Arbeitsblatt: Extreme Sports

Extreme sports Love the fear. Tired of your quiet routine? How about leaving your computer games behind and taking up an extreme sport? Take to the skies with skydiving, hit the hills with mountain biking, and turn even the most boring household job into an exciting hobby! You can ride bicycle, right? In that case youre halfway to becoming mountain biker. All you have to do is take your bike off the road and try some rough terrain. Mountain biking was developed in California in the 70s and became an Olympic sport in 1996. In the London 2012 games athletes had to navigate 4.7-kilometre track in under two hours. The sport has several categories. Downhill involves being taken by car or ski lift to high point and riding all the way down to the bottom. You have to rely on your fitness, mental control, protective equipment and luck! Tracks often include long jumps at high speed. Its almost like flying! Talking of flying, why not go even higher? Skydivers jump from aircraft at an altitude of 1,000 to 4,000 metres. If you are high enough and your body is in the correct position to slow you down with your belly turned to the ground rather than head-first you can experience one-minute free fall before deploying the all-important parachute. And theres no age limit with this sport. Dilys Price from Cardiff went on her first jump aged 54. Shed been having second thoughts, but her worries soon disappeared. According to the British newspaper the Daily Mail she said: I thought this is instant death, but the minute came down wanted to go up again I was hooked. Well, she in her 80s now, and shes still jumping Some adrenaline junkies are even bolder – theyve invented wingsuit flying: sport in which you throw yourself into the void wearing an aerodynamic suit. And then there base jumping, in which people leap from tall structures such as buildings or bridges with parachute. Some of their stunts are illegal. Dan Witchalls had been skydiving for years when he decided to take up base jumping. He has jumped off The Shard London 310 metre-high skyscraper four times. He says: Base jumping is scarier than jumping out of plane. In plane there is no perception of height, but when you are standing on the edge of the building you can see people and cars it makes it very real. It seems theres no lack of imagination when it comes to risking life – and sometimes jail to look cool and get the heart pounding. Surfing, scuba diving, rock climbing which one for you? Not sure? Well, if youre busy at home, why not turn one of your chores into daredevil pursuit? Extreme ironing is not for wimps! Pressing your shirt on top of mountain could be the most dangerous sport of all, depending on the mountain. Extreme ironing is said to have been created in the 1990s in the English town of Leicester by man who saw pile of wrinkled clothes and felt bored. That was Phil Shaw who also won the only Extreme Ironing Championships ever held, in Germany in 2002. But the thrill of this sport seems to come from looking at the spectators faces. Shaw says: Sometimes they look confused, sometimes they laugh. Its fun to see how people respond to it. Vocabulary altitude height above sea level belly front part of your upper body stomach deploying putting into use hooked addicted, wanting more bolder braver into the void into the air, into nothing pounding beating heavily chores different work in the household daredevil someone who does dangerous things for excitement and to impress others pursuit ambition, chase wimps people who are not strong or brave wrinkled not smooth thrills strong feelings of excitement Answer to our question: 1 Which of these statements is true? Mountain biking had already been an Olympic sport for over 20 years by the 1970s. People had been mountain biking for around 20 years before it was made an Olympic sport. Californians had been mountain biking at the Olympics before other people tried it. 2 What advice would you give someone who wants to have longer skydive? The best way to have longer free fall experience is to fly with your head first. The best way to have longer free fall experience is to fly with your belly first. 3 True or false? If you do base jump, you will be arrested. True False 4 Was Dilys Price confident before her first jump? Give reason. Yes, because No, because 5 Which hobby did Dan Witchalls have first? Skydiving Wingsuit flying Base jumping 6 Which set of words contains an odd one out? bolder, wimp, daredevil thrill, adrenaline junkie, daredevil 7 True or false: Extreme ironing was invented by man who likes ironing. True False 8 Where does the excitement of extreme ironing come from, according to the article? The excitement of extreme ironing comes from winning competitions. The excitement of extreme ironing comes from seeing people reactions. 9 Why is jumping off building scarier than jumping out of plane?