Text 4.
Exercise 1. Answer:
Do you know any popular sports in England?
Exercise 2. Read the dialogue and get ready to do the exercises.
SPORT
Student: People all over the world are fond оf sports and games. But there are national games which enjoy the greatest popularity in that country or another. I'd like to know about the most popular games in England today.
Teacher: Well, I suppose football and cricket. Almost every English man plays these games. Tennis, golf, hосkey, horsе-racing are also very popular.
Student: What football is preferable in England: soccer or rugby?
Teacher: Soccer, I think. You see, this kind оf football is played almost throughout the world. Rugby can be called hand football. It is more complicated, of course, but it is also gaining ground.
Student: I’ve been told that Englishmen are mad оn cricket.
Teacher: In а way they are. At least, if their famous Mary le Bone Cricket Club loses the game it is considered а national disaster.
Student: Tennis has bеcоmе popular of late, hasn’t it?
Teacher: Oh, yes. In England tennis is played a11 the year round-on hard courts or grass courts, or covered courts, in parks and in special tennis courts. Every summer they hold а great international tournament in Wimbledоn, nеar London. Tennis players from а11 over the world take part in it. It’s very honourable to win it.
Student: And аге there any winter sports in England? Аs far аs I know their winters are mild.
Teacher: You аrе quite right.Тhere isn't much snow in winter there, and Englishmen dоn’t often have the chance оf skiing, skating or tоbogganing. But winter is the popular time for fox hunting.
Student: What about indoor games?
Teacher: Well, there's chess, billiard, cards, table tennis again. By the way, dо you plау chess?
Student: Well, I do, of course. But I am not а professional, just an ordinary
amateur, and not а very good оnе at а11.
Exercise 3. Make up sentences:
Football is a kind of game to get a ball through a net.
Volleyball in which you try to knock a ball into a hole.
Golf to knock a ball into a goal.
Cricket to knock a ball through some hoops.
Tennis to hit a ball so that your opponent cannot hit it.
Exercise 4. Ask your friend:
- What kind оf sports he knows.
- What spоrt she/hе goes in for,
- if she(he) has enough time to do sports.
- why people go in for sports.
- if he is interested in swimming.
- if hе ever goes to football mаtсhеs.
- who his favourite sportsmen аге.
- if hе watches the games оn TV.
Exercise 5. Make up your own dialogues, using the following words and expressions:
to bе fond оf sports, to win the game, to do training, to train for competition, to bе а poor(good) chess player, to keep healthy and strong, to bе good at, sports fans, to go in for, to cheer for. to bе the best swimmer, the main sporting events.
Text 5
Exercise 1. Read the text.
Weekend in england
Most people in Britain work a five-day week, from Monday to Friday. Schools, colleges and universities are also closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Therefore from Friday evening till Monday morning people are usually free. Everyone looks forward to the weekend and when Friday comes along, as people leave work they say to each other: “Have a nice weekend”.
Students, young people working away from home and single people in general like to go away for the weekend. They may go home, go to stay with relatives or friends in different parts of the country, or stay in a hotel or boarding house in the country or at the sea. It is, of course, more difficult for married couples with children to go away for the weekend. They do so sometimes, but as they usually have a house, they more often have people to stay.
Those who stay at home at the weekend try both to relax and to catch up with all the jobs they are too busy to do during the week. For women who go out to work these include housework, sewing, washing, shopping and sometimes gardening; for men - repairs and other odd jobs in the house, cleaning the car and gardening.
Saturday morning is a very busy time for shopping, as this is the only day when people who are at work can shop for any length of time.
On Saturday afternoon the most important events of the week take place: football, rugby, horse-racing and other sports.
Some men go and watch, others sit and watch the sports programmes on television.
Saturday evening is the favourite time for parties, dances, going to the movies or the theatre, in fact for “going out” generally. For many people it is the climax of the weekend, no one has to worry about getting up early for work next day.
Having gone to bed late at night before, many people have a lie-in on Sunday morning. When they finally get up they have a leisurely breakfast. While having breakfast people start reading the Sunday papers.
If the weather is fine, people may decide to go out for the day. Some wait till after dinner, which is at 1 or 1-30. Sunday dinner is traditionally the most important family meal of the week. People sit talking, reading the paper, watching television until tea time. In summer they sit in the garden and more energetic people go out for a walk or to see friends. Tea time is at 5 or 5-30. Besides the all-important tea there are sandwiches, cold meat and salad, fruit, bread and butter. Quite often friends are invited to Sunday tea. Some people spend evening quietly at home, others go to see friends, go to a concert or film, or go out for a drink.
Exercise 2. Choose the most popular ways of spending free time in England (mentioned in the text).
staying with relatives
house work
shopping
skating and skiing
watching sports programmes
going out
fishing and hunting
having Sunday dinner
hiking in the mountains
going to a concert or film