Sport in Great Britain
The British people are known to be great sports-lovers, so when they are neither playing, nor watching games, they like to talk about them. One of the most popular sports games in the UK is cricket. It is often played in schools, colleges, universities and by club teams all over the country. To many Englishmen cricket is both a game and a standard of behaviour. When they consider something unfair, they say: "that's not cricket", that means "that's not fair"; the idiom "to play the game" has the opposite meaning "to be fair".
But as almost everywhere else in the world, the game which attracts the greatest attention is football, or soccer. It should be noted that the game of football was first played in Britain1. Today there are plenty of professional and amateur soccer clubs all over the country. International football matches and the Cup Finals take place traditionally at Wembley.
Rugby (rugby football), the other kind of football, is also very popular in the UK. There are two forms of rugby football: the amateur game and the professional game. The two games have different rules.
Next to football, the most spectacular sport in Britain is horse-racing.
A lot of people are interested in races and risk money on the horse which they think will win.
Britain is also famous for motor-car racing, dog-racing, boat-racing, and even races for donkeys. The famous boat-race between the teams of Oxford and Cambridge attracts large crowds of spectators.
A great number of Britons play and watch tennis. Tennis tournaments at Wimbledon are known all over the world. Such games as golf, baseball, hockey, and grass-hockey are also popular in the UK, as well as various forms of athletics, such as running, jumping, swimming, and boxing.
As for winter sports, they are not very popular in England because of the weather that is not cold enough.
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1 football was first played in Britain – в футбол впервые стали играть в Великобритании
Names:
Cup Final [`kΛp `fainl] – финал розыгрыша кубка
Wembley [`wembli] – стадион Уэмбли в Лондоне
Wimbledon ['wimbldən] – Уимблдон (предместье Лондона)
Vocabulary:
a great number [`nΛmbə] of smth. – большое количество чего-л.
amateur [`æmətə] – прил.: любительский
crowd [kraud] – толпа
it should [∫u:d] be noted – следует отметить
neither, nor [`naiðə `no:] – ни … ни
next to football – на следующем месте после футбола
plenty of smth. – множество чего-л.
rule [ru:l] – правило
spectator [spik`teitə] – зритель
standart of behaviour [bi'heivja] – модель поведения
to consider [kən`si:də] – считать, рассматривать
to be fair [feə] / unfair [ən`feə] – быть справедливым, честным / несправедливым, нечестным
to play tennis (football, etc.) – играть в теннис (футбол и т.д.)
to risk money [`mΛni] on a horse – ставить деньги на лошадь
to be interested [`intərəstid] in smth. – интересоваться чем-л.
to attract attention [ə`ten ∫n] – привлекать внимание
to be known [nəun] all over the world – быть известным по всему миру
to take place – случаться, происходить, иметь место
tournament [`tuənəmənt] – турнир, соревнование
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