Showing posts with label Sport and Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sport and Health. Show all posts
Funtional Language: Expressions and sport idioms
January 31, 2017
Most used expressions in sports
Drop the ball: to make a mistake, especially when you didn’t complete one of your responsibilities. This idiom comes from the fact that in baseball, dropping the ball is an error in the game.
Run interference: to help someone by resolving problems for them. Football players “run interference” by stopping players from the other team from getting the player with the ball.
Take a shot: the idiom “take a shot at” means to try something (often something difficult).
Give your best shot: to “give it your best shot” means to try your best. In basketball (as well as soccer and several other sports), a “shot” is an attempt to put the ball into the basket or goal.
To show someone the ropes: the idiomatic expression “show someone the ropes” means to teach someone how to do something (such as a job or a process). In sailing, it is essential to know how to use the ropes in order to control the boat.
To jump the gun: the idiom “jump the gun” means to do something too early or too soon, before the correct time. This idiomatic expression comes from the fact that a gun was used to give the starting signal for races, so a person who started before the signal was given was said to “jump the gun.”
To hit your stride: the idiom “hit your stride” means to achieve a good continuous level of performance. “Stride” is a word that refers to the steps taken while walking or running. When a horse “hits its stride” in a race, it maintains a good speed in a comfortable way.
Wide of the mark: this idiomatic expression means “not accurate.” It is often used to describe predictions or estimates. In archery, arrows that fall far away from the target are said to be wide of the mark (target).
To get the blueprint: a seemingly unstoppable team has just been defeated, and the strategy used to do so can now be considered the "blueprint."
Run interference: to help someone by resolving problems for them. Football players “run interference” by stopping players from the other team from getting the player with the ball.
Take a shot: the idiom “take a shot at” means to try something (often something difficult).
Give your best shot: to “give it your best shot” means to try your best. In basketball (as well as soccer and several other sports), a “shot” is an attempt to put the ball into the basket or goal.
To show someone the ropes: the idiomatic expression “show someone the ropes” means to teach someone how to do something (such as a job or a process). In sailing, it is essential to know how to use the ropes in order to control the boat.
To jump the gun: the idiom “jump the gun” means to do something too early or too soon, before the correct time. This idiomatic expression comes from the fact that a gun was used to give the starting signal for races, so a person who started before the signal was given was said to “jump the gun.”
To hit your stride: the idiom “hit your stride” means to achieve a good continuous level of performance. “Stride” is a word that refers to the steps taken while walking or running. When a horse “hits its stride” in a race, it maintains a good speed in a comfortable way.
Wide of the mark: this idiomatic expression means “not accurate.” It is often used to describe predictions or estimates. In archery, arrows that fall far away from the target are said to be wide of the mark (target).
To get the blueprint: a seemingly unstoppable team has just been defeated, and the strategy used to do so can now be considered the "blueprint."
Culture
January 30, 2017
SPORT AND EXTREMISM
When I ask Tom Flachett, founder of the Brussels Boxing Academy, how many of his former students have travelled to Syria to join Isis, he gets a little exasperated.
“They always ask the number,” he says, referring, I assume, to journalists. He picks up a book of pictures of academy alumni and points to someone in a group photo. “This guy is there now, he’s very young, you see?”
The main aim of Flachett’s club, set up in 2003, has always been to reach out to youngsters in some of Brussels’ poorest neighbourhoods, including Molenbeek, a small district in the north of Brussels. Boxing is a popular sport among this demographic, and it’s easy to organise and motivating for people with little else in their lives. Plus, having built up a relationship over years, many students turn to their trainers when they’re in trouble.
Brussels has been in the spotlight as a hotbed for terrorism since the Paris and Brussels attacks in late 2015 and early 2016, which involved terrorists from Molenbeek. At least 47 people have left Molenbeek for Syria since 2011. In September of this year, the Brussels security services announced that it had deemed 57 residents of the district radicalised and put them under surveillance.
Healing rifts
Molenbeek is one of 19 municipalities in a city that has 19 mayors and six different police forces. These factions have a reputation for failing to collaborate. Belgium lacks a national framework for preventing radicalisation, so responsibility falls mostly on local authorities to draw up plans. But the approach of former Molenbeek mayor Philippe Moureaux, who presided over the district for 18 years until 2012, was laissez-faire, to say the least.
Vocabulary: Health and Sport
General Sports Vocabulary
Arena: (N) Another word for arena that you’re probably more familiar with is stadium. It’s a flat area that hosts (holds) sporting events like the Olympic Games, soccer and rugby games. It is circular (like a circle) in shape and surrounded by seats for fans to sit.
Amateur: (N/Adj) An amateur is a person who is not a professional or does not get paid for what they do.
Athlete: (N) A person who practices and competes in any sport.
Athletic: (Adj) A person who is athletic and is good at sports.
Athletics: (N) Athletics is the category for any track and field events, such as running (long and short distance), throwing the javelin, long jump etc.
Award: (V,N) Any kind of prize, like a certificate, medal or a trophy. To be awarded something means to be given a prize.
Beat: (V) To win against or defeat another player or team.
Captain: (N) The captain is the team leader.
Cheer on: (Phrasal V) To shout words of encouragement to your favorite team or player.
Coach: (N) A person who is responsible for teaching and training the athletes to improve their skills.
Compete: (V) To take part in a competition.
Court: (N) The rectangle area where games like tennis, basketball and badminton are played.
Course: (N) An area of land that is used for long running events like marathons, car racing and golf.
Defend: (V) Defense: (N) To try and stop the other team from scoring points or goals.
Draw: (N) When two teams finish a game with the same number of points/goals. (also called a tie)
Fan: (N) A supporter of a player, team or sport.
Field: (N) An area of grass that is used to play sports such as field hockey, rugby or soccer.
Gym: (N) The place where you can go and exercise on machines or the inside area where sports lessons are done at school.
Half-time: (N) The short break between the first and second half of the game.
League: (N) A group of sports clubs from one area that play against each other for the season to try and win the championship.
Medal: (N) A small circle piece of metal that can be gold for 1st place, silver for 2nd place and bronze for 3rd place.
Opponent: (N) The person that you compete or play against in a competition.
Pass: (V, N) To kick or throw the ball to another player in your team.
Physique: (N) The strength or shape of a person’s body.
Pitch: (V) To throw the ball to the person batting in softball or baseball.
Reading Comprehension: Sport and Health
December 7, 2016
What Happened When Hitler Hosted the Olympics 80 Years Ago
But 80 years ago, when the Summer Olympics opened on Aug. 1, 1936, in Berlin, that creed nearly crumbled. That year, it became increasingly clear that Germany only wanted to see its superheroes in one light: the stars of the Aryan race, superior for their genetic makeup rather than their athleticism, says Barbara Burstin, history lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.
“It provided Hitler with a showcase,” Burstin says. “It was a propaganda bonanza for him.”
Adolf Hilter, who had effectively become Germany’s dictator in 1933, had instituted an “Aryans-only” policy throughout all German athletic organizations, sparking global outrage, especially among American athletes. Only one German-Jewish athlete was permitted to play in the games—fencer Helene Mayer—because only her father was Jewish. Even her position wasn’t guaranteed; TIME reported in 1935 that Charles Hitchcock Sherrill, a U.S. member of the International Olympic Committee, had traveled to Germany prior to the Olympics to ensure Mayer would receive her rightful spot on the team.