Урок 12. Найпопулярніші види спорту. Екстримальні і незвичайні види спорту.

EXTREME AND UNUSUAL SPORTS

Think about:

1) What sport do you think is the most dangerous?

2) What sport do you think is the most expensive?

3) What extreme sports do you know?

Read the text and do the tasks.

HISTORIC JUMPS MADE ABOVE MT. EVEREST

Three skydivers made history over Mount Everest on October 5th by being the first people to parachute above the world’s highest mountain. The parachutists, from New Zealand, Britain and Canada, trained for many years to make their jumps. Their plane flew about 150 metres above Eve­rest’s peak when they leapt out. They had to wear oxygen masks and para­chutes that were larger than usual to help them in the thin air. The three were in freefall for 30 seconds before their chutes opened and they glided down to land. A member of the jumpers’ support team Krishna Aryal ex­plained to the Reuters news agency what the jumps looked like from the ground: “They looked like tiny birds flying in the blue sky as they jumped from the plane,” he said.

The skydivers were over the moon with their jump over Everest. New Zealander Wendy Smith said: “It was stunning. I had never seen so many mountains before. To be on top of the world was simply stunning”. Britain’s Holly Budge agreed, saying her jump was “just spectacular”. Their jumps broke several skydiving records. They entered the record books for making the highest skydiving freefall at nearly 8,900 metres. They also landed on the world’s highest drop zone at 3,761 metres. Twenty-nine more darede­vils are waiting for favourable weather conditions to make the same jump. The thrill seekers are part of the ‘Everest Skydive 2008’ event organized by the British extreme sports company High and Wild.

► True or false

1) Three skydivers jumped off the top of Mount Everest.

2) The decision to make the jumps was a sudden one taken recently.

3) The parachutes used in the jumps were half the usual size.

4) An onlooker said the skydivers flew with rare bluebirds in the sky.

5) The skydivers were over the moon about their jump.

6) The parachutists broke several skydiving records.

7) Mount Everest is 3,761 metres high.

8) There are nearly 30 jumpers waiting to make the jump above Everest.

Match the following synonyms:

Answer the questions:

SKYDIVING DISCUSSION

1) What did you think when you read the headline?

2) What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘Everest’?

3) Would you like to skydive over Mount Everest?

4) What do you think of the tree skydivers in this story?

5) What do you think of skydiving as a hobby?

6) Why do you think skydivers like skydiving?

7) Would you like to be in freefall for 30 seconds?

8) What kinds of feelings do you think you’d have floating down to the ground from above Mount Everest?

9) What kind of training would the skydivers need to do this?

10) Would you like to fly like a bird?

Read about unusual sports and say if we can call them real kinds of sport.

PANCAKE RACING — In which each participant carries a pancake in a frying pan. All the runners must toss their pancakes as they run and catch them in the frying pan.

WHEELBARROW AND STRAW BALE RACE — Each player in the team races over 50 yards with 4 straw bales on the barrow, then tosses the bales over a 6ft height bar. The quickest team wins.

WELLY / WELLIE WANGING OR THROWING — A freestyle sport that originated in Britain, most likely in the county of Yorkshire. Competi­tors are required to hurl a Wellington boot as far as possible within bound­ary lines, from a standing or running start. Each player has three throws, the longest distance thrown within the zone wins. Note that the word wellie is also often spelt as welly.

1) What is your country’s national sport? Do you like it?

2) What are blood sports and extreme sports? Do you like them?

Homework

Look for some information and write a short paragraph about an ex­treme or unusual sport.