It looks as if I would never be 9 страница

2.5. Vocabulary in focus.

Match the words and word combinations with their synonyms.

In a row A Trophy To have a hard time To chance To fume To rummage To give tips To blast To entrance To drift in to sleep A commotion

to attack, to break into pieces a sudden noisy activity to give useful advice, to prompt one after another, without a break to search for something to gradually fall asleep to face difficulties to attempt something risky to be silently angry a prize to overcome, to carry away as in a dream

2.6. More vocabulary.

Fill in the gaps using the words from Exercise 2.5.

He is truly helpful; he's always there to_____and some assistance.

The audience seemed to be_____by the singer's sweet voice.

At the end of the contest every participant got a_____.

If you _____to see him somewhere, remind him of his promise.

Put things in place, or you'll have to_____through your bags again.

You're making the same mistake the third time_____.Why?

If he doesn't study properly, he'll _____ passing future exams.

2.7. Translation.

Translate into English.

Дождь идет уже вторую неделю подряд. Ну разве это лето?

На вашем месте я бы купила книгу: в ней столько полезных советов.

Что она сказала? — Да ничего. Просто сидела и злилась.

Под мерное покачивание корабля пассажиры погрузились в сон.

Интересно, а где обещанные призы?

Что тут происходит? Из-за чего вся эта суматоха?

Как-то не очень удобно рыться в чужих вещах, но придется.

Сказка прямо-таки заворожила детей, они сидели не шелох­нувшись.

2.8. Phrasal verbs in focus.

Match the following phrasal verbs with their definitions.

To figure out To let up To come up To clear up To sign up

to happen, take place to brighten to join to understand to lessen or cease gradually

Make your own sentences with the above verbs.

2.9. Discussing character.

Lupe was a straight A student and all that. What about the features of character one might notice in her? Discuss the most important of them.

Razor-sharp mind

_________

_________

_________

Remember yourself when you were 11 years old. What sort of character did you have back then? How much has it changed since?

III. POST-READING

3.1. Feelings.

Many people were involved in Lupe Merdano's success story. In what way do you think they all felt about the events described? How good (or bad) were their feelings? Speak for the following characters:

Rachel, Lupe's mother,

Mr Merdano, her father

Lupe's brother,

Alfonso, a neighbor

Yolanda, a schoolgirl,

Miss Baseball Cap

Head Referee,

President of the Marble Association

And don't forget the dog who came to see what it was all about!

3.2. Extra-curricula activities.

While reading, you must have paid attention to the number of out-of-class activities in which Lupe excelled: a spelling contest, a reading contest, a science fair, a piano recital, and a chess tournament, What conclusion can one make about the extra-curricula activities at American schools?

Name at least five types of activities in which you yourself participated when a teenager.

3.3. Debating club.

Hold your first session of Debating Club in your group. The problem under discussion is whether competition influences the development of character. Can teachers do without competition?

3.4. Read & discuss poetry.

Discuss the following poem written by Faustin Charles.

BRAZILIAN FOOTBALLER

Pele kicked in his mother's belly

And the world shouted:

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!

When her son was born,

He became the sun,

And rolled on the fields of heaven.

The moon and stars trained and coached him,

In the Milky Way

He swayed, danced, and dribbled,

Smooth like water off a duck's back

Ready always to attack.

One hot day, heaven fell down, floored!

Through the Almighty's hands

Pele scored!

3.5. Project work.

Find more poems about sports and games, and bring them to class to read and share with your group mates.

THE LIVELY SOCCER BALL

by Delaney Lundberg

I. PRE-READING

1.1. SHARE your experiences of reading books or watching movies about sports and games, and athletes.

1.2. DISCUSS the problem of doing sport in every season of your life. Will you still need sport when you are sixty-four?

1.3. FIND OUT as many facts as you can about the most spectacular of games, European football, also called soccer.

II. READING

2.1. Understanding the title.

Here is the title of the story, The Lively Soccer Ball. What do you expect to read about in the story?

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story and answer the question: What was really wrong with the ball?

The following words will be helpful to understand the events better.

Scrawny — bony, very thin

Disheartening — making you lose hope

Scatter — go in different directions

Lament — something that you say expressing sadness

Dejected — unhappy, disappointed or sad

Pivot — turn quickly on your feet

Twilight — faint half-light before sunrise or after sunset

"Daniel, it's yours!"

It was the voice of Mr Finnerty, the soccer coach. But Daniel had already seen the opportunity and was closing in on the rolling ball. Miraculously, a hole had opened up between him and the goal at the same time. No defender blocked his way; all he had to do was let fly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one scrawny red-shirt rush­ing toward him. Not fast enough, though, he thought. In this game, timing was everything, timing and skill. He took a deep breath and released his right leg like a spring. But it was a disheartening whiff! that sounded in his ears, not the sound of a soccer ball connecting neatly with a player's shoe. His foot had only grazed the ball.

The ball had rolled on behind him, he realized and that scrawny defender was circling him now, ready to take it down the field toward his own goal.

What was wrong with that ball, anyway? But there was no time to stop and think about it now. Daniel turned quickly to pursue the defender. All was not lost, he thought. He could get it back.

But it was no good. The ball frisked along merrily between the feet of the red-shirted defender. And just as Daniel got ready to close in and make his challenge, the ball flew off the defender's foot and sailed through the air to land up in front of the red-shirts' forward line. His own team's defenders were scattered and confused. The goal for the red team was made in one blink of Daniel's eye.

"Tie score," Daniel heard Mr. Finnerty lament from the sideline. Daniel kept his eyes on the grass near his feet, unwilling to look up and catch his coach's glance, though Mr. Finnerty rarely scolded his players.

Daniel's head was still down as his dejected teammates lined up for a new kickoff. It was his fault, he knew. If only he could make it right again. Leonard, the center midfielder, passed the ball off to Charlene, one of the other forwards and the only girl on the team. Daniel ran out on the wing, slightly ahead of Charlene, positioning himself to receive a pass. If he could score now, perhaps he could blot out that slip-up of a few minutes ago.

"Go, Blue!" he heard a voice cry from the sideline. It was the voice of his mother, the team's most loyal fan.

He saw that Charlene had taken note of his position. He was ready now, ready to take that ball and run through every defender to get it up to the goal.

And there it was, the ball, gliding smoothly over the grass toward him on a crisp, perfect pass from Charlene. He focused his mind, moving toward the spot where he and the ball would meet. And then, all at once, the ball seemed to disappear from view. Where was it? Where on earth had it gone?

Finally Daniel saw it. It had stopped dead in a stupid little puddle left over from a recent rain, a puddle Daniel hadn't even noticed until this moment. The ball's sudden lack of motion confused everyone, red and blue alike. Players rushed in from all sides. Daniel had to make a sudden change of direction himself and found as he pivoted that his feet weren't in touch with the grass anymore. He felt himself falling through the air, arms extended. His head hit the ground with a bump.

He lay there a moment, dazed, then raised his head.

"Are you all right, Daniel?" he heard Mr. Finnerty call.

"I'm O.K.," he shouted back.

With his head down low, the hum of the spectators on the side­lines seemed to fade away, and Daniel looked across a strangely silent field. The setting sun outlined his teammates in gold as they whirled away from him with the ball. From where he lay, head still down, they looked shorter than the uneven blades of grass before his eyes. And the ball, that shining globe of black and white, danced around between the red and blue players, twirling and ricocheting in the slanting light, moving in elaborate patterns all its own.

Suddenly it came to Daniel: he and his teammates only thought they were playing with the ball. They had it the wrong way around! The ball was playing with them! It skittered to the left, then bounded to the right. It cavorted like a kitten, then leaped like a stag. It singled out one boy to play with, skipping gaily toward him. But no sooner did that boy catch it on his foot than the fickle ball would bounce away, seeming to choose another. Red, blue, it made no difference to the ball. Motion, contact, weren't those the objects of the game?

Daniel was upon his feet again, but he didn't feel quite himself. Still, he ran up to join the play.

But now the ball just would not come to him. Stubborn ball: it went to Charlene, it went to Leonard, it bounced over the scrawny defender's toe. It winged its way down the field, leaped from the goalie's hands. No matter where Daniel placed himself, the ball went somewhere else.

"Two more minutes'." he heard Mr. Finnerty call to them.

Daniel's head still wasn't clear. He couldn't get over the notion that the outcome of the game depended more on what the ball decided to do than on the players' moves. Oh well, he said to himself. A tie game isn't so bad, is it?

The ball flew smartly off Charlene's foot, only to nit a goalpost and bounce back into play. The crowd moaned. The ball wobbled behind the goal off the toe of a defender, and Leonard took the corner kick. When it darted back in off Leonard's shoe and landed square before the goal, the crowd went wild.

But the ball decided then that it would rather bop around like a Mexican jumping bean than roll into the goal like a good little ball. And the seconds were ticking away.

Daniel's head was clearer now, but he couldn't get rid of the idea that this ball was playing a game of its own.

"Thirty seconds!" Mr. Finnerty called, and Daniel heard his mother's voice above the others in the crowd. "Come on, Blue, you can do it!"

All at once something clicked in Daniel's head. He turned his eyes to the spinning ball. "Hey, ball," he said. "I'm talking to you, ball. Come on. Let's play together, you and me. Let's do it together. Let's make a goal!"

And as if it had actually heard him, the ball wriggled free of the crowd of players around the goal and bounced into an empty patch of field. Daniel was on it in an instant. Three red jerseys ran in to surround him. He gave the ball a backward tap with one heel, then turned and dribbled to one side. The ball frolicked along with him like a frisky little puppy. Just before the red jerseys closed in again, the ball spun out neatly on the grass before his feet, seeming to call to him, "Do it now, Daniel, do it now!"

Daniel planted a good kick.

Whomp! The ball rose up over the heads of the red jerseys. Daniel followed it with his eyes until it stood against the blue of the sky.

Too high, he thought. But he traced its arc as it swung down, down, down toward the setting sun. The red goalie leaped in the air, stretching his arms toward the spinning ball as it curved in toward the goal. At the last instant, the ball dipped under the crossbar, beyond the goalie's reach, and let the enclosing net carry it all the way to the ground with a graceful sigh.

The referee blew his whistle, three short blasts. "We won! We won! Daniel, you did it!" his teammates shouted. And they rushed to him and slapped their palms against his, hands held high in the air.

The sun suddenly sank below the trees, taking its golden glow along with it. Mr. Finnerty walked onto the field to congratulate his team. aniel stood in the tight knot of players huddled around their coach, r. Finnerty smiled down at Daniel and slipped his arm around him.

It was just at that moment that Daniel caught sight of the once-ively soccer ball. It had come to rest in the grass outside the goal, nd there it lay in the twilight, motionless and still.

2.3. True or false?

According to the story, Daniel...

1. could hardly be called a good player.

2. blinked his eyes too often during the game.

3. never paid attention to what Mr Finnerty the Coach was saying.

4. played to the audience, his Mother being one of the fans.

5. seemed to let his imagination go wild during the game.

6. didn't feel quite himself, nor did he feel quiet.

7. expected little of Charlene's skills as a player.

8. had something in his head clicking all the time.

2.4. Understanding points of view.

Scan the story and try to explain the boyish behaviour of the Ball, as well as the footballish behaviour of the Boy.

2.5. Vocabulary in focus.

There is an incredible variety of verbs in the story gliding by, dancing around, whirling and twirling to their hearts' content. Find at least 25 of them to describe the weird ways of the ball. The first five, in the alphabetical order, are here for you. Bop, bounce, bound, cavort, curve, …

2.6. More vocabulary.

Match the words with their definitions.

To pursue In one blink of an eye To take a note of something to Loyal Dazed To fade away Elaborate To close in To get over something

to move close to somebody complicated, full of details cope with something in a very short period of time to register something in your mind supporting your friends to chase or follow unable to think clearly to gradually disappear

2.7. Storing vocabulary.

Paraphrase the following sentences using the words and expressions from Exercise 2.6.

1. She always notices my dress, as if she's got nothing better to do.

2. He is a man of fixed views, and he'll never change his principles.

3. By and by the music ceased to be heard.

4. It became dark almost in an instant.

5. He can't overcome his ambitions chasing some weird ideas.

6. Let him be. Don't you see he's still in a sort of shock?

7. What about the decorations? — A bit too many and too beautiful.

III. POST-READING

3.1. Feelings.

According to the story, the Ball must've been enjoying the game pretty much. Using the verbs you've discovered while doing Task 2.8, speak about the feelings of this hard-beaten character.

3.2. Project work: my soccer team of all time.

Explore the history of soccer. Prepare a list of 11 players who are your very own best players of all time.

Make a presentation in class.

P.S. If the idea of soccer does not appeal to you, make up a team of eleven greatest athletes of all time.

YANKEE DOODLE SHORTSTOP

by H.J. Hinterberg

I. PRE-READING

1.1. SHARE your experiences of how sport helped you to build character.

1.2. DISCUSS the problem of babysitting. What do you think it is — a game or sport?

1.3. FIND OUT as many facts as you possibly can about that all-American game, baseball.

II. READING

2.1. Understanding the title.

The title of the story really makes you stop short thinking about the meaning. Do you realize that there is an allusion there? If you do, say what sort of allusion is that. If you don't, run to Home Base (Exercise 3.15).

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story and answer the question: Did the song make any difference to the girls' performance?

The following words will be helpful to understand the events better.

Inhale — breathe something in

Rattle — produce a sound

Pitch – throw, as in baseball

Cubbyhole — a very small room

Shortstop — in baseball, a position occupied by an infielder

Flunk — fail, not manage to do something

Foil — a weapon used in fencing

Crouch — bend your knees and lean forward a bit

I hate baseball.

"You love baseball."

Meg sighed. "I love it and I hate it, I guess."

Her mother was spooning strained peas into Meg's baby brother, Charles. "Don't worry, honey. It'll work but. You made the team."

Meg traced a pattern on the tablecloth with her finger. "What's the point anyway? Girls can't play in the major leagues. Might as well give it up now before I waste any more time."

Mrs. O'Malley sat down at the table and met Meg's unhappy gaze. "I know there's no professional baseball for women, honey. I knew it when I was your age. I played anyway. I loved it."

Meg smiled for the first time that day. "You still play."

"You bet I do. I'm the best darn player in the coed, over-35 league. I carry my team. And I still love it. Now, do me a favor and sing "Yankee Doodle" to your brother. It'll get your mind off your problems and it'll get more peas into Charles."

Charles was thirteen months old."Yuckee Doodoo" was his favorite song. It always cheered him up. Meg had sung it to him so many times that singing it was as easy as breathing. Launching into it now put a wet grin on Charles's face, but it didn't keep Meg from thinking about baseball.

If she didn't love it so much, she would walk away from it without a backward glance. But she loved every single thing about it, from the uniforms that never fit quite right, to the mouthful of dust she inhaled every time she slid into a base, from the painful sting in her hand when a line drive slammed into her glove, to the fierce jolt that leaped up her arm when she hit a ball hard.

She loved all that. But she hated being the first girl to play for the Rutledge Falcons and she hated being the worst player on the team. She had made the team all right, but if she wanted to accepted as a Falcon, she was going to have to go from worst player to best player in a very big hurry.

The next day, as she took up her position at shortstop, she glanced over at Jamie Ferguson on first base. He didn't smile but he gave her a quick thumbs-up. Jamie was the best player they had. A natural, Coach Russell said. Pressure never rattled Jamie. The coach said there were two kinds of champions: the ones who never felt the pressure and the ones who figured out how to deal with it. Jamie was the first kind. Meg was trying hard to be the second.

She took a deep breath and reviewed her stance. Toes slightly out, knees slightly bent. Weight on the balls of the feet. Hands down, glove facing the batter. Rock forward slightly on each pitch.

The first pitch sped toward home plate. Meg rocked forward and tried to remember what to do. A part of her mind registered the whang of the bat hitting the ball. As the batter sprinted for first base, the ball rocketed toward her. It was to her left, but before she even began to move, the ball sped by her into center field. Runner on third base. Error to the shortstop.

I'll do better at bat, Meg thought. I'll get a hit.

But it didn't work out that way. She didn't get a hit all day. She struck out twice, popped out once, and was thrown out on a weak grounder. And she made another error in the field. Coach Russell wanted to see her after the game.

He sat behind his desk in his cubbyhole of an office, a kind-faced man with spiky hair the exact color of the infield dirt. Right now the expression on his face was uhreadable.

"Tough day, Meg," he said quietly as he marked a chart with a stubby pencil. He looked up at her as she stood nervously holding her Falcons cap in front of her like a shield. "This isn't life or death, you know," he went on. "It's just a game and it's supposed to be fun. But I've got to tell you, some of the kids who saw you play the way you did today will think they should be on the team instead of you."

Meg stood silent, miserable.

"You know why I picked you for the team, Meg?" She shook her head. "Because you have good skills and natural talent. You're a hard worker and you know the game. You love the game. I'm on your side. I've got two daughters younger than you. I think it would be great if you could be a trailblazer so they could play without all 'this fuss about being a girl." He cleared his throat and looked down at his hands. "I've got no choice here, Meg. If you don't improve in the next couple of games, I'll have to find a new shortstop."

There was nothing to say. She turned to go, unshed tears burning her eyes.

"Meg!"

She couldn't turn around and let him see her tear-bright eyes, but she stood still to listen, her damp hand clutching the doorknob.

"I just want you to know I think you've got more talent than any other player on the team. I'm just an electrician who likes coaching baseball, but that's what I think."

She nodded and went out. It was the longest conversation she'd ever had with Coach Russell, and she hadn't said a word.

Her mother wasn't much help. She had been the Jamie Ferguson kind of champion, the kind who never feels the pressure. "You can't let it get to you, Meggie," she said. "You try too hard. Just relax more and have some fun."

She was having misery. She was having panic. She was definitely not having fun.

In the living room Meg found her dad trying to get Charles put a puzzle together. Charles was grunting. That meant he'd be crying in a minute.

"Sing 'Yuckee Doodoo,'" Meg suggested.

"Huh?" Her dad gave her a blank look.

Meg sang. Charles grinned and fit a puzzle piece into its slot.

"Dad?"

"Mmm?"

"Ever play any baseball?"

He laughed. "Nope. Your mom's the athlete in the family. But I'll tell you a deep, dark secret if you promise not to laugh."

"Promise."

"When I was in college, you had to have some physic education credits. You could take anything you wanted, I took fencing."

"You're kidding. You mean you wore those white ninja outfits and fought with swords?" "Foils, actually, but, yeah, that's the idea. The whole thing appealed to my romantic nature. I was crazy about it. The problem was that I was so bad, I was on the verge of flunking."

"So did you flunk?"

"No. My instructor was terrified that if he flunked me, he'd just be stuck with me again the next semester. So he gave me some advice. He said when he was learning, he used to sing the French national anthem to himself. It helped him forget all the rules and procedures and just fence."

"Did it work?"

"Not his song. I used "Jabberwocky.""

He jumped up and waved an imaginary foil.

"'Twas brillig' — thrust — 'and the slithy toves'—thrust — 'did gyre' — thrust — 'and gimble' — thrust — 'in the wabe.'" Thrust, flourish..

He stopped and grinned down at Meg. "It actually helped. I wound up with a C, and my poor instructor never had to deal with me again."

Meg considered. "I see your point. I get tangled up worrying about technique. But I don't know 'Jabberwocky.'"

"No problem. What do you know inside out so you don't have to think about it?"

Meg looked at Charles. "Yuckee Doodoo."

She was in her shortstop's crouch and she was singing. "Yankee Doodle went to town, a-riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni. Yankee Doodle, keep it up—"

Whap! The bat slapped the ball hard. "Yankee Doodle dandy—"

Bang! The ball slammed into Meg's glove. "Mind the music and the step—"

She hauled the ball out of her glove and hurled it to first base. "And with the girls be handy!"

The batter was trotting back to the dugout. Out at first. By a mile.

Jamie Ferguson glanced over and gave her a thumbs-up. Coach Russell was smiling. Meg started in on the second verse as the next batter stepped up to the plate.

2.3. True or false?

The girl was on the team because...

1. she was the only female player in the league.

2. her mother had played baseball professionally.

3. she was in love with the ball, the field, and the trainer.

4. everyone thought her to be a real Falcon.

5. coach Russell simply had a soft heart.

6. coach Russell wanted his own daughters to play, too.

7. she had more talent than any other player,

8. Jamie Ferguson said she was a natural, just like him.

9. her father had taught her a trick or two.

10. Yankee Doodle was her magic talisman of a song.

2.4. Understanding points of view.

Explain what the characters meant.

Mother: "I carry my team."

Charles: "Yakee Doodoo."

Meg: "I love it (baseball) and I hate it."

Charles: "Yakee Doodoo."

Coach Russell: "Tough day, Meg. This isn't life of death, you know."

Charles: "Yakee YakeeDoodooooooo."

Meg's father: "The whole thing appealed to my romantic nature."

Charles: "Yakee Yakee Yakee Dooooooooooodoo."

2.5. Vocabulary.

Choose the correct interpretation of the expressions in bold type.

To make the team means

· to create a tough group of athletes

· to be the best on the team

· to make the team understand who's the boss

· to become member of the team

To carry the team means

· to lead the team to some place

· to feel responsible for the results

· to be the most valuable player of the team

· to motivate the team to play better

To be a natural means

· to be born in the USA

· to be born outside the USA

· to be a born athlete

· to be a person of ancient views

To be a trailblazer means

· to travel lazily around in a trailer

· to drive a bulldozer wearing a blazer

· to daze gazers who come to watch

· to amaze other by being the first to do something

To know inside out means

· to know which side is which

· to be able to reproduce at sight

· to know by heart and even better

· to know someone who stays outside

2.6. Storing vocabulary.

Scan the story searching for the words that describe the game of baseball. Arrange the words you've found in three groups..

Equipment	Rules	Actions
a bat	a diamond = a field	to pitch

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16