Unit 6 For the Glory of Sport
Part I Warming up
A．
Key words:the “firsts” Olympic
Vocabulary: hemisphere Melbourne Munich
Tapescript
Women competed in Olympic events for the first time in Paris in 1900.
In 1924, the first Winter Games were held in Chamonix.
In 1932, the first Olympic village was built to accommodate athletes in Los Angeles. In 1936 in Berlin TV cameras broadcast Olympic events for the first time.
The 1956 Olympics in Melbourne were the first Olympic Games to be held in the southern hemisphere.
Tokyo hosted the first Asian Olympics in 1964.
In 1972 for the first time, over one billion TV viewers watched the Munich Olympic opening ceremony.
B.
Tapescript
What is the most popular sport in the United States? That may be an impossible question to answer. There are different meanings of the words "most popular."
One way to measure the popularity of a sport is by the number of people who pay to watch it played by professional teams. Experts say the most popular American sport by that measure is baseball. Each professional baseball team plays 162 games every season.
Or the popularity of a sport can be measured by the number of people who watch games on television or listen on the radio. Then the answer might be American football.
And the popularity of a sport could be measured by the number of people who play the sport instead of just watch it. The answer, in this case, is the game people in the United States call soccer. It says more than 18 million people play soccer in the United States.
C.
Tapescript:
Right, everybody. Stand up straight. Now bend forward and down to touch your toes- and up -- and down -- and up. Arms by your sides. Raise your right knee as high as you can. Hold your leg with both hands and pull your knee back against your body. Keep your backs straight. Now lower your leg and do the same with your left knee -- up -- pull towards you -- and down. Move your feet further apart,' bend your elbows, and raise your arms to shoulder level. Squeeze your fists tightly in front of your chest. Now push your elbows back- keep your head up! And relax ... Feet together, and put your hands on your hips. Now bend your knees and stretch your arms out in front of you. Hold that position -- now up. Stretch your arms out to the sides at shoulder height, palms up. Rotate your arm in small circles- that's right -- and now the other way. Now stand with your hands clasped behind your neck and your legs apart. Bend over to the left, slowly, but as far as you can. And slowly up. And down to the right. And up. OK -- if we're all warmed up now, let's begin!
Part II The sporting spirit
A.
Key words: neighbors football match fans trouble large crowds
Vocabulary:affectionate /aggressive /knockout /smash /monster /terrace rugby/Wimbledon
Tapescript:
Section 1
M: I have neighbors who, who are very nice, friendly, warm, affectionate people, and
I live near a football ground, Tottenham, and on Saturday I avoid them, because
they come back from the match about 6 o'clock,7 o'clock drunk, aggressive--they scream, they shout, and...After the World Cup Fi-, after the World Cup when England got knocked out, I was in my local pub and they came in and they started pushing people around and smashing glasses, and I was really frightened and I walked out, and I don't understand, I really don't understand what it is about a football match that can turn ordinary, friendly people into monsters.
Section 2
JE: But do you think that's so of a lot of football fans? I mean, I've heard other people say they've gone to football matches and there's been absolutely no trouble in the terraces at all, and people have been...sat there, you know, quite happily, opposing teams next to each other.
J: Oh but it obviously does happen a lot. I mean, you see it on the news. What happens when British fans go to Europe? There's always trouble, isn't there?
M: Well, but it's ,it's not...it's ...In Brazil, for example, where I've also been to football matches, people go to enjoy themselves, and there's no aggression or violence, or...there's nothing like that. It seems peculiarly, it seems particular to England and
a few other countries that football provides people with the opportunity to show
their most violent, aggressive natures.
Section 3
A: But perhaps it's just a function of people getting together in crowds, large groups of people getting into enclosed spaces together.
J: But large crowds go to other kinds of matches--go to rugby matches, go to Wimbledon to watch tennis...
M: Go to pop concerts...
J: If they go to Wimbledon to watch tennis, they sit there silently throughout.
A: Yes, but it's interesting that one of the solutions that the police have, think might work is to have all-seater matches, for example, where everybody's seated...
B
Key words: sport goodwill competitive win mimic warfare attitude
Vocabulary:
cricket/inclination/orgy/deduce/utmost/patriotism/disgrace/combative/instinct/mimic/ warfare/spectator/absurd/at any rate/virtue
The following passage you are going to hear is from “The Sporting Spirit” written by George Orwell. Now listen and enjoy. Supply the missing words.
Tapescript;
I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common people of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even if one didn't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests led to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles.
Nearly all the sports practiced nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school
football match knows this. At the international level, sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behavior of the players but the attitude of the spectators；and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe--at any rate for short periods--that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.
Part III Sports and entertainment choices
Key words:Paralympics/ sports competition/ physical or mental limitations/ disabilities/ choices of entertainment
Vocabulary: spinal cord/ wheelchair/scuba diving/ yoga/ visual interpreter Tapescript:
The Olympics and the Paralympics are separate movements. But they have always been held in the same year. And since 1988, they have also been held in the same city. The International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee signed an agreement in 2001 to secure this connection.
The Paralympic Games grew out of a sports competition held in 1948 in England. A doctor named Ludwig Guttmann organized it for men who suffered spinal cord injuries in World War Two. Four years later, it became an international event as competitions from the Netherlands took part.
Then, in 1960, the first Paralympics were held in Rome. Four hundred athletes from 23 countries competed. By 2004, the Paralympic Games in Athens had almost 4,000 athletes from 136 countries.
Athletes may have physical or mental limitations; they may be blind or in wheelchairs. Yet sometimes they perform better than athletes without disabilities.
Wheelchair tennis is a popular sport. So is basketball. In fact, there are more than 100 professional teams playing wheelchair basketball.
Special wheelchairs for athletes are lightweight and designed for quick moves. For people who want to go really fast in their chairs, here is a Power Wheelchair Racing Association.
In the State of Utah there is a place called the National Ability Center. It teaches all kinds of sports to people with all kinds of physical and mental disabilities. It even gives friends and family members a chance to try a sport as if they were disabled.
A reporter from The Washington Post wanted to know what it would be like for a blind person to use a climbing wall. So, protected by a safety line, the newspaper reporter closed his eyes and started to feel for places to put his hands and feet. Trainers on the ground urged him on: “Take your time. You can do it.” Finally he
At the National Ability Center people can learn to ride horses and mountain bikes. They can try winter mountain sports, and learn scuba diving and other water activities. The center also prepares athletes for the Paralympics.
For disabled people interested in yoga, there are special stretching exercises. Matthew Sanford knows about these. He has been in a wheelchair ever since a car accident when he lost the ability to move his legs. He was thirteen years old at the time. That was almost thirty years ago.
Matthew Sanford says he has had two lives: one before he was thirteen and the other after. He had to learn to live with a new reality. For many years, he was told to build up the strength in his arms and forget about his legs.
But he says yoga enabled him to reconnect with the thirteen-year-old boy who loved his body. He says the exercises and special breathing of yoga let him connect his body and mind again.
Now Matthew Sanford teaches yoga at his studio in the State of Minnesota. He also travels to talk to people about living with a disability. He says feeling connected to our body is a powerful part of living---whether we have a disability or not.
Today there are more and more choices of entertainment for people with disabilities. Theaters may offer wireless earphones to make the sound louder for people with limited hearing. Some provide a visual interpreter to describe a performance or a play for a person who is blind or has limited sight.
And some movie theaters offer a new device called MoPix, for Motion Picture Access. For a person unable to hear the movie, it shows the words the actors are saying. For a person unable to see the movie, it provides a spoken description of what is happening. Part IV Language study and language appreciation
Listen the following statements. Pay special attention to eh parts in bold type. Learn to appreciate and use the language.
1.to make a good gift
✧These sets make very good gifts.
2.to be observed/ in honor of
a)Feast of Dolls in Japan falls on March 2. It is observed there in honor of girls
b)Feast of Banners in Japan is on May 5. It is observed in honor of boys.
3.to feel one’s hair stand on end
✧At a science museum in Ontario, Canada, you can feel your hair stand on end as
harmless electricity passes through your body.
✧As these examples show, museums are reaching out to new audiences,
particularly the young, the poor, and the less educated members of the population.
5.in an effort
✧They also bring together in one display a group of objects drawn from various
parts of the museum in an effort to represent the whole lifestyle of a region or
a historical period.
e sth. to best advantage
✧The theory is that people who do not understand science will probably fear,
and those who fear science will not use it to best advantage.
7.places to visit/places to enjoy
✧Instead of being places that one “should” visit, they are places to enjoy.
8.as varied
✧Gestures of disapproval, dislike, or “no” are just as varied.
9.to get straight down to
✧The Germans, however, prefer to get straight down to business!
10.to be on one’s way to
✧So, use these tips, and you will be on your way to a successful international
business career!
rmation superhighway/traffic/ the bulk of the traffic
✧One feature of the information superhighway is that the traffic travels fast.
✧The bulk of the traffic consists of data containing music files, instant
messages, toll-free phone calls, e-commerce orders, online games and use about anything.
12.to zoom along
✧Techies use their own special shorthand to keep messages zooming along.
13.to wire…for…
✧Colleges across the United States have spent hundreds of millions of dollars
in recent years wiring dormitories for high-speed internet access.
14.to inch one’s way into
✧So we’re going to inch our way into the future.
15.to shut out…in favor of…/on flickering computer screens
✧The Internet was turning us into hermits who shut out other people in favor of
a make-believe world on flickering computer screens
16.to keep to oneself/ to reach out to
✧We’re keeping more to ourselves, while a the same time reaching out to more
people, all with just the click of a computer mouse!
17.by that measure
✧Experts say the most popular American sport by that measure is baseball.
18.to work oneself into furies
✧But the significant thing is he attitude of the nations who work themselves
into furies over these absurd contests and seriously believe that running, jumping and kicking a ball are test of national virtue.
19.a safety line
✧Protected by a safety line, the newspaper reporter closed his eyes and started
to feel for places to put his hands and feet.
20.to live with…/to build up the strength
✧He had to learn to live with a new reality. For many years, he was told to
build up the strength in his arms and forget about his legs.。
