Vocabulary
irrespective of —- независимо от
social classes — (зд.) сословие
to get skills and habits — приобрести навыки и привычки
track and field athletics — легкая атлетика
high-fat food — пища с большим содержанием жира
to gain the weight — набирать вес
to take drugs — принимать наркотики
All over the world people of different ages and nationalities are fond of sports and games. Sport makes people healthy, keeps them in good shape, teaches them to be more organized and better disciplined. Sport builds character, it teaches people to win and to lose. It makes them strong and helps to work off extra energy. And of course sport unites people and makes them friends irrespective of their nationalities, social classes, religious.
Sport is very popular in Russia. More than 30 million people go to sport centres, among them there are teenagers. All schoolchildren have at least two PT lessons a week. Most schools have well-equipped gyms, swimming pools and tennis courts where students can develop physically and get all the necessary skills and habits.
Teenagers as well as adults participate in a great number of sport events. They include indoor and outdoor sports such as football, ice hockey, volleyball, basketball, track and field athletics, etc,
One of the most popular kinds of sport is football. According to official figures, nearly 5 million people go in for it. Ice hockey is one of the most popular winter sports. Russian players have been taking part in world championships since 1954 and have won the world title on many occasions. In 1988 it was the hundredth anniversary of athletics. Track and field athletics are participated by more than seven million people now. Russian sportsmen are the European, World and Olympic records holders in different disciplines. Other popular team games are basketball and volleyball. More than six million people play volleyball in physical culture teams and sporting clubs. The men's and women's teams won Olympic, European and World Champions titles for many times. A little less people play basketball. Since 1952 our volleyball -teams have been among the Olympic prize winners for several times.
So sport is a very important part of our life. It helps people to be in good health. But some people don't think about their health very much. They eat a lot of high-fat food, such as bread, sweets and so on and gain the weight. They are not active physically. They sleep too much or too little. The worst habits some people have are smoking, drinking alcohol and taking drugs. All these things destroy their health. They don't look, attractive-at all and their future isn't clear. So if people want to feel and look great it's very important for them, to go in for sports,.to have good healthy food, to sleep seven or eight hours, give up smoking and alcohol.
There is nothing more important than health, because you can't be good at your studies or work well, it's difficult to be happy in your private life if you don't take care of you health.
Text 3. Healthy Lifestyle
Vocabulary
life expectancy – средняя продолжительность жизни
sedentary lifestyle – сидячий образ жизни
to keep fit – поддерживать хорошую физическую форму
balanced meals – сбалансированное питание
to give up unhealthy habits – отказаться от вредных привычек
moderate physical activity – умеренная физическая активность
heart diseases and strokes – заболевания сердца и инсульты
obesity and influenza – ожирение и грипп
health and fitness club – оздоровительный клуб
public leisure centre – оздоровительный центр
indoor water park – крытый аквапарк
to do aerobics or yoga – заниматься аэробикой и йогой
weight training – силовые тренировки
gym – спортивный зал
Jogging – бег трусцой
accessible sport – доступный спорт
healthy diet – здоровая диета
heart disease – сердечное заболевание
liver disease – заболевание печени
cancer -рак
to be banned in all public places – быть запрещенным во всех общественных местах
Healthy way of life is popular with the old and the young. What do you need to do to keep healthy?
It is widely known that life expectancy is increasing. But the reason why the average figures are higher than they used to be, say, hundred years ago is not that all people live longer than before. One reason is that, due to medical research, many illnesses were eliminated; the second one is that fewer people die in wars. Generally, the life of modern man is endangered by many factors. One is the increasing pollution of the environment by industry and transport; another one is sedentary lifestyle of people living in cities and towns, that is, the majority of the population of the planet. The third one is the quality of food we eat and water we drink which results in a lot of diseases. The fourth one is that living in big cities leads to epidemics, and even pandemics of many catchy illnesses. Unhealthy life results in the fact that many people are overweight.
The only possible way of preserving your health is, therefore, healthy way of life which includes keeping fit, balanced meals, and giving up unhealthy habits like smoking, drinking alcohol, and, of course, drugs.
Physical fitness is a general state of good physical health. For anyone who really wants to be healthy, fitness has become an integral part of their lives. The fitness boom resulted in a rise in the numbers of people participating in sports and sports activities. It is a well-known fact that even moderate physical activity can protect you from heart diseases and strokes, obesity and influenza. There are many ways of keeping fit. Firstly, you could visit health and fitness clubs. A lot of health and fitness clubs, public leisure centres, huge indoor water parks are very popular among people of all ages. Secondly, regular exercise is necessary. People of different ages can choose or design exercises that will fit them. Some people do aerobics or yoga; others prefer weight training in a gym. Many people prefer walking or jogging which arc the cheapest and most accessible sports. Doing some sport or other on a regular basis is the best way of keeping fit. In Russia a number of spoils activities are popular among the old and the young: football, swimming, cycling, skiing, skating, fishing, hunting, roller-skating, etc. Mass running competitions gain popularity with Russians. City marathons have become sporting events reported on the radio, television and in the press.
A healthy diet is an important part of staying healthy, too. This diet contains reduced amounts of cholesterol, fat, sugar and salt. It helps protect our body from a wide range of diseases; the most dangerous are heart diseases, liver diseases, and cancer.
To stay healthy one must, of course, abstain from smoking. Everybody knows smoking is hazardous for your health and can lead to fatal diseases like cancer. Smoking should undoubtedly be banned in all public places.
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Text 4. То Watch or Participate in Sport Activity?
Vocabulary
to keep fit; to be in good shape — быть в форме
stamina — выносливость, запас жизненных сил
injury, to injury — вред, повреждение; ранить, повредить
mountaineering — альпинизм
in high spirits — в хорошем настроении
patient — терпеливый
I can call myself a couch potato. "Couch potato" means a person who spends time lying on the sofa and watching TV. It's difficult to say, what better is — to watch or participate. If you go in for some kinds of sport, you keep fit, make your body more flexible, increase your strength, stamina. Sport also unites people and helps them to become good friends. It teaches you about life. It makes men out of boys.
But on the other hand, sport takes a lot of energy and time. You have to work very hard. You don't have too much time for something else. And, of course, sport causes a lot of injuries. Sportsmen break their legs and arms, people die from sporting injuries.
Some kinds of sports are very dangerous, for example mountaineering and air sports, racing, boxing etc. These kind of sport are of extreme character, they are very risky. But some people enjoy these sport activities, as they would like to be famous and known all over the world.
As for me I can't say that sport is a very important part of my life, though I try to do morning exercises every day and twice a week I go to the swimming pool. In our school we have two gyms and a sports ground. We play different sport games, such as football, hockey, tennis, etc. Also we have two PT lessons a week. And I like our teacher very much. He is always in good shape and in high spirits. He is very patient and teaches us many things. Looking at him I always think that if you want to have a healthy mind, you must have a healthy body.
I also like to watch some sports events and TV programmes about famous sportsmen, how they became champions, what difficulties they had, their success and plans for future.
What is better to watch or participate?. To my mind it should be the combination of these both components. Sports help people to keep in good health and health is above wealth.
Answer the following questions:
1. What kinds of sport are popular in Russia? 2. Are you against or for sports? 3. What are the advantages of going in for sports? 4. What are the disadvantages of going in for sports? 5. Is sport important to you? Why? 6. Do you go in for sports? Why? 7. What is your favourite kind of sport? 8. Do you like to watch sports competitions? What competitions do you like to watch? 9. When outstanding sportsmen/women do you know? 10. Which do you prefer, to take part in sports or to watch it on TV? Why? 11. Why do some people prefer to watch sports competition and not to god for sports?
