A club meeting “Drugs and drugs in sport”
статья по английскому языку (11 класс) на тему

A club meeting “Drugs and drugs in sport”

Teacher: Irina Sycheva

Introduction.

    Much is known to people about the harmful effect of drugs, but still they ignore the fact, known to them and put their life into trouble. I consider that my task as a teacher is to increase knowledge about the harmful effect of drugs. It’s time we got serious about the danger of drugs and started acting responsibly to fix the problem we have for the sake of young people. Although it’s foolish to think that we can fully eradicate the problem, we can minimize it if people become “drug educated”. It is important nowadays, because despite potential risks many teens take drugs either because of addiction or because of environmental exposure, such as peer pressure. That’s why they should get the real deal on how drugs affect a body and brain. The statistics is frightening: the use of illegal drugs contributes to 53,000 deaths annually, the American College Of Emergency Physicians says.

    Achievements in the sporting world can be overshadowed by controversy regarding performance enhancing drugs. There are over 4,000 drugs banned by the Olympic Committee. Unfortunately these substances are used in present competitive sports today. As a result, the short-term positive benefits cause the long-term negative effects. Is it worth risks?

    No doubt, people should be aware that drugs damage the body and brain, lead to dangerous situations. So, let our club discussion be a piece of drug education, a small contribution to solving this difficult key problem.

Irina Sycheva

So, the club meeting we are holding today is devoted to the key problem of the world nowadays – Drugs and drugs in sport. The issue is called “winning at all costs”. So, let’s stick to the point. First, look at the blackboard. What does the picture show? (It shows athletes at the start of a race).

(Possible questions): 1) Do you recognize Ben Jonson in red? 2) What do you know about him? 3) What kind of race is it? 4) What do the athletes look like? (Energetic, active, well-built). 5) How do they build up such muscles? (Weight, exercise, as they need steady hands, cool nerves… But sometimes they use drugs).

Focus on the title, please: Winning at all costs. What does it mean? (Win, no matter what the price might be).

Reading for specific information. 

The goal is: pick out the most likely reasons why athletes take drugs.

(Possible answers):

They follow the advice of their coaches.

They want to cheat.

They want to improve and to do better.

They are greedy: sport is big business and success guarantees fame and fortune.

They want to do well for their country or team.

They do know how dangerous drugs can be. Any other reasons?

After you have read the text at home, you’ve been quite organized to start discussing the text. What kind of information have you taken out of it?

But first of all, answer the questions according to the text.

1. Is drug-taking in sport a recent problem?
2. What are the main groups of drugs in sport and what effects do they have on their body?
3. What drugs might be taken by people in these sports? Why?

1. American football
2. Discus throwing
3. Shooting
4. Swimming

4. A female athlete who was taking drugs said: “I’m becoming a man”. What drugs do you think she had taken?
5. Do you think drugs should be banned in sport? Why? Why not?

Vocabulary. Find a word, or an expression in the text that means the same as:

a. something that is against the law (illegal)

b. forbid (to ban)

c. a drug that increases our energy and activity (stimulant)

d. not used properly (abused)

e. advise or order the use of a medicine or drug (prescribe)

f. information that leads you to believe something is true (rumour)

g. an inability to have children (infertility)

h. very tired (exhausted)

Listening. (a busy housewife – an Olympic athlete). Guess:

1)Who uses more calories? Give reasons for your answers.

2) Can you think of a way to measure the amount of energy someone uses?

3) Now listen to Jill Evans’ report and compare your answers with Professor Dal Monte’s.

4) Answer the questions:

a. What country was the research done in? (Italy)

b. Who took part in the research? (220 housewives with two children)

c. Why were scientists astonished by the results? (A housewife burns up more calories in a day)

5) According to the tape, complete these sentences, then summarize how the research was carried out:

A machine called the _________________ (K2)was stopped to _______________ (woman’s back). A _____________ (mask) was amount of _____________ (oxygen) used. The reading _____________ (were converted) to ______________ (show) the amount of energy used.

Talking point. Answer these questions, give reasons for your answers.

1. When you looked at the title, did you assume that Olympic athletes were men?
2. Does the interview suggest that women do all the housework?
3. Do you think that housewives are more active than Olympic athletes?
4. Do you believe in the results of the test?

Conclusion.

Background notes.

    In 1998, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson became the fastest man in the world by breaking the world record when he won the Olympic 100 meters final. He had beaten his rival Carl Lewis in the most important race of all. Johnson was on top of the world. Days later he was sent home from the games and stripped of his medal because a drug test on his urine was positive. He was banned from international athletes for two years.

Reading:

    Many kinds of drugs are used by athletes competing in sports all over the world. Some are used to build muscles or give the athlete extra energy. Others kill the pain of injuries or calm nerves, but many are illegal.

    Taking substances to improve sports performance is not new. Athletes in ancient Egypt drank a mixture of boiled donkey hoof, rose petals and rose-hips, believing it would make them winners. The winner of the 200 metres at the Olympic Games of 668 BC in ancient Greece used a special diet of figs. What kinds of drugs are used by some people in sport?

   The anabolic steroids which are used in sport resemble male hormones. “Anabolic” means to build up – in this case to build up muscles. Body-builders use anabolic steroids in order to look good in competitions but big muscles do not necessarily mean extra strength!

   Stimulants make you feel full of energy and confidence, but they can also make you feel more aggressive. They are officially banned in sport, but amphetamines have been abused by cyclists, who need lots of stamina, and cocaine has been used by basketballers and footballers to make them more competitive.

    Beta-blockers are drugs which are normally prescribed by doctors for people with high blood pressure or heart problems. They help calm you down and relieve stress. Snooker players, archers and those who shoot in competition all need steady hands and cool nerves. It is rumoured that some athletes have taken beta-blockers for this reason.

    All of these drugs can cause health problems if taken in large doses. For example, steroids can cause liver cancer in men and infertility in women. There is also evidence that people who take steroids can become very aggressive.

    Stimulants are also very dangerous. They do not create energy-they take it from the body. Eventually, users feel exhausted and washed-out. When doing hard exercise, there is a danger of having a heart attack. The problem is that people who take stimulants think they can keep going and they push their bodies too far. A British cyclist, Tommy Simpson, and Len Bias, an American basketball player, both died in this way.

    Tapescript:

JE For centuries women have claimed that housework is hard work and at last these claims have the support of doctors and scientists. Anyone who spends an hour ironing uses up as much energy as a top class swimmer speeding through an Olympic pool for ten minutes – and that’s official.

Sports scientists in Italy have discovered that people doing housework burn up more calories during a busy day than top Olympic athletes. The discovery was made after a year-long survey by scientists are at the Italian National Olympic Committee’s sports institution. They studied 220 thirty-seven year old housewives who were married with two children. They each weighed about 57 kilos. Their energy use was tested by a machine called the K2, a machine developed originally for Russian athletes. The small machine was strapped to the woman’s back, a mask was placed over her mouth and readings of the oxygen used were taken. These were then converted to show how much energy was used. Professor Dal Monte, who was in charge of the project, spoke to me about the results.

DM We were astounded at the results, and a little ashamed. The housewife is the hardest worker at all. In a normal day, she burns up more calories than an Olympic athlete would during a sports event. She’s obviously a very special creature – she does it every day without a warm-up or training. During her 8 hours of work she burns up 1,582 calories – and we didn’t include monthly tasks like cleaning windows, the most exhausting of all. That’s more than Ivan Lendl would use to beat a rival in a two-hour game of tennis. I’m afraid she puts us to shame.

     The research showed that a person doing office work only burns up 830 calories in a day – just over half as much as housewives do.

JE But it’s the comparisons between athletics and housework that seem amazing. For example, most people hate tidying up but after 25 minutes tidying, you will have used up 85 calories. This is equivalent to a top swimmer swimming 3, 000 meters in the pool. And the 90 calories used sweeping the floor of an average house are what a 100-meter runner uses in 12 races! Many men didn’t believe the results and wanted to know why, if housewives did all this exercise, they didn’t look more like athletes. Professor Dal Monte explains:

DM  Athletes burn up body fat by doing a mixture of heavy and slow exercise. The housewife does very hard work in short periods and then she rests. During her rest she may eat a snack. That’s no good if you want to stay slim. We suggest that people use housework as an exercise by alternating heavy work, which burns up lots of calories, with lighter work. This will give some rhythm to the day and help to burn up body fat.