Sports in Russia. Olympic games. Millions of people all over the world are fond of sports and games. Sport helps people to stay in good shape, keeps them fit, healthy and makes them more organized and better disciplined in their daily activities. We have always paid great attention to sport in our schools, colleges and universities. You can hardly find a school without a gym or a sports ground. Every city and town has a few stadiums or swimming pool where local competitions are usually held. There are different sporting societies and clubs in Russia. Many of them take part in different international tournaments and are known all over the world. A great number of world records have been set by Russian sportsmen: gymnasts, tennis players, swimmers, figure skaters, runners, high jumpers. Our sportsmen also participate in the Olympic Games and always win a lot of gold, silver and bronze medals. There are also a lot of amateur clubs and keep-fit centers in Russia where people go in for aerobics, yoga, body-building, swimming, skating. Thousand of people go to the stadium to support their favorite team and many thousand more prefer to watch the games on TV. The Olympic Games have a very long history. They began in 777 BC in Greece and took place every four years for near twelve centuries at Olympia. They included many different kinds of sports: running, boxing, wrestling, etc. All the cities in Greece sent their best athletes to Olympia to compete in the Games. For the period of the Games all the wars stopped. So the Olympic Games became the symbol of peace and friendship. In 394 AD the Games were abolished and were not renewed until many centuries later. In 1896 the International Olympic Committee was set up. It is the central policy-making body of the Olympic movement. It is formed by the representatives of all countries, which take part in the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee decides upon the program of the games, the number of the participants and the city-host for the Games. Over one hundred and fifty countries are represented in the International Olympic Committee now. Summer and Winter Games are held separately. There are always several cities wishing to host the Games. The most suitable is selected by the International Committee. After that the city of the Games starts preparations for the competitions, constructs new sports facilities, stadiums, hotels, press centers. Thousand of athletes, journalists and guests come to the Games, and it takes great efforts to arrange everything. There is always an interesting cultural program of concerts, exhibitions, festivals for each Games. Russia joined the Olympic movement in 1952. Vocablary
to abolish – отменять city-host – город-хозяин О. игр to renew – возобновлять separately – отдельно to be held – проводиться to host - принимать to set up - организовать suitable - подходящий policy-making body – sports facilities - спортивные орган, определяющий сооружения политику, цели (олимпий- to arrange – устраивать, органи- ского движения) зовать representative – предста- sports event – спортивное соре- витель внование Sports in my life
Millions of people all over the world are fond of sports and games. Sport help people to stay in good shape, keeps them fit, healthy and makes them more organized and better disciplined in their daily activities. I should admit that everyone must do all he can to be healthy. Good health is better than the best medicine. "A healthy mind in a healthy mind" as the old Latin saying goes. The English proverb "Sickness in the body brings sickness to the mind" expresses a similar idea but from different point of view. All kinds of physical exercises are very useful to make our bodies strong and to keep ourselves fit and healthy. To tell the truth I don't do sports regularly and it is not an essential part of my daily life. In the morning I do some exercises just to awake. Then some aerobics for myself. It puts me into the fine moods. In summer I like swimming, riding the bike or horse riding, but in winter I usually do not go in for sports. I don't like skiing or tobogganing very much. I think I am not the person who can be fond of doing sports, though I consider sport an important part of human life. It really helps us to be healthy in mind and body. The human body is much more complicated than any machine. Yet it need less day-to-day care than machine. No machine can do all the things the body can do. No machine will work for 70 years or more, day and night, requiring only air, water, food and a few simple rules. Frankly speaking, I have never had a wish to be a professional sportsman. I think professional sport is not really suitable for young people, because children just can't cope with the pressures of the world of sport. To my mind, young players shouldn't be allowed to become professionals until the age of 17 or 18 at least. The problem is that sport organisations try to find children at quite a young age, to train them and motivate them as early as possible. At that age they don't have social problems, they don't have boyfriends of girlfriends, so they give their sport the whole of their life. But they are so young that they can lose their childhood, and they're adults before they're 16. But of course they are not adults at all. Physically they can be quite developed, but emotionally they're still children. So in my opinion, children should stay at home, stay at school, do the things that teenagers like doing. And if when they're older they would really like to be a professional players, well, they will be a little older than all other sportsmen, but they'll be better people for it, of that I'm perfectly sure. To be champions in the world of sport is really a high price of sports brakes the lives of children. This is my point of view. And if I had a chance to talk with a professional sportsman, I think I would like to meet some famous figure skater. I would like to know how it feels when you represent your country at the world championship. I guess it is a really great responsibility to be the hope of the nation. My family mostly doesn't go in for sports. The only popular outdoor activity in our family is travelling. Every summer we make voyages around the country, and of course driving to the Black sea which is one of our most beloved places. But that's the only kind of sport, which is popular in our family.
Категория: Russia | Добавил: Englishforhelp (2006-02-15)
| Автор: Englisgforhelp
