Otázka: Sports
Jazyk: Angličtina
Přidal(a): Soňa Alexová
What role do movement and sports play in our lives?
Sports and movement in general are given more and more attention these days.
There is massive logic behind that.
A lot of us move less than people did in the past.
This is the result of a busy and comfortable life full of modern inventions (cars, lifts, telephones, sitting in front of TV or PCs).
In fact, sports have positive effect on the body and soul (ducha) as well as our self-confidence (sebevědomí).
Fortunately, sports are becoming more and more popular.
Why is that?
Well, they help you stay healthy, relax, develop and train your muscles, keep fit, increase your immunity.
In other words, you feel better and better every day.
And not only that. Sports improve features such as persistence, stamina and will (posilují vlastnosti jako vytrvalost, úsilí a vůle).
What doctors think about sports?
Doctors also recommend sports, but only in the right amount and in the right ways.
The best sport for developing muscles on the whole body is swimming.
Reason and especially good equipment should be the main things when extreme adrenalines sports are practiced.
These include paragliding, rafting, bungee-humping, parachuting, car racing or rock climbing.
What are passive and active sports?
People do sports in a passive or active way or at the top level.
Doing sports passively means watching favourite sports on TV or during contests and matches (během závodů).
Doing sports actively means regular exercising, jogging, and going to the fitness-centres.
Sports centres are popular too, and they usually include solariums, saunas, workout gyms, swimming pools.
People simply want to keep fit.
What is sport at the top level?
Those who do sports at the top level are professionals or semi-professionals who are paid for training and performance.
They do the best to get the best possible results and be invited to international contests and competitions.
World championships are held every year.
The greatest success lies in going to the Olympic Games and winning a medal.
What is the best time to start with sports and what can influence you when choosing the right sports?
Even babies need a lot of movement.
Kids do exercises in kinderkartens, and there are special courses held for parents and their children.
In schools, physical education is part of compulsory lessons but what do children do in their free time?
Sporting habits are hugely influenced by the parents, and then there is a talent and natural skills.
Last but not least, there is the question of money.
In principle, what sports fathers do are required from their children.
Children do team sports (football, volleyball, basketball, ice-hockey) as well as individual ones (tennis, golf).
What is needed for doing sports and how can bodies and souls be recovered (zotavovat)?
Everyday movement does not require much (nepotřebujeme mnoho).
Jogging can be practiced anywhere.
Whenever you have half an hour free, why not have a healthy run in order to keep fit even in later years.
(Můžeme-li si dovolit půl hodiny, můžeme se zdravě proběhnout a také zůstat fit v pokročilejším věku.)
Shops now sell a number of videocassettes and DVDs showing one particular sporting activity.
It is just about choosing what suits you best and stretching yourself even when at home.
Every town holds other sporting activities such as aerobics, muscle building exercises in swimming pools, spinning, etc.
Yoga is another good way to strengthen your body and soul.
It is not only about doing exercises, but it is also a specific life style, life philosophy.
In addition, yoga helps protect the body from illnesses or even heal them.
(Pomocí jogy se dá předcházet nemocem a nemoci se tak dají i léčit.)
Do people do sports on their own?
If you feel uncomfortable about doing sports on your own, why not join a club or association and use possibilities available there.
(vstupte do nějakébo klubu nebo svazu a využívejte možnosti, které tam jsou k dispozici)
Clubs are good for sports other than individual.
When do you not want to go there regularly you and your friends can privately hire (soukromě pronajmout) a sports ground and some of the sporting facilities where you can do sports together and have fun.
Such places inclide tennis courts, skittle grounds, golf courses, football pitches or gymnasiums.
What features do people have to have when doing particular (různé) sports?
Every sport is different and requires different personal qualities.
You need to be competitive to play games like football, co-operative to do team sports, accurate to do archery (přesný pro lukostřelbu),
daring and brave to do bungee jumping (smělý a odvážný), careful to do skiing, supple for gymnastics (ohebný),
fat for sumo wrestling, patient for fishing, determined for running (odhodlaný),
graceful for dancing (ladný), and agile for fencing (hbitý pro šerm).
Country and sports
Which sports are typically for English?
The English like playing golf and cricket, of course tennis is very popular and croquet too.
There are many football fans as well.
The British love horse riding, above all horse racing and those who can´t ride a horse at least bet on them.
(hlavně mají rádi dostihy a ti, kteří na koni jezdit nemůžou, ale na koně sází)
Aintree, near Liverpool, or Cheltenham are the most important steeplechases (překážkové dostihy).
Oxford and Cambridge Universities fight against each other every March in boat racing on the Thames.
This has been a major sporting event nearly 200 years.
Rugby was invented in an English boarding school of the same name.
What sports are popular with Scots and the Irish?
The Scots are enthusiastic (posedlí) about their “Highland Olympics” (horská olympiáda) consisting of unusual sports like throwing the hammer (hod kladivem), toosing the caber (hod kládou) or
a tug-of-war (přetahování).
The Irish like hurling – sport which is very similar to hockey. It was brought to the country by the Celts.
What American sports do you know?
The Americans are very good ice hockey players, though there are many Czechs playing in their teams.
Basketball is very popular and many people love basketball as well.
What Czech sports do you know?
In this country the number one sport is definitely ice hockey and football.
The Czech Republic has some successful tennis players and athletes as well.
Among children ice-skating and roller-skating as well as skiing are very popular.
Olympic Games
When and where were the first Olympic Games held?
The Olympic Games were first held in 776 before Christ, and then every four years.
The venue was the Greek town of Olympia.
What was the goal of contesting (cíl závodění) and did women also take part?
The event was to let the best sportsmen from across the country contest.
Their ideal was the type of person who was perfect in all aspects, combining the beauty of the body and soul.
Another goal was the concept of peace (myšlenka míru).
However, women were banned from the Games.
Were countries at war during any Olympic Games?
During the Olympic Games, there was no fighting whatsoever anywhere in Greece.
(Během olympijských her vládl všude v Řecku klid zbraní.)
What happened in 1896 and who was Pierre de Coubertin?
The first Games in modern history were held in Athens in 1896.
They were proposed by a French historian, Pierre de Coubertin.
Summer Games have been held every four years since (except for war years).
When were the first winter Olympic held?
As for the Winter Olympics, the first were held in Chamonix, France, in 1924.
There were 294 contestants from 16 countries.
The event included speed-skating, figure-skating, ice hockey, curling, bobsledding, cross-country skiing, ski jump and Northern combinations.
What do the Olympics stand for and what are their symbols?
These days, the Olympics are held every two years, the Summer and Winter Games alternating.
The Games are more of an international event, symbolizing peace.
There is no fighting when they are held.
The symbols include the Olympic flag and the Olympic fire.
The flag is white with five circles (yellow, red, green, blue, and black); each standing for one of the continents.
The fire is lit on the Olymp, which is the official start of the Games.
Set up in 1978, the Olympic Committee is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
