Sports and Olympic Games - Спорт и Олимпийские игры
статья по английскому языку (8 класс)

Sports and Olympic Games - Спорт и Олимпийские игры

Many people all over the world are interested in sport. Sport helps people to stay healthy and makes them more organized and better disciplined in their daily activities.

They have always paid great attention to sport in our schools, colleges and universities. You can hardly find a school without a gym or a sportsground. Every city and town has a few stadiums or swimming pools, where local or even international competitions are usually held. Traditionally, sport could be divided into professional and amateur sport.

Former Soviet Union and later Ukrainian and Russian sportsmen have set a great number of world records in gymnastics, weightlifting, tennis, swimming, running, high jumping, etc. Our sportsmen also participate in the Olympic Games and always win gold, silver and bronze medals.

The Olympic Games have long history. They started in 776 ВС in Greece and took place every four years for nearly twelve centuries at Olympia. They included many different kinds of sports. All the cities in Greece sent their best athletes to Olympia to compete in the Games. When the Games took place, all the wars stopped. So, the Olympic Games became the symbol of peace and friendship.

Now, there are Summer and Winter Olympic Games. They are held separately. There are always several cities wishing to host the Games. The International Committee of Olympic Games selects the most suitable. After that, the host city starts its preparations for the competitions, constructs new sport facilities, or reconstructs them, reconstructs stadiums, hotels, press centres, etc. Thousand of athletes, journalists and guests arrive to the Games, and it takes great efforts to arrange everything.

Russia joined the Olympic movement in 1952. In 1980, Moscow hosted the twenty-second Olympic Games. The latest  Olympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia. Our sportsmen won medals in many sports. Next Olympic Games take place in Greece, the Motherland of these games.

Sports

 Sport is probably as old as the humanity itself.

It has been developing with the developing and growth of the mankind.

 All over the world people of different ages are very fond of sports and games.

Sport not only helps people to become strong and to develop physically but also makes them more organized and better disciplined in their daily activities.

It makes for a healthy mind in a healthy body.

Sports help people to keep in good health.

 We all need to exercise.

Even if you don't plan to make a career in sport you still have to practice.

Regular exercises gives you more energy.

That is why many people who suffer from general tiredness should take more exercise than more rest.

Exercise makes you feel and look better.

The best exercise is one which involves in repeated movements, those are: walking, jogging or swimming. Bending and stretching will add flexibility and feeling of lightness.

 Among the sports popular in our country are football, basketball, swimming, volleyball, ice hockey, tennis, gymnastics, figure skating.

A person can choose sports and games for any season, for any taste.

Sport in our life

Sport plays a big role in our life. Many people do sport in our country. They want to stay healthy. Sport is a good mean of struggling with stress.

In my opinion sport is important for healthy free time. Sport also makes people strong and prepares a lot of joy.

Some people participate in sports, others prefer watching them on TV. It is known that walking for an hour is healthier than irregular participation in any active physical activities. To keep fit some people join special classes or take part in aerobics or yoga, do some kind of training in a gym. Others play football, badminton, volleyball, tennis.

Sports in Great Britain - Спорт в Великобритании

British sports may be classified into four sections. First, the varieties of balls with different varieties of implements. Secondly, hunting. Thirdly, the performance of some feat of physical strength, agility or endurance. And fourthly, the "followers".

 Let us now consider each of these four classes. It would be impossible to describe all the varieties of ball games. The most important is the one they call cricket. Twenty-two players are required for this game, but only thirteen play at a time. The other nine sit in the pavilion.

The next ball game I propose to consider is golf. The implements of this  game are a small white ball and a number of rods with noses attached to them. The object is to strike the ball as far as possible in a given direction and to pop it into a small hole in the ground. Then the game begins again until the ball of each player has been popped eighteen times into eighteen holes in the ground. The number of strokes required for the eighteen "pops" are then reckoned up and the players return to the club house and tell lies about their own score.

Then there are the two types of football, one played with a large round leather ball, and the other with a large oval leather ball. One is called soccer, the other rugby.

Lawn tennis has a different technique. The essence of this game is to pat a soft white ball backwards and forwards across a net until one or other of the players either pats incorrectly or is too tired to pat any more.

These are the major sports of the British in which some sort of ball is struck with some sort of an implement.

Let us now examine the second category, in which a day is considered wasted if no bird or animal has been killed. This category may be divided into two sub-sections.

The first, or hunting, sub-section is often called the Backbone of England; the second, or shooting, sub-section is often called the Curse of Scotland. The Backbone consists of a vast number of expensive-looking ladies and gentlemen, often with pink coats on for some reason, and their objectives are the fox, the otter, the stag, and the hare.

But when we come to the second, or shooting, subsection, the Curse of Scotland, we find that a man or woman can be a sportsman without risking anything more than the life of a neighbour.

I pass on to the third branch of sports and pastimes. This category, in which no balls are struck nor animals killed. It includes jumping as high as possible into the air, running as fast as possible round a cinder-track — sometimes round and round for hours — throwing great weights, whirling flat discs, jumping, vaulting with the aid of a tong stick, and riding horseraces. In this category also come boxing, wrestling, fencing, mountaineering, and rowing.

Boxing is a strange business. Two young gentlemen, as a rule of rather unpleasing features, are placed in an enclosed area, called a ring on account of its square shape, and they then attempt to batter each other into unconsciousness with their hands. It appears that they do this of their own free will and are not in any way compelled to do so by the Government.

And lastly, there is that gigantic band of British sportsmen — the Followers.

These will bet about horses they know nothing about, will argue about the merits of two boxers they have never seen, and will discourse on the tactics of a game they have never played. It is this fourth category of British sportsmen, the vast army of Followers, which enables the other three to flourish.

Summer and Winter Sports - Летние и зимние виды спорта

People all over the world are very fond of sports and games. That is one of the things in which people of every nationality and class are united.

The most popular outdoor winter sports are shooting^ hunting, hockey and, in the countries where the weather is frosty and there is much snow — skating, skiing and tobogganing. It's so nice to go to the skating-rink on a frosty sunny day. Some people prefer to be out of town in such weather and to sledge or to ski in the woods. Many people greatly enjoy figure-skating and ski-jumping.

Summer affords excellent opportunities for swimming, boating, yachting, cycling, gliding and many other sports. Among outdoor games football takes the first place in public interests; this game is played in all the countries of the world.

The other games that have firmly established themselves in favour in different countries are cricket, volley-ball, basketball, and so on. Badminton is also very popular both with young and old.

All the year round many people indulge in boxing, wrestling, gymnastics and track and field events. Scores of young girls and women go in for calisthenics. Over the last few years aerobics has become popular with young girls and women. Aerobics helps them to be slim, healthy and strong. The interest for it greatly increased thanks to Jane Fonda, a prominent American actress, the founder of this kind of sport. This woman may serve as an impressive example of inexhaustible health, cheerfulness and beauty. Being a great enthusiast of aerobics she has been trying to initiate many women all over the world into this sport.

Among indoor games which one can go in for all the year round are billiards, table tennis, draughts, chess, of course. The results of chess tournaments are studied and discussed by enthusiasts in different countries.

So we have all grounds to say that sport is one of the things that makes people kin.