Самостоятельная работа №10

I. Read the text. What is the main idea of this text?

Americans are very fond of sport. The most popular sports in the USA are football, which is played from April to October, baseball, played from September to December, basketball, played from October to April and ice hockey, played in most northern cities from October to March.

American football derives from the English game of rugby. It started at Harvard University in the 1870's. It is a game for two teams of eleven men on the field. The object of the game is to have the control of the ball and to score points by carrying it across the goal-line.

Baseball is the most popular summer sport in America. The first American baseball match was in 1839 in New York. To play baseball you need two teams of nine players. Americans start playing baseball young. There are «leagues» which children of eight can join. The top players become big stars and earn a lot of money every year.

Basketball is a game which nowadays is popular all over the world. It was invented in 1891. During the 20's the first US league championship was organized. In the 70's-the American Championship was divided into two leagues: the ABA (American Basketball Association), which does not exist any longer and which played with a blue, red and white ball and the NBA (National Basketball Association).The NBA is a professional league which still plays. Americans love winter sports and ice hockey is the most popular game. This game is very fast and can be dangerous.

There are more activities which Americans take part in such as golf, swimming, tennis, aerobics, wrestling, etc. Americans' interest in sports seems excessive to many foreign visitors. Television networks spend millions of dollars arranging to telecast sports events. Publications about sports are sold widely. In the US professional athletes can become national heroes. Sports are associated with educational institutions in a way which is unique. High schools have coaches as faculty members, and school teams compete with each other. Nowhere else in the world are sports associated with colleges and universities in the way they are in the States. College sports, especially football, are conducted in an atmosphere of intense excitement and pageantry. Games between teams attract nationwide television audiences. Many Americans jog every day, or play tennis or bridge two or three times a week. They go on ski trips and hunting expeditions that require weeks of planning and organizing. In the Americans' view, all these activities are worth the discomfort they may cause because they contribute to health and physical fitness. That is probably why Americans are known as a healthy nation.