26. Reading Skills Comprehension: Sports

SPORTS

Read the Passage Carefully and answers the Following Questions: –

The sport has rapidly become an established part of the entertainment industry and the smallest detail of sportsman’s private lives is exposed by the media to public scrutiny. ‘Ibp professionals are often described as ‘stars’ and large business interests exploit their skills. Considerable profits are made out of selling sports gear which is a replica of the gear used by the professionals; newspapers sell more copies if their sports coverage is good, and substantial gains can be made out of the spectators’ willingness to gamble on results.

The increasing demand for new, talented sportsmen serves to strengthen the popular image of the professional sport as a highly glamorous occupation; the jealousy shown to players who succeed and the failure rate of young entrants are ignored by the press. Even those who reach the heights maintain their supremacy for only a relatively desperately needs help to establish themselves in a new career. short period and then

It is always attractive to do something interesting and to do it as well as possible, but serious injury or an unaccountable loss of form quickly halts the progress of many a young sportsman. A handful of top professionals can afford a house in London, another in the country, and a third one on the French Riviera, as well as a Rolls Royce and a yacht in the Bahamas, but most professional players just manage to get a bare living from their sport. Outdoor life can be delightful except when the prevalent weather conditions are rain, wind, snow, fog or ice. It’s flattering to hear one’s name chanted with acclaim by thousands on the terraces but crowds are fickle and soon forget, once time takes its toll on muscle and mind. Tommy Lawton, the football hero of the forties, spent his last years in poverty, forgotten by all but a small band of his closest friends.

Sportsmen at the height of their professional life travel all around the world. A cricket team may spend its winter in Australian summers and the Wimbledon women champions may spend the year bathed in sunshine, but their own social lives are disrupted and leisure hours have to be sacrificed to hard, exhausting practice. All professional sportsmen must adhere to strict training schedules to maintain their physical fitness; their lives are devoted to keeping the body in peak condition by exhausting exercise combined with a strict regime of self-discipline and moderation in food and drink.

Retirement comes at an early age and the financial rewards gained will probably not provide enough to live on for the rest of life and the early-retired sportsman has to seek a new career. He enters the new career fifteen years later than his contemporaries and often with not enough reputation in his sport to persuade an employer to pay him a high salary. Perhaps, after all, it is better to remain a keen amateur.

1.Answer the following questions in brief:

(a) In what way do large business interests exploit sportsmen’s skills?                                                  

(b) What is the popular image of professional sport? How does the medium help to keep up this image?                                                                                            

(c) Give two reasons to show that sportsmen do not feel secure.                        

(d) What sacrifices do the sportsmen make in their career?                                 

2. Choose the word from the options which means the same as:

(a) reveal (pare 1)    

(i) scrutiny            (ii) replica               (iii) exploit             (iv) expose     

(b) entertaining/pleasant (pars 3)

 (i) flattering            (ii) interesting     (iii) acclaim            (iv) attractive                           

 (c) very tiring (pars 4)

 (i) regime               (ii) exhausting     (iii) moderation      (iv) strict                      

 (d) popularity (para 5)

 (i) persuade            (ii) amateur         (iii) reputation        (iv) rewards                   

 Answers:

I. (a) Considerable profits are made out of selling sports gear which is a replica of the one used by the professionals, newspapers sell more copies for good sports coverage and substantial gains are made out of spectators’ willingness to gamble on results.

(b) Professional sports is considered a highly glamorous occupation. The increasing demand for new, talented sportsmen serves to strengthen his image. Jealous attitudes towards successful players and failure rates of young players are ignored by the press.

(c) If there is a serious injury or an unaccountable loss of form, it stops a sportsman’s progress. They retire early, and maybe financially insecure in later years.

 (d) Sportsmen’s social lives are disrupted and their leisure hours have to be sacrificed to hard, exhausting practice.

2.(a) (iv) expose (b) (i) flattering (c) (ii) exhausting (d) (iii) reputation

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