1) Спорт и игры в Великобритании.
The British have a reputation for being mad about sports. In fact they like watching sports more than playing them. The British are spectators and the most popular spectator sports are cricket and football.
Football is the most popular game. Football, or soccer, is an example of a professional game. The game of football was first played in Britain, and later people began to play football in other countries.
There are many amateur soccer players in Britain who play the game on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Amateur clubs often play against professionals.
Almost every school has its football team and every boy in Britain knows a lot about the game. He can tell you the names of the players in the most important teams, he has pictures of them and knows the results of many matches.
Rugby is another popular British sport which is played in other countries. It is also called rugby football. The story is told that in 1823 boys at Rugby school in England were playing football in the normal way, when suddenly one boy picked the ball up and ran with it. That was how a new game was born. There are two forms of rugby football: the amateur game and the professional game. The two games have different rules.
Football is the favourite winter game in Britain and cricket is the favourite summer sport. Amateur cricket has the same rules as the professional game. A typical amateur cricket match takes place on a village green, an open space in the centre of the village. It is played between two teams — the «home» team and the «visitors» who come from another village.
2) Спорт и игры в России.
Sport has always been popular in our country. There are different sporting societies and clubs in Russia. Many of them take part in different international 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 take part in the Olympic Games and always win a lot of gold, silver and bronze medals.
Millions of people watch figure skating competitions, hockey and football matches, car races, tennis tournaments and other sports events. Certainly watching sports events and going in for sports are two different things.
In the past it was never admitted that professional sport existed in our country. The official point of view was that our sport was totally amateur. Now everybody knows that sport can be a profession and a business.
But sport can be fun as well. Besides, it helps to stay in good shape, to keep fit and to be healthy. Doing sports is becoming more and more popular. Some people do it occasionally — swimming in summer, skiing or skating in winter — but many people go in for sports on a more regular basis.
They try to find time to go to a swimming pool or a gym at least once a week for aerobics or yoga classes, body building or just work-out on a treadmill. Some people jog every morning, some play tennis.
For those who can afford it there are clubs where they give lessons of scuba diving or riding. In spring and summer young people put on their rollerskates and skate in the streets and parks.