The spread of the Hellenistic culture and the new economic, political, and social conditions following the campaign of Alexander the Great, led to important changes of the athletic spirit and the ideological content of the games.
The number of athletic festivals and institutions increased at the new Greek centers. New games were established in different city-states of the Hellenistic world. The number of professional athletes coming from Alexandria and the East increased and monetary prizes became a common rule.
Athletism became an important component in social life and education. The Greeks who lived in Asia and Egypt, in an effort to hold on to their culture, built athletic facilities and continued their athletic traditions. The gymnasium was not only the physical place for training, but a place where Greeks could meet, thus preserving their language and customs throughout Asia.
The bond between religion and the athletic ideal ceased to exist and the games now turned into secular events. Victory was more linked to the athlete's personal effort and less to the assistance of gods.
In the Roman period, the athletic ideal changed once more. For the Romans, the contests were spectacles, performances and not competitions among all citizens. Usually the athletes were slaves or gladiators. The higher class Romans were unwilling to display themselves publicly which displayed a negative attitude towards athletism. Olympia ceased to be the center of the ancient world and the games were now instituted in honor of the Roman emperor.
- What place became the site of the Olympic Games and when did it happen?
- Who couldn’t compete in the games?
- What rules of participating were established in ancient Greece?
- How did the games change during the rule of Alexander the Great?
- How did the games change in the Roman period?
III. ANNOTATION
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Many people’s favourite hobby is sport. They spend much of their spare time playing team games like football or baseball, games for two or four people, like tennis, or golf or practising an individual sport like running, parachuting or swimming. People practise a sport for a need to keep fit.
Today people continue leading sedentary life and many of them would like to change it. Since our life no longer provides enough exercise we should include it deliberately into our everyday routines. The man or woman who takes regular sport or exercise will stay physically fit, and perhaps, most important to many people, keep a youthful shape and stamina.
But fitness comes not just from some exercises done now and then but from the way you live all the time. Good eating habits, wise drinking habits, regular sleeping habits, and plenty of fresh air are all important parts of the way to keep fit. Start doing all this and you will feel and see the benefits.
IV. ORAL TOPICS
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THE REPUBLIK OF BELARUS
I am proud of being born in the Republic of Belarus. I am Belarusian. Belarus is my mother country.
Officially my country is called the Republic of Belarus which is known to be a sovereign independent state with its government, constitution, state emblem, flag and anthem. Belarus is a presidential republic. The highest executive power belongs to a President elected for a five-year term. The Parliament which is National Assembly is known as a representative and legislative body of the country. The executive power is performed by the Council of Ministers headed by a Premier.
Belarus is divided into six regions: Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev. The capital of the republic is Minsk, one of the most beautiful and modern youthful-looking cities, with the population of over 1.5 million people.
Belarus is very well geopolitically located. It is situated in the heart of Europe where all roads meet. The country stretches for 560 km from north to south, for 650 km from east to west bordering on Russia in the north and in the east, on Ukraine in the southeast, on Poland in the west and on Lithuania and Latvia in the northwest. The length of the state borderline is 2969 kilometres. The Population of Belarus is almost 10,3 million, the density is 50 people per sq. km.
There are many things one can be proud of in my country. Belarusian industry plays a major part in our economy. Our country is the biggest producer of fertilizers, fodder harvesters and industrial sewing-machines. It ranks second in the manufacture of trucks, motorcycles, tractors, chemical fibres, commercial wood and other products. Belarus is famous for metal-cutting machines, electric motors, tyres, timber, paper, cardboard, window glass, high-class refrigerators and freezers, TV and radio sets, bicycles, first-class cameras and textiles. Agriculture in Belarus specializes in milk and meat production. Potatoes, grain, flax, herbs and vegetables are cultivated here.
Most of Belarus is a flat country. It is the land of forests, fields, meadows, rivers. The total length of the rivers flowing through Belarus is 90,600 kilometres. Seven of them are more than 500 km long each. They are the Dnieper, the Neman, the Sozh, the Vilia. Belarus is a lake country. There are about 10,800 lakes in the republic. The largest of them is Lake Naroch, 80 square kilometers. A third of Belarus is under forest.
Belarus with its moderate climate, picturesque landscapes and historical architectural monuments is a very interesting territory from the tourist point of view.
OUR UNIVERSITY
Brest State University is one of the oldest and most famous among state and non-state establishments of higher learning. It dates back from 1945 when on the 15th of March the regional government decided to open the Teacher's Training Institute in Brest. In October of the same year the first 14 students entered the building in Soviet street where the hospital had been housed before. There was no water, electricity, blackboards, chalk, textbooks, only enthusiasm of the people who wanted to study. But very soon it became a centre of cultural, educational and research life of the town.
In 1995 Brest State Teachers' Training Institute became a University. Now it occupies three academic buildings. One of them, a seven-storeyed building with various laboratories, subject rooms and reading halls was erected in 1983. The faculty of physical education is housed in a separate modern sports complex with four gymnasiums, two swimming pools, and a number of lecture halls and tutorial rooms. At the disposal of students there are two hostels, a canteen, an assembly hall, sports and agricultural stations. The University has three museums of biology, geography and history of physical culture and sport. The library and reading rooms of the University contain more that 700,000 books.
Brest State University has three main departments: extra-mural (or correspondence), preparatory and day-time. About 2,000 students acquire higher education without leaving their jobs at the extra-mural department. The basic form of study for an external student is independent work at home. The preparatory department is intended for those who want to refresh their knowledge before entering the University. About 4,000 internal students study at the day-time department, which includes 11 faculties: Language and Literature, Foreign Languages, Physics, Mathematics, Primary School Teachers' Training, Physical Education, Biology, Law, Geography, Preschool Education, and History. The University educates students in more than 30 specialities. It tries to meet the demands of society and in 1996 it began training specialists in economical cybernetics and law.
Teaching is maintained at a very high level. About 500 professors and lecturers at 43 chairs give lectures and tutorials, carry out research in different branches of knowledge, 250 graduates of the University are its lecturers now.
The course of studies at the University lasts five years. The academic year is divided into two terms: the winter and summer terms. The University provides a high standard of theoretical and practical knowledge. The students obtain sound knowledge in social sciences, the history and theory of education and teaching methods in their subjects.
SPORT IN BELARUS
Every third resident in the Republic of Belarus goes in for sports. Schoolchildren have classes in physical training which is a compulsory subject on the curriculum here. There are sports societies for the adult population. Most of the factories and various institutions have sports clubs.
Some people, such as pensioners, housewives and the like have physical culture and health improvement centres in their districts which become very popular with people who call them health-building centres, or simply health centres.
Belarusian athletes have at their disposal 138 stadiums, about 3,000 gym halls, 85 indoor swimming pools, over 2,000 shooting galleries, more than 8,000 football fields and 30,000 outdoor sports grounds.
Such sports structures as the Sport Palace, the Track-and-Field Athletics Palace, the Shooting Complex and the Water Sports Palace in Minsk as well as the Republican Equestrian Sports School and the Olympic complexes Raubichi and Staiki near Minsk have won recognition of both Belarusian and foreign athletes.
In addition to nearly 12,000 full-time trainers and coaches here there are 550,000 physical training instructors who receive no salaries but work in their free time.
Various competitions are held in the republic practically every day. Nation-wide competitions arc held for youngsters, such as the Leather Ball competitions for footballers, the Golden Puck competitions for the ice-hockey enthusiasts, the Royal Castle competitions for chess-players and the Snow-Flake competitions for skiers and skaters.
More than a thousand foreign athletes come here to participate in competitions in Belarus.
At the same time, over a thousand Belarusian athletes participated annually in many international events outside the borders of the republic. In 1952 Belarusian sportsmen took part in the Olympic Games for the first time.
Among the wrestlers of the world Alexander Medved, for example, lying in Minsk, has the richest collection of medals.
Gymnast Olga Korbut created a furore. Many of her original complicated parts are named a la Korbut.
Belarusian fencers also constantly show high standards. Over the past twenty years they have never come back from the Olympic Games without medals. Tatiana Samusenko, Elena Belova, Victor Sidiak, Alexei Nikanchikov and Alexander Romankov have more than once been Olympic and world champions. Among the well-known champions and prize winners are weightlifters Valery Shary and Leonid Taranenko, cyclist Vladimir Kaminsky, rowers Vladimir Romanovsky and Vladimir Parfenovich.
There are all grounds to believe that Belarusian sportsmen will prove among the best ones at the forthcoming Olympics, too.
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