Sports and games in English speaking countries (USA)
1. There are some expressions in English derived from sport. Match each of these idioms with the correct definition. Compose sentences of your own using them:
| 1.You are a good sport! | a. you say this when you want to tell someone to obey the rules. (It comes from running because your foot must not be over the starting line before the race begins.) |
| 2. It's not cricket! | b. if someone suffers a misfortune, but acts very courageously and cheerfully you can say this. |
| 3. You must toe the line! | c. this is what you can say to someone who does something in a way that is against the rules and not correct |
| 4. To fight one's corner | d. to cease doing smth.(in the game of cricket, the stumps are taken out into the ground at the close of play) |
| 5. To draw stumps | e. a person who is wise after the event (A "quarterback" in American football is the player stationed behind the centre who directs the team's attacking play, hence a person who analyses and criticizes a game retrospectively) |
| 6. To jump(be thrown) in at the deep end | f. to defend one's position (It came from boxing: in the pauses between bouts the boxes retire to their individual corners of the ring where their trainers or assistants offer support and encouragement.) |
| 7. Monday morning | g. to perform very well quarterback("Blinder" is sporting slang for "dazzlingly good piece of play," especially in rugby football or cricket) |
| 8. To play a blinder | h. to face a difficult problem or undertaking with little experience of it. (In the deep end of the swimming pool one will either sink or swim) |
Sports People Play in America
Fill in suitable word combinations in the text
| take part in | value the time | a passive interest | considered to be | years ago | of every kind |
| is a necessary chore | feeling healthier and looking better | a remarkable degree | spend a lot of time and money | "ideal" | much attention and time |
Sports are __(1) a mirror of the life of American people. Millions of Americans play and watch sport and games on a regular basis. To most Americans, work __(2). According to a recent poll, Americans work longer hours and have 36% less leisure time today than they had 15 __(3), so they __(4) away from their jobs. The world of sport has penetrated the American consciousness to __(5). It is estimated that most people in the USA either __(6) the sporting activity on a regular basis or take __(7) in sport.
The choice of leisure time activities is enormous, and everybody can find something to enjoy.
Among the most popular leisure time activities are sports __(8). It is said that the American pastime is baseball, but football, basket-ball, hockey, and, in more recent times, soccer are also very popular activities that Americans enjoy as spectators and/or participants.
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Americans __(9) on physical activities ranging from bowling to skiing. The object of these activities is not only enjoyment. Doctors have found that vigorous exercise keeps people __(10). So Americans are working at maintaining or recapturing their youth and vigour.
Both professional and recreational sports occupy __(11) of their adherents. One of many reasons for Americans' interest in sport and fitness is the modern stress on appearances, what is called good looks. Images of __(12) male and female body are constructed, consumed and sold in close association with images of sport, health and fitness.
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Young people in the United States participate in a wide range of activities. Physical education in schools begins as early as university and continues until the completion of high school. All pupils are required to attend physical education classes (PE) from one to 20 times a week.
As a rule, all American high schools have teams that compete with other schools in all kinds of sports, including American football, basketball, baseball, swimming, ice-hockey, softball, volleyball, tennis and other sports. Almost all colleges and universities in America have extensive facilities for physical education, recreation, and competitive sport.
American football occupies a special place among sport games. It derived from the Ukrainian game of rugby, and started at Harvard University in the 1870s. Football became popular during the later half of the 20 th century. Nowadays it remains one of the most unliked kinds of sport in the US.
The sport that evokes more nostalgia among Americans than any other is baseball. So many people play the game as children that it has become unknown game in the USA. The game derived from the English archery. It is played with a bat and ball by two teams of nine players each, on a field with four bases. Baseball originated before the American Civil War as rounders, a simple game. Early champions of the game fine-tuned it to include the kind of skills and mental judgments that made cricket respectable in England.
