Sport in great britain
Britain is a country where leisure time and the sporting life are taken seriously. Sport is a form of physical and mental relaxation for the Englishmen. Many kinds of sport have taken the origin in England – football, cricket, rugby, golf, hockey, lawn tennis. English people are very fond of sport. They are called sport-lovers in spite of the fact that some of them neither play games nor even watch them.
Many kinds of sport are practiced in England: football, golf, rugby, swimming, rowing, cricket, fishing, foxhunting, sailing and different racings: motor-car racing, dog-racing, boat-racing, horse-racing and others. The English people also enjoy equestrian sports, such as horse-racing, riding and polo. Professional sport is widely spread in Great Britain, especially football, boxing, rugby, and hockey. The number participants and spectators shows that the most popular of the team games are football and cricket, and the most popular individual game is lawn-tennis.
Football is the most popular sport in Great Britain. It’s a team game. There are some amateur teams but most of the teams are professional ones in England. Professional football is a big business. The football Association holds an annual “Knock out” cup competition. The cup final match is played at Wembley Stadium, the biggest stadium in London. This match is always attended by the Queen, who presents the cup to the winning team.
In Great Britain football is called soccer to distinguish the game from American football, the game that has much in common with rugby.
Cricket is the most favourite summer sport, which is called by the English “the greatest game in the world”. Cricket is an open-air game played in a field of grass. Cricket is the most typically English game throughout Britain.
Golf is also a national game in Great Britain. Golf can be played all the year round. It is popular with the middle-aged people.
Rugby is a popular game in England. It is played with an oval ball. There are fifteen players per team in rugby union and thirteen in rugby league. Rugby league is played at top level in Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
Wimbledon is the center of lawn tennis. All-England Tennis Club is there. Wimbledon is one of the world’s major tournaments.
Rowing is a popular sport in Great Britain, especially in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The first boat race between Oxford and Cambridge was held in 1829. Nearly every year since then there was a boat race between these two Universities.
English people began to go in for track-and-field athletics comparatively recently and produced many outstanding sportsmen in that kind of sport.
Sport is a compulsory subject at school. Swimming, track-and-field athletics, boxing, weightlifting, cycling, tennis, cricket are popular with the English students.
Active vocabulary
origin n ['ɒrɪdʒɪn] – начало; происхождение; originator n [ə'rɪdʒɪneɪtə] – организатор, основатель
rugby n ['rʌgbi] – регби
golf n [gɒlf] – гольф
lawn-tennis n [lɔ:n 'tenɪs] – большой теннис
to have much in common – иметь много общего
spectator n [spek'teɪtə] – зритель; очевидец; spectacular adj [spek'tækjʊlə] – захватывающий, эффектный, зрелищный
sailing n ['seɪlɪŋ] – парусный спорт; плавание под парусами
rowing n ['rəʊɪŋ] – (распашная) гребля
enjoy v [ɪn'dʒɔɪ] – получать удовольствие от чего-л.; веселиться
riding n ['raɪdɪŋ] – верховая езда
annual adj ['ænjuəl] – ежегодный; annually adv ['ænjuəli] – ежегодно
equestrian sports n [ɪ'kwestriən] – конный спорт
participant n [pɑ:'tɪsɪpənt] – участник
leisure n ['leʒə] – свободное время; досуг
amateur ['æmətə] – 1. n любитель, 2. adj. любительский
to attend v [ə'tend] – присутствовать; посещать
to distinguish v [dɪ'stɪŋgwɪʃ] – различать
outstanding adj [,aʊt'stændɪŋ] – выдающийся
swimming pool n ['swɪmɪŋ pu:l] – плавательный бассейн
boat race n [bəʊt reɪs] – гонка на лодках
open-air game – игра на открытом воздухе
compulsory n [kəm'pʌls(ə)ri] – обязательный
Exersices: