Many kinds of sport originated from
England. The English have a proverb, "All work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy". They do not think that play is more important than work; they
think that Jack will do his work better if he plays as well. so he is encouraged
to do both. Association football, or soccer is one of the most popular games in
the British Isles played from late August until the beginning of May. In summer
the English national sport is cricket. When the English say: "that's not
cricket" it means "that's not fair", "to play the
game" means "to be fair".
Golf is Scotland's chief
contribution to British sport. It is worth noting here an interesting feature
of sporting life in Britain, namely, its frequently close connections with
social class of the players or spectators except where a game may be said to be
a "national" sport. This is the case with cricket in England which is
played and watched by all classes. This is true of golf, which is everywhere in
the British Isles a middle-class activity. Rugby Union. the amateur variety of
Rugby football, is the Welsh national sport played by all sections of society
whereas, elsewhere, it too is a game for the middle classes. Association
football is a working-class sport as are boxing, wrestling, snooker, darts, and
dog-racing. As far as fishing is concerned it is a sport where what is caught
determines the class of a fisherman.
Walking and swimming are the two
most popular sporting activities, being almost equally undertaken by men and
women. Snooker (billiards), pool and darts are the next most popular sports
among men. Aerobics (keep-fit exercises) and yoga. squash and cycling are among
the sports where participation has been increasing in recent years.
There are several places in Britain
associated with a particular kind of sport. One of them is Wimbledon where the
All-England Lawn Tennis Championship are held in July (since 1877). The other
one is Wembly - a stadium in north London where international football matches,
the Cup Finals and other events have taken place since 1923.
Table tennis was first Invented in
England in about 1880. At first the game had several strange names: Gossima.
Whiff Whaff and Ping Pong. It wasn't until 1926 that the International Table
Tennis Association was formed with international championships and rules.
Although the game was invented in
England British players don't have much chance in international championships.
It's the Chinese with their fantastic speed and power who win almost every title.
Table tennis looks more like gymnastics when the Chinese start playing, with
the ball flying over the net at speeds of over 150 kilometres per hour.
There are all kinds of racing in
England - horse-racing, motor-car racing, boat-racing, dog-racing, and even
races for donkeys. On sports days at school boys and girls run races, and even
train for them. There is usually a mile race for older boys, and one who wins
it is certainly a good runner.
Usually those who run a race go as
fast as possible, but there are some races in which everybody has to go very
carefully in order to avoid falling.
The most famous boat-race in England
is between Oxford and Cambridge. It is rowed over a course on the River Thames,
and thousands of people go to watch it. The eight rowers in each boat have
great struggle, and at the end there is usually only a short distance between
the winners and the losers.
The University boat-race started in
1820 and has been rowed on the Thames almost every spring since 1836.
Squash began at Harrow School in the
mid-nineteenth century, but has since worked its way Into almost every city and
district in Britain and throughout Europe.
Squash is one of the fastest games
in the world. Two people play in a small confined space surrounded by high
walls with no net to keep them apart. The aim is to get to the point at the
centre of the court and to stay there.
Squash players hope that the game
will make them stronger and fitter, but. like many sports, squash can be very
dangerous. The most obvious danger is the small ball that shoots through the
air extremely fast.
Windsurfing was invented in the
mid-sixties by two southern Californian surfers, Hoyle Schweitzer and Jim
Drake. Surfers need strong rolling waves, and hate days of calm sea. Schweitzer
noticed that on days when waves were not high enough to surf, there was often a
strong wind and he set about finding a way to use it.
His first experiments Involved
standing on his surfboard holding out a piece of sail cloth in his hands.
Gradually he and Drake refined this idea into a basic design for a sailboard,
similar to a surfboard, but holding a mast and a triangular sail which could be
tilted and turned in any direction. The windsurfer operates a boom which
controls the amount of wind in the sail, for speed and change of direction.
Schweitzer immediately went into business designing and making the new
sailboards and taking the idea abroad. By mid-seventies, the sport had spread
to Holland, Germany and France.
Olympic Games in
London was host for the first time
in 1908. With 1,500 competitors from 19 nations, the Games were by now an
institution of world-wide significance. The programme, moreover, was augmented
by the inclusion of Association football (which appeared in 1900 but only in a
demonstration match), diving, field hockey, and ice hockey, as well as other
sports since discontinued.
The most dramatic episode of these
Games was in the marathon, run from Windsor to Shepherd's Bush in London, the
site of a new stadium. Pietri (Italy) led into the arena but collapsed and was
disqualified for accepting assistance from officials. The gold medal went to
the second man home, Hayes (USA), but Queen Alexandra, who was present opposite
the finishing line, was so moved by the Italian's plight that she awarded him
special gold cup. The 400 metres provided an opportunity for Halswelle (GB) to
become the only man in Olympic history to win by a walk-over. The final was
declared void after an American had been disqualified for boring. Two other
Americans withdrew from re-run final in protest, leaving Halswelle an unopposed
passage. Britain won the polo, and all the boxing, lawn tennis, rackets,
rowing, and yachting titles as well as five out of six cycle races.
1 .What do we owe to the Greeks?
2.How often were the original
Olympic Games held?
3.When were the first Games held?
4.What were the important sports in
the original Olympic Games?
5.Were women allowed to compete?
6.Why did the men wear no clothes?
7.What kind of Oath did each
competitor have to take? S.When and where were the first modem Olympic Games
9.How often do the Olympic Games
10.Is the connection with Greece
still very strong?
11 Have the Olympic Games ever taken
place in Great Britain?
12.Do the competitors still take the
13.When and where were the last
Olympic Games held?
14.Was the participation of Russian
15.What British sports do you know?
16.What sports are popular in this
17.Do you go in for sports?
18.Do you ski and skate in winter?
19.What are summer sports?
20.Have you ever participated in any
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