Read the text:
Sports in Great Britain
The British are known to be great
sports-lovers, so when they are neither
playing, nor watching games, they like to talk about
them. Many of the games we
play now have come from Britain.
One
of the most British games is cricket. It is often played in schools, colleges, universities
and by club teams all over the country. Summer isn't summer without cricket. To
many Englishmen cricket is both a game and a standard of behaviour.When they
consider anything unfair, they sometimes say: "That isn't cricket."
But as
almost everywhere else in the world, the game which attracts the
greatest attention is Association football, or
soccer. Every Saturday from late August
till the beginning of May, large crowds of
people support their favourite sides in
football grounds. True fans will travel from
one end of the country to the other to see their team play. There are plenty of professional and
amateur soccer clubs all over Britain.
International football matches and the Cup Finals take place at Wembley.
Rugby
football is also very popular, but it is played mainly by amateurs.
Next to football, the chief spectator sport in
British life is horse-racing. A lot of
people are interested in the races and risk money on
the horse which they think will
win. The Derby is perhaps the most famous single
sporting event in the whole world.
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 people.
A great
number of people play and watch tennis. Tennis tournaments at
Wimbledon are known all over the world. The
innumerable tennis courts of Britain
are occupied by people between the ages of 16 and 60
who show every degree of skill – from
practically helpless to the extremely able.
The
British also like to play golf, baseball, hockey, grass-hockey. Various
forms of athletics, such as running, jumping,
swimming, boxing are also popular.
You can sometimes hear that there are no winter
sports in England. Of course the
English weather is not always cold enough to ski,
skate, or toboggan, but winter is a
good season for hunting and fishing. Indeed,
sport in one form or another is an
essential part of daily life in Britain.
1. What is the
main idea of the text?
