Text 2.3. Mountaineering.

Exercise 2.2.4. Answer the questions.

1. What other sports (especially types of wrestling) are closely connected with religion and tradition?

2. Do you think that ritual is important in sports? Why?/Why not?

3. What are the differences between western (European) and eastern (Asian) sports in general?

Exercise 2.3.1. Vocabulary. Learn the words below and write your own sentences using the Present Simple:

to enjoy наслаждаться

passion страсть

astonishment изумление

to suffer страдать

hardship трудности

to take risks рисковать

to cause вызывать, обусловливать.

leisure досуг

dangerous опасный

to ignore игнорировать

familiar знакомый

a rock face поверхность скалы

to be linked by a rope быть связанными веревкой

obviously очевидно

to require требовать

mental ментальный, умственный

waste of effort бесполезная трата сил

to be past one’s best миновать пик формы

Exercise 2.3.2. Read and translate the text

Most young people enjoy some forms of physical activity. It may be walking, cycling, swimming in summer, or skating or skiing in winter. It may be a game of some kind—football, hockey, golf, or tennis.

It may be mountaineering.

Those who have a passion for climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon with astonishment. Why are men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks on high mountains? This astonishment is caused, probably, by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their leisure.

Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no man-made rules, as there are for such games as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of a different kind, which it would be dangerous to ignore, but it is freedom from man-made rules that makes mountaineering attractive to many people. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods.

If we compare mountaineering and other more familiar sports, we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a 'team game'. We should be mistaken in this. There are, it is true, no 'matches' between 'teams' of climbers, but when climbers are on a rock face, linked by a rope which their lives may depend on, there is obviously teamwork. A mountain climber knows that he may have to fight forces that are stronger and more powerful than man. He has to fight the forces of nature. His sport requires high mental and physical qualities.

A mountain climber continues to improve in skill year after year. A skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty, and most international tennis champions are in their early twenties. But it is not unusual for men of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in the Alps. It may take more time, but they probably climb with more skill and less waste of effort, and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.

Exercise 2.3.3. Answer these questions:

1. Are you physically active to go in for games and sports?

2. What kind of sports do you like?

3. What game is the most popular in your country?

4. Is mountaineering popular among young people in your country? If so, where is the climbing to be held?

5. What, in your opinion, makes mountaineering attractive?

6. Is good teamwork important in football?

7. Is it right to say that there is no teamwork in mountaineering, or is that a mistake?

8. Give an example of an occasion when teamwork is important in mountain climbing.

9. Is it enough for a climber to be young and strong, or are there other qualities and skills that are needed?

10. When is a skier at his best, when he is under or over thirty?

11. Are the men and women who win international tennis championships usually young or middle-aged?

12. Does mountain climbing always become impossible when men reach the age of fifty or sixty? Can they often continue?

13. Do Swiss guides retire young or do they go on until fairly late in life?

14. Which would you prefer, to climb a high mountain in the Alps or to get to the top in a ski-lift?

Exercise 2.3.4. Change each sentence into a Yes/No question.

Example: Most young people enjoy some forms of physical activity.

Do most young people enjoy some forms of physical activity?

1. Mountaineering is a sport and not a game.

2. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods.

3. The freedom from man-made rules makes mountaineering attractive to many people.

4. The mountain climber knows that he fights powerful forces.

5. This sport requires high mental and physical qualities

6. A mountain climber continues to improve in skill year after year.

7. A skier is past his best by the age of thirty.

Exercise 2.3.5. Translate from Russian into English

1. Большинство молодых людей любит разные формы физической активности.

2. Это может быть ходьба, езда на велосипеде, плавание, а зимой – катание на коньках или на лыжах.

3. На тех, кто имеет страсть к восхождениям на высокие и труднодоступные горы, часто смотрят с удивлением.

4. Если мы будем сравнивать альпинизм и другие, более знакомые виды спорта, мы можем подумать, что основная разница заключается в том, что альпинизм – не «командная игра».

5. Восходитель знает, что ему, возможно, придется бороться с силами, которые гораздо сильнее и могущественнее, чем человек.

6. Когда альпинисты находятся на скале, связанные веревкой, от которой зависит их жизнь, это, безусловно, «работа в команде».

7. Горовосходитель продолжает улучшать свои навыки год за годом, и человек в 50 или даже 60 лет может совершать восхождения на вершины Альп.

Exercise 2.3.6. Find in the text the words which fit the definitions given below

- the activity of climbing big mountains;

- a powerful emotion;

- very great surprise;

- activities you do to relax or enjoy yourself;

- a situation when life is very difficult;

- a very thick string.

Exercise 2.3.7. Check your memory. Saywhat you have learnt about mountaineering from the text.

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