The History of the Olympic Games

2 семестр

Практическое занятие №1

The History of the Olympic Games.

Цель:

1 Изучение лексики по теме « История олимпийских игр», активизация лексики по теме.

2 Развитие навыка просмотрового и изучающего чтения.

3Подготовка монологического высказывания.

4 Активизация умения составлять специальные вопросы.

Основная литература:T Klementieva  “ Happy English-3’ , Обнинск ,2001.

Интеренет.

1 Study the vocabulary,find the transcriptions of the following words:

brief [ bri:f]- краткий

the Olympic Games [ e’limpik ‘geimz] – олимпийские игры

according to [ eko:ding ]- cогласно

2 Read the short stories about the history of Olympic Games.

Home task:

History

According to historical records, the first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC. They were dedicated to the Olympian gods and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia. They continued for nearly 12 centuries, until Emperor Theodosius decreed in 393 A.D. that all such “pagan cults” be banned.

Mythology

The oldest myth which concerns the beginning of the Olympic Games is that of Idaios Daktylos Herakles. According to other myths, Zeus, the father of humanity, fought and defeated Cronus in a struggle for the throne of the gods. Finally, the well-known demigod Herakles is mentioned he staged games in Olympia in honor of Zeus, because the latter had helped him conquer Elis when he went to war against Augeas.

Olympic truce

The idea of a truce symbolizes the spirit of the Ancient Olympic Games. Warring Greek cities assembled in ancient Olympia, where they realized they had more in common with their adversaries than they had thought.

The athlete.

Through the 12 centuries of the Olympic Games, many wonderful athletes competed in the stadium and the hippodrome of ancient Olympia's sacred area, moving the crowds with their great achievements. Although mortal, their Olympic victories immortalized them. Of the best athletes who left their mark on the sacred valley of Olympia, some surpassed all limits and became legends by winning in successive Olympic Games and remaining at the forefront of their sport for more than a decade. It is worth mentioning some of their extraordinary achievements, which, even by today's standards, would be the envy of athletes such as Nurmi, Zatopek or Lewis.

  Ecological problems 

  Since ancient times nature has served man, being the source of his life. For thousands of years people lived in harmony with environment and it seemed to them that natural riches were unlimited. But with the development of civilization man's interference in nature began to increase. Large cities with thousands of smoky industrial enterprises have appeared all over the world today. The byproduct of their activity pollutes the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we grow grain and vegetables. Every year world industry pollutes the atmosphere with about 1000 million tons of dust and harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. Vast forests are cut and burn in fire. Their disappearance upsets the oxygen balance. As a result some rare species of animals, birds, fish and plants disappear forever, a number of lakes and rivers dry up. The pollution of air and the world's ocean destruction of the ozone layer is the result of man's careless interaction with nature, a sign of ecological crises. As a result of the Chernobyl tragedy the Belarussian people faced the most horrible ecological disaster. About 18 per cent of the territory of Belarus was contaminated with radioactive substances. A great damage has been done to the republic's agriculture, forests and people's health. The consequences of the atomic power station explosion are tragic for the Belarussian nation. Only a small percent of Belarussian land remains contamination are being discovered every year. Not only Chernobyl but many of our "peaceful" factories and towns cause a great damage to the environment. Dangerous dust and blow-outs of the enterprises are being carried out by winds for long distances destroying the life around. People all over the world are worried about what is happening to the environment. They understand that the earth is their home, a big green home. The environment protection should be our universal concern. Some progress has been already made in this direction. As many as 159 countries - members of the UNO have set up environmental protection agencies. Numerous conferences have been held to discuss questions of ecologically poor regions including the Aral Sea, the South Urals, Kuzbass, Donbass, Semipalatsinsk and Chernobyl. An international environmental research center as been set up on Lake Baikal. The international organization Greenpeace is also doing much to preserve the environment. But these are only the initial steps that must be carried forward to protect not only for the sake of the present but for the future generations.

  History of the olimpic games 

  The olimpic games called on the name of the competitions that was in greece near the city olimpya. The olimpic games are an international assembly of sports competions. The primitive grecians valued every 4 years sports competions in greece. Women can't to be part of the Olimpic Games. The first Olimpic Games was in the year 776 before the counting. In the begining the games were 1 day. The time of the olimpic games became to some days. In the Olimpic Games there are many different competitions: running, wrestling and more. The winers won in big honor and they got prizes and he was a hero to his country. There were places that built there statues to preserve theire names. There was games in 1200 years. After that there was no games in 1500 years. In our days people decided to continue the sports competitions and called them Olimpic Games. In the first try to renew them was made in the middle of the 19th century by the greek onglius zapas, in the year 1859 by his enterprise and money people tried to renew the games but this attemp has been failed. In the year 1870 there was another attemp with funds that zapas bequeathed for that but this attemp faild too. With the enterprise of franch count fier de- kubreten assembled in the year 1894 in paris congress international of the sports busness from 13 countries and there decided on the renew of the olimpic games every 4 years. The first games were in atuna. There is a slogan to the olimpic games:faster, higher and stronger. In the year 1920 decided on the olimpic games's sign:5 circles intedrated in colors:red, green, yellow, black and blue. The olimpic games opens with a spaicel ceremony and in it people are holding the flags of all the countries that are taking part in the competition. The selected sportsman is lightning the flame.

  Moscow 

  Moscow is the capital of Russia, its political, economic, commercial and cultural centre. It was founded 8 centuries ago by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. Historians have accepted the year of 1147 as the start of Moscow’s history. Gradually the city became more and more powerful. In the 13th century Moscow was the centre of the struggle of Russian lands for the liberation from the tartar yoke. In the 16th century under Ivan the Terrible Moscow became the capital of the new united state. Though Peter the Great moved the capital to St Petersburg in 1712, Moscow remained the heart of Russia. That is why it became the main target of Napoleon’s attack. The most territory of the city was destroyed by the great fire, but by the mid-19th century Moscow had been completely restored. And after the Revolution Moscow became the capital again. Now Moscow is one of the largest cities in Europe. Its total area is about 9 hundred square kilometers. The population of the city is over 8 million. Moscow is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The heart of Moscow is Red Square. It has more historical association than any other place in Moscow. There are a lot of beautiful places, old mansions, cathedrals, churches and monuments in Moscow. Now Moscow is being reconstructed and we all hope that in few years the city will become even more beautiful. There are more than 80 museums in Moscow. The largest museums are the Pushkin Museum of the Fine Arts and the State Tretyakov Gallery. Other unique museums in Moscow include the All-Russia museum of Folk Arts, the Andrey Rublev Museum of early Russian Art and many others. Moscow is famous for its theatres. The best-known of them in The Bolshoi Opera House. Drama theatres and studios are very popular. Moscow is a city of students. There are over 80 higher educational institutions in it, including several universities. Moscow is the seat of the Russian Parliament and the centre of political life of the country.

  Sports and Olympic Games 

  A lot of people all over the world are interested in sport. Sport helps people to stay in good shape, keeps them fit, healthy and makes them more organized and better disciplined in there daily activities. We have always paid great attention to sport in our schools, colleges and universities. You can hardly find a school without a gym or a sport ground. Every city and town has a few stadiums or swimming pools where local competitions are usually held. It’s been a tradition in Russia to divide sport into professional and amateur. There are different sporting societies and clubs in Russia. Many of them take part in different tournaments and are known all over the world. A great number of world records have been set by Russian sportsmen: gymnasts, weightlifters, tennis players, swimmers, figure skaters, runners, high jumpers. Our sportsmen also participate in the Olympic games and always win a lot of gold, silver and bronze medals. The Olympic games has a very long history. They began in 777 BC in Greece and took place every four years for nearly twelve centuries at Olympia. They included many different kinds of sports. All the cities in Greece sent their best athletes to Olympia to compete in the Games. For the period of the Games all the wars stopped. So the Olympic games became the symbol of peace and friendship. Now, summer and winter Games are held separately. There are always several cities wishing to host the Games. The most suitable is selected by the international Committee. After that the city of the Games starts preparations for the competitions, construct new sport facilities, stadiums, hotels, press centers. Thousand of athletes, journalists and guests come to the Games , and it takes great efforts to arrange everything. There is always an interesting cultural programme of concerts, exhibitions, festivals, etc., for each Games. Russia joined the Olympic movement in1952. In 1980 Moscow hosted the twenty-second Olympic Games. The latest Olympic Games were held in Barcelona. Russian sportsmen got medals for their records in many sport events.

  Sports in Great Britain 

  Sport is very important part of life in Great Britain. Thousands of people devote their leisure time to outdoor and indoor games: athletic, mountain climbing, boxing and other sports. Outdoor games played in GB are team games such as football, cricket, and hockey, and games in which individuals or couples try their skill, for example golf. The number of spectators shows that the most popular of the team game is football and cricket, and the most popular individual game is lawn-tennis. Football. Although Englishmen played a kind of football from the middle age or even earlier as an organized game it dates back from just over a century ago. One type of football, in which the players carried the oval ball in their hands, appeared in 1859 at Rugby School. That is why the name took the name of Rugby. The rules of the game are different from football(soccer). Football matches get big crowds. The Cup Final is one of the most important football matches of the year in England; it is always played at the Wembley stadium, near London. Cricket. Cricket is England’s national summer game. Nobody knows exactly how old the game is, but some forms of cricket was being played in England in the 13th century. The rules of the game have changed over the years. The oldest series of international matches is between England and Australia, and the team that wins takes home a famous trophy called The Ashes. And even today for cricket lovers in England and Australia winning The Ashes is like winning The World Cup for football! In England cricket is played in schools and universities, and almost all towns have their cricket team which play regularly at least one match a weak during the season – from May to September. There are thousands of cricket grounds all over England. Lawn-tennis. The number of people who play lawn-tennis is great. The tennis championships held at Wimbledon for two weeks at the end of June and at the beginning of July are the main event of the lawn-tennis season in Britain and, in fact in the world. These championships in which men and women of many nationalities complete, gather large crowds. Swimming. Many children in Britain learn to swim at school, or during the holidays at the seaside, and swimming pool as a summer pastime is enjoyed by millions of people. There are also indoor swimming pools which makes swimming possible all the year round. Swimming championships and competitions are widely reported in press and on TV. Attempts to swim the English channel have been made by swimmers of many nationalities every summer. Some of the attempts are successful.