Sport is an Essential Part of Life — страница 2

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table-tennis. I am also fond of volleyball, basketball, biathlon, but of course, I am fond of football most of these sports. In summer I always play football with my friends in the yard or sports ground. I enjoy shouting for my favourite team “SPARTAK” sitting in front of the TV-set. I don’t know why I am a Spartak fan. Maybe, because my father likes this team, maybe, because it is the most popular team in Russia. I always take to heart our national football team’s results. It is true, our football is not having its best time now, but I am sure that soon the time will come when we will be proud of our football team as well as our country in the whole. Sport in Russia. Russian and especially Soviet sports have many glorious pages. In all times our sportsmen have been the

strongest in many kinds of sports. Athletes from Europe and Asia, Africa and America have always been afraid of their Russian opponents. People all over the world know such names as Larisa Latynina, Valery Borzov, Vladislav Tretiak, Irina Rodnina,Vladimir Salnikov and of course Leo Yashin, who was recognized as the best goalkeeper of all times and all nations. In the Soviet Union junior sport was well-developed. There were many sport clubs, stadiums, grounds and gyms all over the country. Many competitions between schools took place in every town. In our clubs the best coaches worked. Among the sports popular in our country are football, basketball, swimming, volleyball, ice hockey, tennis, gymnastics, and figure skating. A person can choose sports and games for any seasons and

for any taste. Unfortunately the situation has changed to the worse in the nineties. If an athlete wants to reach a good result he has to train abroad. Many qualified coaches left Russia, because of the material factor. The number of free sports clubs for children reduced greatly. More children’s clubs became paid ones. Many stadiums and gyms were changed into markets and shops. Some talented athletes can’t regularly participate in competitions because they must go to other towns and live there at their own expenses, paying for the tickets, hotels and meals with their own money. Sports equipment and sports clothes are rather expensive, too. But nevertheless Russia has remained the greatest sport power. Our skiers like Larissa Lazutina and Lyubov Egorova, swimmer Alexander

Popov, wrestler Alexander Karelin, gymnasts Alexey Nemov and Svetlana Kchorkina, hockey player Pavel Bure and tennis player Eugeny Kafelnikov and others with brilliance defend the honour of our national flag. Sports in Great Britain. The British people like every one else like sports and games. They are called sport-lovers in spite of the fact that some of them neither play games nor even watch them. They only like to speak about sports. Sport plays such a large part in British life that many idioms in the English language have come from the world of sport. For example, “to play the game” means “to be fair” and “that’s not cricket” means “that’s not fair”. Britain invented and developed many of the sports and games, which now are played all over the world.

There are different sports societies and clubs in Great Britain. Thousands of people devote their leisure time to outdoor and indoor games, athletics, cycling, mountain climbing, boxing and other sports. Horse-racing, dog-racing and motor-racing are among the most popular sports in Britain. They gather many spectators. Football is the most popular game in Britain. It is a team game. There are some amateur teams but most of the teams are professional in England. Such teams as Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are well-known all over the world. The Cup finals is one of the most important football matches of the year in England; it is always played at the Wembley stadium, near London, which holds 100,000 spectators. The matches between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland also

excite great interest. English people like to play cricket. To many Englishmen cricket is both a game and a standard of behavior. They think that summer without cricket isn’t summer. Cricket is the English national sport in summer. If you want to play cricket you must wear white boots, a white shirt and white long trousers. It is played with balls, bats and wickets. Girls play cricket too. Golf is a widely spread all over Great Britain game. The Scots are sure the golf is a Scottish game. It is played all the year round. Many people in Great Britain like to play table tennis. Englishmen heard about table tennis in 1880. Then the International Table Tennis Association was formed and the international rules were worked out. Wimbledon is the center of lawn tennis. Nowadays every