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10.Если бьющий попадает по мячу, но при этом мяч вылетает за границы поля то засчитывается фол-бол.

5. Work in pairs. Student A is going to read the text about baseball, Student B is going to read the text about Cricket. While reading take notes, get ready to retell the text to your partner and use the following points as a plan for retelling:

the origins and the history of the game; the equipment and tools;

the rules of the game;

the popularity of the game;

the place of this sport at international multi-sport events (ex. the Olympic Games).

Listen to each other. Say if you’ve learned anything new about the sport, that your parent spoke about. Did you partner arouse your interest in that sport? Would you like to watch it/play it?

Student A

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each, who take turns batting and fielding.

There are three basic tools of baseball: the ball, the bat, and the glove or mitt. The baseball is about the size of an adult’s fist. The bat is a hitting tool, traditionally made of a single, solid piece of wood. The glove or mitt is a fielding tool, made of padded leather with webbing between the fingers. As an aid in catching and holding onto the ball, it takes various shapes to meet the specific needs of different fielding positions. Protective helmets are also standard equipment for all batters.

The batting team attempts to score runs by hitting a ball that is thrown by the pitcher with a bat swung by the batter, then running counter-clockwise around a series of four bases: first, second, third, and home plate. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases and returns to home plate. Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates’ turns batting, such as on a hit or by other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the visiting team, constitutes an innings. A game is composed of nine innings, and the team with the greater number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball has no game clock, although almost all games end in the ninth innings.

Unlike those of most sports, baseball playing fields can vary significantly in size and shape. Similarly, there are no regulations at all concerning the dimensions of foul territory.

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Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century. The evolution of baseball from older bat-and- ball games is difficult to trace with precision. A French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clerics playing a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball. The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, by John Newbery. It contains a rhymed description of “base-ball” and a woodcut that shows a field set-up somewhat similar to the modern game – though in a triangular rather than diamond configuration, and with posts instead of ground-level bases. David Block discovered that the first recorded game of "Bass-Ball" took place in 1749 in Surrey, and featured the Prince of Wales as a player The first known American reference to baseball appears in a 1791 Pittsfield, Massachusetts, town by law prohibiting the playing of the game near the town’s new meeting house. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. Baseball is now popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia. By the early 1830s, there were reports of a variety of uncodified bat-and-ball games recognizable as early forms of baseball being played around North America. These games were often referred to locally as “town ball”, though other names such as “round-ball” and “base-ball” were also used.

In the mid-1850s, a baseball craze hit the New York metropolitan area. By 1856, local journals were referring to baseball as the “national pastime” or “national game”. A year later, sixteen area clubs formed the sport’s first governing body, the National Association of Base Ball Players.

Virtually all of the modern baseball rules were in place by 1893; the last major change – counting foul balls as strikes – was instituted in 1901.

As professional baseball became increasingly profitable, players frequently raised grievances against owners over issues of control and equitable income distribution. During the major leagues’ early decades, players on various teams occasionally attempted strikes, which routinely failed when their jobs were sufficiently threatened. In general, the strict rules of baseball contracts and the reserve clause, which bound players to their teams even when their contracts had ended, tended to keep the players in check.

Attendance had been growing steadily since the mid-1970s and in 1994, before the stoppage, the majors were setting their all-time record for per-game attendance.

Baseball, widely known as America’s pastime, is well established in several other countries as well. The history of baseball in Canada has remained closely linked with that of the sport in the United States. After World War II, professional leagues were founded in many Latin American nations, most prominently Venezuela (1946) and the Dominican Republic (1955). In Asia, South Korea (1982), Taiwan (1990), and China (2003) all have professional leagues.

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Many European countries have professional leagues as well, the most successful, other than the Dutch league, being the Italian league founded in 1948.

The Confédération Européene de Baseball (European Baseball Confederation), founded in 1953, organizes a number of competitions between clubs from different countries, as well as national squads.

After being admitted to the Olympics as a medal sport beginning with the 1992 Games, baseball was dropped from the 2012 Summer Olympic Games at the 2005 International Olympic Committee meeting. It remained part of the 2008 Games. The elimination of baseball, along with softball, from the 2012 Olympic program enabled the IOC to consider adding two different sports, but none received the votes required for inclusion. While the sport’s lack of a following in much of the world was a factor, more important was Major League Baseball’s reluctance to have a break during the Games to allow its players to participate, as the National Hockey League now does during the Winter Olympic Games.

(Abridged and edited from: https://global.britannica.com/sports/baseball; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball)

Student B

Cricket

Cricket is unquestionably the English summer game. Although cricket’s origins are uncertain, it is first recorded in south-east England in the 16th century. It spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, leading to the first international matches in the mid-19th century. By 1744 a written code governing the game was in existence. Since 1788 the acknowledged, though unofficial, fountain of all cricket legislation has been Marylebone Cricket Club, better known by the famous initials M.C.C. Lords, its ground at St John’s Wood in north-west London is the Mecca of all cricketers. Pioneers of the game were the men of Hampshire, particularly of the village of Hambledon and the counties of Surrey and Kent. The first recorded game was played in 1697.

A number of words have been suggested as sources for the term “cricket”. In the earliest definite reference to the sport in 1598 it is called creckett. In Old French, the word criquet seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch krick(-e), meaning a stick (crook). Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket. According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, “cricket” derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., “with the stick chase”). Dr Gillmeister believes that not only the name but the sport itself is of Flemish origin.

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The bat is the principal emblem of the game. Its blade is made of white willow, the source of the symbolical King Willow before whom all players bend their backs. A match is played between two sides of eleven players each. Cricket is played on a cricket field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard- long pitch with a wicket (a set of three wooden stumps) sited at each end. The score is reckoned by runs. The wickets are pitched opposite one another at a distance of about 22 yards. One team, designated the batting team, attempts to score as many runs as possible, whilst their opponents field. Each phase of play is called an innings. After either ten batsmen have been dismissed or a set number of overs have been completed, the innings ends and the two teams then swap roles. The winning team is the one that scores the most runs, including any extras gained, during their one or two innings.

The two sides take turns at batting. The side that goes in to bat is said to be having its innings. Two of its players go into the field and take their place in front of the wickets, whilst the rest sit and await their turn. These two are the batsmen, and their task is to hit the ball delivered by the bowler standing by the other wicket, and stay in as long as possible. The ball is bowled in overs of six balls from each wicket alternately by two bowlers of the opposite team. In the meantime the other players of the opposite team have arranged themselves around the field, with the wicket-keeper behind the wicket facing the bowler in action. They are called fielders or fieldsmen.

If the batsman hits hard enough, and it takes the fielders some time to retrieve the ball, he and his fellow-batsman make as many runs as they can afford to risk. A run is scored as often as the batsmen after a hit, or at any time while the ball is in play, have crossed the ground from one wicket to another.

The task of the players who are in the field is to get the batsmen out. Without going into technicalities, these are roughly some of the ways in which this can be done.

If the batsman sends the ball high up into the air, he may be caught out.

If the batsman misses the ball (when it is bowled), and it hits the wicket, so that the wicket is bowled down, the batsman is said to be bowled.

When a player is out the next one comes in to bat, and so it goes on until the eleven have completed an innings, and the sides exchange places. As has been mentioned, the side that scores more runs wins the game.

Traditionally cricketers play in all-white kit, but sometimes they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball, which is a hard, solid object made of compressed leather enclosing a cork core.

For a team sport, cricket places individual players under unusual scrutiny and pressure. Bowler, batsman, and fielder all act essentially independently of each other. While team managements can signal to a bowler or batsman to pursue certain tactics, the execution of the play itself is a series of solitary acts. Cricket is more similar to baseball than many other team sports in this regard:

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while the individual focus in cricket is slightly mitigated by the importance of the batting partnership and the practicalities of running, it is enhanced by the fact that a batsman’s innings may continue for several hours.

The laws of cricket are maintained by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

Cricket is a unique game where in addition to the laws, the players must abide by the “Spirit of the Game”. The standard of sportsmanship has historically been considered so high that the phrase “it’s just not cricket” was coined in the 19th century to describe unfair or underhanded behaviour in any walk of life.

A cricket match may be a one-day match, or it may last two or three days, then it is called a two-day or a three-day match. Cricket is a sport played predominantly in the drier periods of the year. But, even so, the weather is a major factor in many cricket matches. Cricket cannot be played in wet weather.

The peak events in cricket are the test matches, combats between the national sides of England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan and the West Indies. They were started in 1877 at Melbourne, Australia.

Cricket was played as part of the 1900 Summer Olympics, when England and France contested a two-day match. In 2010, the International Olympic Committee recognised cricket as a sport which could apply to be included in the Olympic Games, but in 2013 the ICC announced that it had no intentions to make such an application. Cricket can have a chance of getting in for the Summer Games, but there must be collective support shown by the ICC’s membership base in order for there to be a chance of inclusion.

There are numerous variations of the sport played throughout the world that include indoor cricket, French cricket, beach cricket, Kwik cricket and all sorts of card games and board games that have been inspired by cricket. In these variants, the rules are often changed to make the game playable with limited resources or to render it more convenient and enjoyable for the participants.

(Edited from: “Sport. Пособие по развитию навыков устной речи”. C. 29–31; https://global.britannica.com/sports/cricket-sport; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket)

6. Using the information from both texts together compare baseball and cricket. Specify their similarities and differences according to the points of the plan that you used in retelling. Together complete the table below:

Origins/history

Equipment/tools

Rules

Popularity

Place at international sport-events

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III. On Your Own

1.Search the news sites, like BBC for example, or the electronic newspapers, like The Guardian, and make a sports news coverage of the top sports news. Report it in the class.

Listen to all the news reports and make a summary in Russian of the sports news that have been covered in most of the news reports prepared by students.

2.Pick any sport or a sporting event. Find a bit of sporting footage on video. In the classroom play the video with the sound off, imagine you are a commentator. Tell your group mates what is happening and make it sound exciting! Choose the best commentator in your group!

Alternative task: choose a person in your group to do the interpretation of your commentary.

3.Did you know that messing about in boats is a British obsession? Watch the video at https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/britain-great/sport-great- part-2 in which Richard visits Portland and Weymouth’s Olympic harbour and finds out if he’s got what it takes to win a medal on the water. Complete the tasks on the site. How many points did you score? Are you satisfied with your results?

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Module 6

SPORT AND HEALTH

I. Lead-in

1. Discuss the following questions:

1.Should sports be part of the school/university curriculum? Why? Give as many reasons as possible? Should all children participate in competitive sports?

2.What is the best age to take up sport activities? Which ones?

3.What sport activities would you recommend for those who’d like to keep fit?

4.How can one tell that he is fit?

5.Do all sports contribute to a person’s good health? Give reasons.

2. Write as many sports as you can under these headings:

Read your table to your partner. Does he/she agree with your classification? Clarify anything if necessary.

Discuss with your partner if you have ever tried any of these sports. Which are your favourite? Do you dislike any of them? Why?

3. Discuss the following questions in the group:

1.Do all extreme and blood sports help people to keep fit? Why do you think people do extreme and blood sports? Are the reasons the same?

2.When we speak about sport and games we usually stress health benefits they bring to people, but lately more and more articles are published which warn us about the health hazards caused by sport. Do you think that such sports and games as boxing, football, ice-hockey are dangerous? Why?/ Why not?

3.What sports do you believe to be really dangerous?

4.What martial arts are practised in Russia? Which are the most popular ones? Are they dangerous in your opinion?

5.What are the most common injuries in the sport (s) you have read about?

II. Focus on Vocabulary

1. Use the words and phrases in brackets to translate the sentences into English.

1.Все считали, что немцы с легкостью одержат победу в этом матче, но ирландцы оказались достойными соперниками (win with ease, prove to be formidable opponents).

2.Последний участник состязаний так и не вышел на стартовую линию перед началом соревнований, так что в забеге приняли участие семь бе-

гунов вместо восьми (contestant, appear at the line-up, race).

3.Обе команды сражались яростно за победу, поэтому все согласились,

что это был очень равный матч (battle fiercely, even match).

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4.Сейчас Фред полностью пришел в форму, и тренер установил для него режим интенсивных тренировок (fully fit, put smb. on an intensive training regime).

5.Наша университетская команда хорошо играет на своём поле, но проигрывает большинство выездных матчей (play in one’s own ground, away matches).

6.Наша команда чуть не проиграла матч в прошлую субботу (narrowly defeated).

7.Марта была одной из фавориток в рамках этого турнира, но, к сожалению, выбыла из гонки на отборочных соревнования (favourite, to be knocked out, the qualifying round).

8.Молодой теннисист сражался, не жалея сил, против своего титулованного соперника, но так и не смог одержать победу (fight tooth and nail against, title holder).

9.Личный тренер Питера посоветовал ему делать больше силовых уп-

ражнений (personal trainer, instruct, weight-training).

10.Последний раз столько зрителей собиралось на этой спортивной площадке в прошлом году при проведении полу-финала (capacity crowd, ground, semi-final).

Work in pairs. One of you should look at the sentences, translate them at sight. The other student should not look into the textbook, listen to the partner and translate the sentences by ear. Then switch roles after sentence 5.

2. Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only one word in each space.

Keeping Fit

Bodies are made to move! They are not designed for sitting around in front (1) ___ the television or reading magazines. Keeping fit doesn’t (2) ___

you have to be a super-athlete, and even a (3) ___ exercise can give you a lot of fun. When you’re fit and healthy, you’ll find you look better and feel better. You’ll (4) ___ more energy and self-confidence.

Every time you move you (5) ___ exercising. The human body is designed to bend, stretch, run, jump and climb. The (6) ___ it does, the stronger and fitter it will become. Best of (7) ___, exercise is fun. It’s (8) ___ your body likes doing most – keeping on the move.

Physical exercise is not only good (9) ___ your body. People who take regular exercise are usually happier, more relaxed and more alert (10) ___ people ho sit around all day. Try an experiment – next time you’re (11) ___ a bad mood, go for a walk or play a ball game in the park. See how (12) ___ better you feel after an hour.

A sense of achievement is yet (13) ___ benefit of exercise. People feel good (14) ___ themselves when they know they have improved (15) ___ fitness.

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People who exercise regularly will (16) ___ you that they have more energy to enjoy life. So have a go – you’ll soon see and feel the benefits!

3. Fill the gaps with words formed from the words in capitals.

Learn to Love Exercise

Whatever exercise you decide to do, start slowly. It takes at least six months for a new habit to become part of your life, so don’t expect miracles overnight. Start 1) ……… And, as you start to feel 2) ………, increase the duration of your exercise session and the 3) ……… . Exercise should leave you feeling happy and refreshed. If you feel shattered, you’re probably overdoing it. A good rule of thumb is to exercise so you can chat. Make sure you always stretch before and after an exercise session. Stretching before exercise is a 4) ………

measure because muscles that are not warm can easily be injured. Stretching afterwards is a 5) ……… measure because it helps prevent muscle 6) ……… . Choose exercise that you enjoy. If you’re having fun, you’re more likely to keep at it. Many people find a lot of 7) ……… in exercising as part of a group.

1.GRADUAL

2.COMFORT

3.INTENSE

4.PROTECT

5.PREVENT

6.SORE

7.MOTIVATE

4.Fill in the gaps with an appropriate particle to form a phrasal verb, explain the meaning of the phrasal verbs and translate the sentences into Russian.

1.His dismal performance was put … … insufficient preparation.

2.The home team ran … … the game, and won a decisive victory.

3.To reach this level of performance it is necessary to put … years of training.

4.The club has run … problems with finance over the past season.

5.To help the club, the players offered to put … the money for the new equipment themselves.

6.The manager wants to run … a few of the strategy points with the players.

7.The Athletics Association’s expenses now run … millions of pounds.

8.If the team can put … a good performance, more people will start attending matches.

9.After six full games in two weeks, the team began to tire and ran … of steam.

10.The manager put the case … buying new players.

Work in pairs. One of you should look at the sentences, translate them at sight into Russian. The other student should not look into the textbook, listen to the partner and translate the sentences by ear into English. Then switch roles after sentence 5.

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II. Focus on Reading and Speaking

1. Discuss the following questions in pairs.

a. When do you think a human’s body starts to age?

b. Many people believe that exercise can retard and even reverse the effects of ageing. Do you share this view?

c. Do you happen to know any elderly people who have benefited in this way?

2. Read the article by Dick Norman to find out whether your answers to questions a and b above were correct. Then answer the questions after the text.

Did you realize that once you’ve passed the age of twenty you start to die? But you can slow the march of time to stay young longer and enjoy an active and healthy life for as many of those years as possible. Young people are naturally fit, but unless you get into the habit of taking regular exercise and conditioning yourself to do so, you will find it more and more difficult as you get older.

The easiest way to reach and maintain fitness is through sport. It’s fun and it has social and psychological advantages.

It is vital to progress slowly. First, jog as far as you can. Then do some simple form of exercise – sit ups or press ups will do – for as long as you can. Set no targets. Simply discover your starting point. If you repeat your exercise daily, you will automatically make progress. What is unbearable the first few session will gradually become within your scope.

How can you tell when you are fit? When you can run three miles (slightly less for girls) without getting exhausted.

Researches are finding that even moderate exercise can retard the effects of ageing – and actually reverse them. Among the benefits are improved heart and respiratory function, increased muscle strength, denser bones, quicker reaction times and reduced susceptibility to depression.

Exercise by middle-aged and older people can turn the clock back by as much as 10 to 25 years. Furthermore, the findings show that no matter when in life a person starts to exercise, improvements can occur.

Dr Roy Shephard, an expert on exercise and ageing at the University of Toronto, concluded: “You’d have to go a long way to find a fountain of youth as good as exercise. And you don’t have to run marathons to reap the benefits. Little more than rapid walking for 30 minutes at a time three or four times a week can provide ten years of rejuvenation.” Research over the last two decades has contradicted the widespread belief that the elderly cannot improve physiologically and at best can only slow decline. One of the early studies was by Herbert de Vries, a pioneer in the use of exercise physiology to explore gerontology [the study of old age and of ageing]. In his investigation, more than 200 men and women aged 56 to 87 participated in a fitness programme that included a walkjog routine, callisthenics and stretching. After just six weeks, their blood pressure dropped, body fat decreased, maximum oxygen transport increased, and neuro-muscular signs of nervous tension diminished.

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