V. 2). Change the sentences into Active voice.

VI. Answer the questions:

1. Where and when did martial arts start?

2. What fighting techniques did the monks in China exercise?

3. How did martial arts spread throughout the east?

4. Why did Japan’s government want to ban fighting techniques?

5. What do martial arts cultivate in an individual?

VII. Make statements for agreement and disagreement and check the comprehension of the text in groups.

VIII. Speak about …

· Martial arts in the western culture;

· Weaponless fighting in ancient China;

· Japanese combating techniques;

· Samurais;

· The inventor of judo.

IX. Find out more information about other martial arts (karate, sumo, etc.) and share the knowledge with your group mates.

Boxing

Fist fighting is depicted in Sumerian relief carvings from the 3rd millennium B.C., while an ancient Egyptian relief from the 2nd millennium B.C. depicts both fist-fighters and spectators. Both depictions show bare-fisted contests. The earliest evidence for fist fighting with a kind of gloves is found on Minoan Crete (1500-900 B.C.).

The Greeks and Etruscans were not the first to give rules to the sport. Mediterranean peoples preceded them. In the Mediterranean area while clinching was strictly forbidden, there were (unlike in modern boxing) no weight classes. Fights were not separated into rounds and had no time limit. They ended at a knockout, or at a fighter abandoning the fight, or sometimes at the death of one of the fighters. Although gloves were used in practice, in competition fighters wrapped their hands in strips of hardened leather which protected the fist and caused unpleasant injuries for the opponent. The Spartans were the first to box as a way to prepare for sword and shield fighting. Boxing was first accepted as an Olympic sport in 688 B.C.

In ancient Rome, there were two forms of boxing both coming from Etruscan boxing. The athletic form of boxing remained popular throughout the Roman world. The other form of boxing was gladiatorial. Fighters were usually criminals and slaves who hoped to become champions and gain their freedom. Originally designed as a sporting event where Roman soldiers could match their skills and prowess against one another in a true Olympic fashion it eventually evolved into gladiator carnage. The bloodier the arena spectacle, the more popular it became and was used as a distraction for the Roman population.

Eventually, fist fighting became so popular that even emperors started fighting, and the practice was promoted by Caesar Neronis.

In 500 A.D. boxing was banned by the Christian empire Theodoric the Great as being an insult to God because it disfigures the face, the image of God. However, this edict had little effect outside the major cities of the Eastern Empire. By this time, western Europe was no longer part of the Roman Empire. Boxing remained popular in Europe throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. Wrestling, fencing and racing (both chariot and foot) were never banned by the late Romans, as they did not cause disfigurement.

Records of classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire. However, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. There was also a sport in ancient Russia called fistfight. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 18th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. The first documented account of a bare-knuckle fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury, and the first English bare-knuckle champion was James Figg in 1719. This is also the time when the word "boxing" first came to be used. The introduction of gloves of "fair-size" changed the nature of the bouts. The gloves can be used to block an opponent's blows. As a result of their introduction, bouts became longer and more strategic with greater importance attached to defensive maneuvers.

Tasks:

I. 1). Learn the active vocabulary:

· fist fighting,

· clinching,

· prizefighting,

· sword and shield fighting,

· gloves,

· blows,

· attacking and defending maneuvers,

· injury and disfigurement,

· knockout.

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