Unit 3-Conversation 1

Kate: Are you on your way to the boathouse? Janet: No. What's happening?

Kate: There's a practice race to help choose who will row on the college team. Mark really wants a place on the team, so he has to row well today. And I'm going to watch. Janet: Well, I'd like to, but I have an essay to finish. Kate: That's too bad! I know how you feel. Janet: Maybe I can come later?

Kate: Sure. I'm thinking of having lunch in the boathouse bar, and then watching the rowing all afternoon. Janet: How do I get to the boathouse?

Kate: It's easy. Can you see where we are on the map? Here, look!

Janet: OK, which way round are we standing? ... Yes, got it! Kate: OK, go down Catte Street, and turn right into the High Street. Go along the High Street and turn left into St Aldates. Walk along St Aldates, past Christ Church College until you get to Folly Bridge. Janet: I see.

Kate: Then when you get to the bridge, cross over the river ... turn left and walk along the river bank. Keep going along the river ... And you're there! The boathouses are on the right, and the Hertford College Boathouse is the last one along. You can't miss it.

Janet: Thanks. I'm looking forward to seeing the rowing. Kate: No problem. We shouldn't miss the rowing —it's a great university tradition!

Janet: I know, Mark was telling me.

Kate: Like the boat race between Oxford and Cambridge universities every year.

Janet: Of course! The great rivals!

Kate: The Boat Race has been going for years, maybe nearly 200 years.

Janet: And Oxford won it this year!

Kate: Yes, but Cambridge was very close behind. Anyway see you later, down by the river. Janet: Bye.

Mark: And then I hurt my knee getting into the boat. Janet: Oh, I'm so sorry!

Kate: Too bad, but it's only a scratch. Listen up, Janet is right. No need to get nervous, Mark. You were the strongest looking guy in the boat today. Chill out!

Mark: Hey, they're putting the team list on the door. Janet: Let's go over and see.

Mark: No, you go! I can't bear to look! Kate: OK.

Kate: Hey, Mark, great news! You got a place on the college team!

Janet: Congratulations!

Kate: That's great, Mark, you deserve it. You trained so hard. Mark: I can't believe it!

Unit 3-Outside view

Part 1

Narrator: A historic moment, and yet he made it so easy.

Usain Bolt became the first man to successfully defend both the 100- and 200-meter Olympic sprint titles, and he went on to anchor Jamaica’s winning run in the four by 100 hundred meters relay in world record time. At the end of that race, Bolt gave a nod to another track star with a “Mobot” gesture, signature of Mo Farah, who became only the seventh person ever to win the 5000 and 10000 double, in front of an ecstatic home crowd.

Mo Farah: It’s not going to affect me, I’m the same to old

Mo, nothing’s going to change. It just means you’ve got two good medals and…but something you’ve worked so hard for, I’m just going to enjoy it.

Narrator: Also a legend in the making, Kenyan David

Rudisha, who smashed the 800 meters record which had stood since 1976.

Swimmer Michael Phelps broke another

long-standing record. He became the world’s most successful Olympian with 22 medals, 18 of them gold, breaking the record set in 1968. His last podium before retiring was an emotional moment.

Phelps: Yeah, as soon as I stepped up, ah, onto the podium,

I…I could feel the tears starts coming. And, you know, I said to Nathan, I said, “Uh-oh, here they come. This could be…this could be pretty brutal up here.” And they just started coming. And I tried to fight it but then I just…I just decided just to let it go.

Part 2

Narrator: Tears too for cyclist Chris Hoy, who became

Britain’s most successful Olympian, with six golds. And then there were also moment of anguish and frustration. China’s star hurdler Liu Xiang crash out of his second consecutive Olympics, and Brazil’s footballers once again failed to lift gold.

1

Unit 3-Conversation 2

Kate: So the rules are ... the boats follow each other and the one behind has to bump the one in front ... just like that one has done.

Janet: Is that Mark's boat?

Kate: Yes! Look, his boat is about to bump the one in front! Well done!

Mark: Hi you guys!

Kate: Fantastic, Mark. You were amazing!

Mark: Well,we won the practice race, but I'm worried about getting a place on the team.The problem is that there are at least three other people on the team who have rowed before.And I can't help thinking that they were better than me.

Janet: Don't worry, Mark. Everything will be OK.

These games were also marked by women.

Teenagers Ye Shiwen, Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin set record times in the pool. Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar sent female athletes foe the first time. Women’s boxing became an Olympic sport. And British poster girl Jessica Ennis gave the home nation a defining moment when she took heptathlon gold. She was at the forefront of the team GB’s biggest medals haul of modern times, coming third in the medal table. The United States regained their place at the top, with China coming second. For some though, it wasn’t about the medals. But it’s the taking part that counts.

Speaker 2 A great shot by Ince, I'm sure he knows that Pearce set that up for him, but Kopke put the shot out of danger.

Speaker 1 He does like to punch the ball, that Kopke in the German goal... England's first corner of this semi-final... Gascoigne will take it... Here comes the comer kick from Gascoigne ... and Shearer's there and Alan Shearer scores for England ... England have scored after only two minutes' play ... with a comer kick by Gascoigne ... aimed at the near post, and Alan Shearer heads the ball into the German goal ,.. It's an absolute dream start for the semi-final ... Shearer has got his fifth goal of the tournament... Would you believe it? It's England one, Germany nil!

Unit 3-Listening in

News report

There’s a new fitness trend in Australia called “crunning”. It’s a new sport that combines crawling and running that involves using your hands and feet on the ground. The idea was started by Melbourne resident Shaun McCarthy, and he hopes it will spread to other countries.

McCarthy can’t prove that crunning is more beneficial than traditional running. However, he believes that it is a better way to exercise because it involves using your upper body as well as your lower body. Therefore it provides a complete body workout. He also said that crunning burns more calories than running.

Experts aren’t sure if crunning is actually a safe exercise for people. Unlike animals, humans are not built to move on all four limbs. People’s wrists are not as strong as their ankles, and crunning can place a large amount of pressure on the wrists as well as their elbows and shoulders. It could result in an injury to the lower back, shoulders, elbows or wrists.

1 What do we learn about the new sport? 2 What do experts think about the new sport?

Passage 2

Matt Now it's time for Critic's Choice, with news and reviews about the latest films. Good evening, Jack, seen anything good at the cinema this week?

Jack Good evening Matt, yes, I've seen one of the best sports films of recent years.

Matt Sports films? That's not usually a type of film which appeals to you.

Jack You're right, but this time it's different. I've been to see a film about mountain climbing, it's not really your typical sports film. It's more man against the mountain. Matt Tell us more.

Jack I've been to see Touching the Void, which is the story of a pair of mountain climbers in the Peruvian Andes. Matt Is it a true story?

Jack Yes, it is. In 1985, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates set out to climb the 7,000-metre Siula Grande mountain in the Peruvian Andes. Simpson and Yates were young, fit and confident they would succeed. Matt So what happens?

Jack Simpson and Yates' style of climbing involved moving quickly up a mountain with very few supplies and no base camps, which is risky. You can't make any mistakes. Matt I think I can guess what happens next.

Jack And sure enough after climbing well for three and a half days, disaster strikes. Simpson falls and breaks his right leg. With no food or water, the climbers know they have to get off the mountain - fast. Yates is determined to find a way to get his friend home, and he has to lower Simpson down the mountain. Simpson is in agony, but Yates has no choice except to ignore his partner's cries of pain because otherwise he'll die.

Well, for a while, things go well. But suddenly Simpson, at the end of the rope, fails to respond to Yates' signal. Yates is unable to move any further and has no idea why Simpson is not responding. So Yates holds on with all of his strength, all too aware that eventually his strength would give out and both would fall.

But what Yates doesn't know is that he has lowered Simpson over the edge of a crevasse. Simpson is hanging in mid-air from the vertical face of the mountain. He's unable to

2

Passage 1

Speaker 1 And David Seaman is in goal for the England team down to our right... it's difficult to get used to the change of team colours here ... I'm looking at the white shorts and thinking they're English players, but they're not. For this match it's the Germans who are wearing white. I hope the English players don't have the same problem, we don't want them to pass the ball to the Germans. Now Gascoigne for England passes to McManaman for the first time ...

McManaman is immediately surrounded by three German defenders ... he brings the ball to the near side of the pitch ... still McManaman for England, crosses the ball to Pearce ... Pearce takes a shot! ... saved by the German Ziegler, and picked up by Ince only 25 yards away from the German

goal... good effort by Ince, aims at the goal! ... and Kopke, the German goalkeeper pushes the ball over the top of the goal. So a comer kick for England.

climb back up the rope and he's got frostbitten fingers and can't communicate with Yates above him. Matt So what happens?

Jack Well, I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Matt But...

Jack But Yates hangs onto the rope for an hour, getting weaker. For any climber, cutting the rope that binds him to his partner is unthinkable.

Matt Sounds very exciting. So what about the direction and the filming?

Jack The director is Kevin Macdonald, and he tells the story by cutting from interviews to shots of the climb itself. But it's the message of the film which interests me. You see, in the end, the impression left by the film is astonishment that a human being could do what Joe did, which is to survive. Matt Thanks Jack, this week's Critic's Choice is

Touching the Void, on general release in all cinemas from next Week.

3