-lovers in spite of the fact that some of them neither play games nor even watch them. They only like to speak about sports.

Some kinds of sport are professional in England. Many traditional sporting contests take place in England, for example, cricket. This game is associated with England. There are many cricket clubs in this country. English people like to play cricket. They think that summer without cricket isn't summer. If you want to play cricket you must wear white boots, a white shirt and white long trousers. There are two teams. Each team has eleven players. Cricket is popular in boys' schools. Girls play cricket too.

Football has got a long history. Football was played by the whole village teams in the middle ages in England.

Now football is the most popular game in Britain. It is a team game. There are some amateur teams but most of the teams are professional ones in England. Professional football is a big business. Football is played at schools too.

In rugby football you can see a ball, but it is not round. It is oval. This is a team game. There are fifteen players in each team. It is a popular game in England. There are many amateur rugs-by football teams in this country.

If we speak about football we can mention an American football too. It is a game that is played between two teams of players using an oval ball that can be handled or kicked. The captain of the team must be the oldest or best player.

Table tennis or ping-pong originated in 1880. But the British players are not lucky in tennis international championships. Many people like to play table tennis. This game is played by men and women. There are some tennis clubs in England, but if you play there it is necessary to pay money for it. Englishmen like playing tennis but many of them prefer to watch this game.

Wimbledon is the centre of lawn tennis. Some years ago Wimbledon was a village, now it is a part of London. The most important tennis competition takes place there every summer. Englishmen pay much attention to swimming, rowing and walking. The most famous boat race in England is between Oxford and Cambridge. It is usually held on the Thames River. A lot of people come to watch it.

Sport in a pub.

There are many public houses in London and elsewhere, where beer, wine and spirits may be bought and drunk at certain times of the day. These are suitable width=100% for all classes of the community and provide a place, where people may meet together and talk, and perhaps play at darts or other games, as well as drink.

In the bar of every English «pub» there is a dartboard, and on most evenings the game of darts is being played. This is a traditional English game. The first record of something like the modern game appears in a sixteenth century. In this tournament people threw missiles in a target by hand, instead of using a bow.

The dartboard has numbered sections and the score depends on the section in which the dart lands. The darts are small, about 12 cm long, and have a steel point, a metal body and the three feathers. A set of three darts is used and each player throws them in turns. Expert players usually have their own private set of darts, but pubs always provide a set for occasional players. If you hit the very middle – you hit the bull’s eye, which give you the highest score.

Pubs are really an essential part of English life. Most customers in the smaller pubs play games such as dominoes, darts or snooker. Snooker is a variation of billiards played with 15 red balls and 6 variously colored ones. And in many local pubs there are the teams of players of snooker who play matches against teams from other pubs. The idea has developed so far that there are even national championships in snooker and darts.