Sports and healthy lifestyle (Дополнительное чтение)

SPORTS AND HEALHTY LIFESTYLEThe Importance of SportsA sport is usually defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physicalactivity requiring commitment and fair play. It is governed by a set of rules orcustoms. In a sport the key factors are the physical capabilities and skills of thecompetitor when determining the outcome (winning or losing). In contrast, somegames such as card games and board games, though these could be called mindsports and some are recognized as Olympic sports, require only mental skills.Events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first often define the result of asport.

However, the degree of skill in some sports such as diving and figure skatingis judged according to well-defined criteria.Although they do not always succeed, sports participants are expected todisplay good sportsmanship, and observe standards of conduct such as respectingopponents and officials, and congratulating the winner when losing.Sports in most countries take many forms. Sports can be divided intoorganized and non-organized, competitive and recreational, spectator andparticipative, team, dual and individual, amateur or professional. For example, in agame of basketball, two teams compete against one another to determine who canscore the most points.

Athletes, besides competing against other humans, alsocompete against nature in sports such as whitewater kayaking or mountaineering,where the goal is to reach a destination, with only natural barriers impeding theprocess. Competitive sports are governed by rules agreed upon by the participants.Violating the rules is considered to be unfair competition. A regularly scheduled(for instance annual) competition meant to determine the “best” competitor of thatcycle is called a championship.

Recreational sports, as opposed to competitive, aresports done for recreation, not for victory.Organized sports are sports organized through institutions and organizationssuch as clubs, associations, schools and so on. Spectator sport is characterized bythe presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches. Baseball, basketball, cricket,football and ice hockey are spectator sports, while hunting is not. Many spectatorsports attract huge crowds to encourage the favorite teams to victory.An individual sports refers to a sport in which participants compete asindividuals, such as archery, athletics, cycling, etc., dual sports, such as dual tennisand fencing, and team sports, where teams compete against each other (such ascricket or football).Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in whichathletes receive payment for their performance.The benefits of sports are abundant.

For most people, this is simply enjoyinga favorite activity. But this is also a great way to stay in shape. People whoparticipate in sports on a regular basis tend to have more of a positive body imagethan those who have sedentary life. They constructively use their energy which isgreat for keeping a person happy and healthy: reduce the chances of bloodcholesterol and lower blood sugar level, reduce the risk of hypertension as well asother disorders related to stress, such as anxiety and depression.The benefits of team sports also include fostering team spirit and developingvaluable leadership qualities. Team sports teach one to accept both victory andfailure with a positive attitude. They develop social skills, ability to interact withothers.The benefits of sports especially apply to children.

Individuals who haveplayed sports from an early age have stronger bones and stronger muscles.Children learn valuable skills for dealing with life’s ups and downs, how tostrategize to come up with the best ways to score and win, how to become moreindependent and feel better about themselves. The result is positive self-esteem andself-confidence, which are extremely important for determining later happiness andsuccess. Besides, studies show that children who participate in sports do betteracademically as well as with school activities.Active vocabularyscore – счет очков (в игре);sportsmanship – спортивное мастерство; увлечение спортом; поведение,достойное настоящего спортсмена;to compete – соревноваться, конкурировать;sedentary – сидячий, малоподвижный;self-esteem – самоуважение, чувство собственного достоинства;self-confidence – уверенность в себе, самоуверенность;hypertension – повышенное кровяное давление.Questions1. What standards of conduct should be observed by the sportsmen?2.

What types of sports do you know?3. What benefits can sports bring to a child? to an adult?Extreme SportsNowadays people are getting more and more interested in extreme sportswhich are also called action sports or adventure sports. It is difficult to determineexactly when the term “extreme sports” appeared, but many believe it can betraced to the early 1970s, when rock climbing and marathon running – thenconsidered extreme – gained popularity.

It refers to some activities which areperceived as having a high level of danger or difficulty and often involving speed,height, a high level of physical exertion, and highly specialized gear or spectacularstunts. Among the most popular extreme sports are BASE jumping, extremecanoeing, caving, cliff jumping, freestyle motocross, hang-gliding, ice climbing, jetskis, kite-surfing, extreme biking, mountain biking; paragliding, rock climbing,skateboarding, extreme skiing, snowboarding, surfing, windsurfing, white waterrafting, sky diving, and their number is rapidly increasing.There are several reasons why extreme sports appeared. First, they probablygained popularity as a reaction to the safety of modern life. People lacked a feelingof danger in their everyday activities, and started to seek out danger or risk. Fansusually fight with their fear while jumping off cliffs, doing, for instance, caveexploration.

By performing such feats they get to know the limits of their courageand can overcome feeling of fear. Second, they represent a new youth culture andare a sort of youth rebellion against conventional sports. Then, extreme sportscreate the feelings of happiness and achievement and are more memorable thantraditional sports. They allow people to experience the rush or high due toincreased levels of dopamine and endorphins which appear because of the highlevel of physical exertion. Further, they normally result from advances in sportstechnology.

For example, the invention of sticky rubber-soled climbing shoes andartificial climbing walls broadened the appeal of rock climbing. To conclude,extreme sports are advertised in mass media. Television coverage of competitionsand events has brought extreme sports and their participants in the focus ofattention. The televised X Games and Olympics are just two examples.Active vocabularygear – механизм, устройство, инструмент, прибор;stunt – остановка роста, задержка в росте;canoeing – гребля на байдарках и каноэ;caving – спелеология;jet skis – водные лыжи;rebellion – восстание, противодействие;conventional – обычный, традиционный;exertion – напряжение, усилие; приведение в действие.Questions1. What are the most popular extreme sports in your country?2.

Why did extreme sports appear?3. What makes people practise extreme sports?Health and Healthy LifestyleIt is universally known that the only way to live a long and healthy life is ahealthy lifestyle. Though it is a well-known fact that life expectancy is increasing,the reason why the average figures are higher now is not that all people live longerthan before. One cause is that, due to medical research, many illnesses wereeliminated; then, fewer people die in wars.

Generally, the life of modern man isendangered by several factors, such as increasing pollution of the environment byindustry and transport; sedentary lifestyle, the quality of food and water, epidemicsand pandemics of contagious illnesses, etc. Therefore, the only way to escapedeterioration of health caused by these factors is to reduce their influence by ahealthy lifestyle.For most people, a healthy lifestyle means living life in a way that helps theperson to be both physically and emotionally healthy.

Many things go into creatinga healthy lifestyle, including proper nutrition, appropriate exercise, positiverelationships, adequate rest. Making a life-long commitment to a healthy lifestylecan reduce the effects of chronic mental illness, give one more energy, increaseself-esteem and confidence.A healthy diet is one that helps maintain or improve health. It is importantfor the prevention of many chronic health risks such as: obesity, heart disease,diabetes, and cancer.A healthy diet involves consuming appropriate amounts of all nutrients, andan adequate amount of water.