1 of 2

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2 Challenging Sports

A Before you watch

1 Label the six pictures below with the words in the box.

1 2 3

4 5 6

2 Have you ever tried any of these sports? If not, would you like to try them?

B While you watch

1 Answer these questions.

1 Which two sports are Simone and April comparing?

2 Which sport does Simone prefer?

3 Which sport does April prefer?

mountain climbing parachuting bungee jumping snowboarding scuba diving surfing

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Photocopiable D.R. © Macmillan Publishers, S.A. de C.V. 2010

2 of 22 Challenging Sports

2 Complete the two fact files.

C After you watch

1 Complete the information using the superlative form of the adjective in parentheses or as … as.

In bodyboarding the athlete lies flat on the board. It’s the 1 (easy) surfing to learn, but one of the 2 (difficult) to perfect. It requires many hours of practice. Speed is 3 important

stamina. But the 4 (smooth), 5 (precise) surfers usually

win gold.

Kneeboarding is surfing with both knees on the board. Again, speed is critical. The 6 (good)

kneeboarders know how to handle the waves and avoid the white water. People like kneeboarding, but it is not

7 popular surfboarding.

2 Work in pairs. Imagine you are Simone and April. Role-play a conversation to decide which of the two sports above to feature on your sports segment.

D Language points

1 Match the two halves of the sentences.

1 It looks like a precise, so complex. 2 It takes b could do it. 3 Each movement is so c incredible timing. 4 It’s a lot harder d great fun.5 Anybody with a sense of balance e than it looks.

2 Work in pairs. Use the sentences above to describe some of the sports in the exercise in Before you watch.

E Your viewpoint

Work in pairs and write two dangers for each sport in the exercise in Before you watch. Then, rank the six sports from 1 (the most dangerous) to 6 (the least dangerous).

Did you know …?1 Surfing has huge numbers of

around the world.

2 The 19th World Surfing Games were held in Durban, .

3 A total of countries attended these Surfing Olympics.

4 There are major divisions of surfing.

Did you know …?1 Snowboarding is one of the world’s

-growing sports.

2 In the 1980s it wasn’t as acceptable as .

3 For many years snowboarders were considered too and too wild.

4 In it became an official Olympic sport.

SNOWBOARDING SURFING