Учебник английского языка
7 класс

Unit 8.
Sport in Our Life

Speaking

Discussing the Text

48. Say why:

1. the author compares Mr Hazell’s property with an ocean and Danny’s father’s property with an island;
2. Danny’s father couldn’t forget how Victor Hazell had spoken to his boy a year before;
3. Danny’s father got very angry with Victor Hazell;
4. Victor Hazell gave shooting parties;
5. hundreds of dukes, lords, barons and baronets came to his parties;
6. Victor Hazell paid a lot of money to make his parties a success;
7. Danny’s father was sure that getting the pheasants from the forest was a good idea;
8. Mr Hazell’s face would be redder than a boiled beetroot.

49. Say how you would get all the pheasants from the forest if you were Danny’s father. Discuss your versions in the group and decide whose plan is a) the most interesting, b) the most effective.

50. A. Speak about Victor Hazell as if you were;

1. Danny,
2. Danny’s father,
3. a duke or a baron from his shooting party,
4. Mr Hazell himself.

B. Make up a dialogue about Victor Hazell between

1. Danny and his father,
2. two people from the shooting party.

51. Read the definition of the word snob below and say what you think about snobbery. Think of whether you have ever met snobs and what you felt about them.

A snob is

1. someone who admires the higher social class in society and despises people of a lower social class;
2. someone who is too proud of having special knowledge in a certain subject and thinks that what other people like is no good.

52. Say what you think about the so-called blood sports — shooting and hunting. Would you like to take part in shooting and/or hunting? Why?

Discussing "the"Topic

Let’s talk about sport in English. We say sport when we mean this physical activity generally (for example sport is good for keeping fit) and a sport/sports when we mean a particular kind of sport (for example Athletics is an ancient sport).

The Russian word «спортивный» is usually sports in English: a sports car, a sports jacket, sports news.

People who go in for sport are sportsmen and sportswomen or athletes.

If you go in for sport you:

• train for a competition (match, game)
• compete in a championship
• take part in a tournament
• set/break records
• score points and goals
• win or lose (in) the competition
• win a prize/a cup
• draw the game

Other people who are important in sport are:

• a coach
• an instructor
• a judge or a referee (in games)

Athletes compete either individually in teams and crews (in sailing and rowing). We can speak about:

• a national team
• an Olympic team
• a school team, etc.

Sports are practised indoors (indoor sports) and outdoors (outdoor sports). Here are some names of special places for practising sport or doing physical exercise:

Some of the popular sports are:

Some of the popular games are:

These sports and games are less common:

53. Look through the list above and say:

1. the names of those sports you didn’t know before;
2. which of these sports in your view are

   a) the most dangerous;
   b) the least dangerous;
   c) the most exotic;
   d) the most common;
   e) the best for keeping fit;
   f) the most attractive for you and why;

3. which of the sports can be practised

   a) both indoors and outdoors;
   b) only indoors or outdoors;

4. which of these sports are more popular in

   a) Russia;
   b) the USA;
   c) Great Britain;

5. which sports in your view are easy to practise in

   a) Australia;
   b) Switzerland;¹
   c) Norway;
   d) Canada, and why;

6. practising which sports needs special equipment² or doesn’t need any equipment.

54. Match these pictures of sports equipment with their names and say what sports they belong to.

55. A. Look through this text about athletics and say which of these sports are track and field events and which are not.

Athletics

Athletics (BrE) or track and field (AniE) is the general name given to such kinds of sports as running, long jump, high jump and some others. Athletics includes both track events (= running races) and field events (= sports involving jumping, throwing things, etc., which are not races).

Most of track events are named according to distance, for example She’s running in the 400 metres. She is running in a race over a distance of 400 metres. The person who comes first in an event wins a gold medal, the person who comes second wins a silver medal and the person who comes third wins a bronze medal. People usually talk about somebody winning the gold, the silver or the bronze, for example He won the gold in the 100 metres. She won a bronze in the long jump.

Athletes compete with their opponents or rivals.

People who follow the competition are spectators or sports fans. They support their team or shout for it.

В. Use this outline to speak about track and field.

1. athletics — what it is;
2. the way people speak about races and field events in Britain and the US;
3. track events;
4. field events;
5. the usual way to name track events;
6. winners in athletics;
7. people supporting athletes.

56. Look at these items of sportswear, name them and say what sports they are suitable for. The words from the box can help you.

57. Name as many as you can:

1. summer sports and games
2. winter sports and games
3. sports done all the year round
4. indoor sports and games
5. outdoor sports and games
6. items of sports equipment

Ask your parents to help if necessary.

58. A. Say what we call it.

1. A game in which two teams of five players each try to score goals by throwing a large ball through a net fixed¹ to a metal ring at each end of the court. The players bounce the ball while running and pass it to each other.
2. A game in which two teams hit² a large ball with their hands, backwards and forwards over a high net. The ball is not allowed to bounce on the ground.
3. A game played between two teams of eleven players who kick³ a ball around a field trying to score a goal.
4. A game of two players who each start with sixteen different playing pieces to move on a board. The aim is to move your pieces so that your opponent’s king will be killed.
5. A game in which the players use rackets to hit a small feathered object called a shuttlecock over a high net.
6. A game in which you use long sticks called clubs to hit a small ball into holes that are spread out over a large area of grassy land.

B. Describe one of these games:

59. These are sports recommended for different age groups. Look through the list and say which of them you have ever done, are doing or are planning to do..

What’s the best time to do these sports?

3-year-olds: skiing
4-year-olds: cycling
5-year-olds: swimming
6-year-olds: pony-riding, skateboarding, roller-skating
7-year-olds: tennis, table tennis, badminton
8-year-olds: fencing, diving, ice hockey, football
9-year-olds: judo, archery
10-year-olds: boxing, water-skiing, athletics
11-year-olds: skating, surfing
12-year-olds: rowing
13-year-olds: volleyball, water polo, basketball
14-year-olds: martial arts, American football
15-year-olds: weightlifting
16-year-olds: sailing
17-year-olds: parachuting

60. Work in groups of 3—5 students. In each group there should be an interviewer trying to get information about sport in your school. Answer the interviewer’s questions and give your opinions. Let the interviewer put the information together and then speak about what he/she has learnt. The interviewer may want to find out:

1. what sports the students do in their P.E. lessons; what games they play; which of them are more popular with the students; what sports they would prefer to do in their school and why;
2. where they practise these sports; what sports equipment the school has got; what new equipment they would like to have;
3. if the school takes part in any competitions and what results their teams usually show; if these students take part in competitions personally;
4. why it is important to do sports at school; if the students think that they have enough physical exercise; if they manage to find time for sports and games;
5. where they can do sports outside school; if they have ever done sports elsewhere; what the result was;
6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61. Choose a sport or a game and describe it trying to make your story sound as attractive as possible. When you’re finished, decide whose story was the best.

62. These are some of the athletes who helped to make history in Russian sport. Find information about one of them and present this information. To make your story more logical write its outline first.

1. Larisa Latynina (gymnastics)
2. Lev Yashin (football)
3. Yuri Vlasov (weightlifting)
4. Evgeni Plushenko (figure skating)
5. Alina Kabaeva (rhythmic gymnastics)
6. Elena Isinbaeva (high jump)
7. Maria Sharapova (tennis)

63. A. Find out some information about the first modern Olympic Games and complete the chart with information about the Olympic Games of the 21st century.

B. Choose one of the Olympic Games and get ready to speak about them in class. The outline below can help you:

1. the number and the year of the Games;
2. the place where they were held;
3. Olympic sports of these Games;
4. the number of countries that took part in the Games;
5. the number of sportsmen and sportswomen who took part in the Games;
6. the medals that were won;
7. some of the Russian (Soviet) athletes who took part in the Games, their results;
8. some of the records set during the Games;
9. the central event or the central figure of the Games.

64. Speak about the Olympic Games. Choose one of the items and develop it.

1. The history of the Olympic Games in ancient times.
2. The history of the modern Games.
3. Russia in the Olympic Games.
4. Winter and Summer Olympics.
5. The latest Olympic Games.
6. The role of the Olympics in modern life.
7. Some Olympic champion(s).

65. Find as much information about the Olympic symbols as you can and tell your class what you have found.

SUMMING UP THE TOPIC

Think of it and say:

— if sport is growing in importance in the modern world and in what way;
— if you think that achievements in sports are important and prestigious for our country;
— what can be done to make teens fond of sport in the place where you live;
— if you are a football fan and what football fans should and shouldn’t do.