In our time, life is not so interesting and exciting as it can be. The world has become a bland and safe place. Each day is like another and we are so tired of such life. People in the past used to risk their life by hunting animals, taking part in expeditions. We need some adrenaline and extreme to feel that our life is going forward.Risk sports become the fastest-growing leisure activities. More and more people try anything from organized bungee jumping to illegally jumping off buildings. And people never feel so alive as when they are risking their life. The real thrill-seekers in their quest for the ultimate sensation are thinking up more and more elaborate sports.

There are all kinds of racing in England - horse-racing, motor-car racing, boat-racing, dog-racing, and even races for donkeys. On sports days at school boys and girls run races, and even train for them. There is usually a mile race for older boys...

Football is the most popular game in the autumn. There are professional football teams in all the main cities of the United States. In American football there are eleven players in each team, as in the original football, but the rules are different. Players are often hurt in American football. So the teams wear special clothing and helmets as in hockey.

We often hear a saying "Don't invent a bicycle" about something simple and known fora long time.Really, the bicycle is old enough - more than a hundred years of age. Its first prototype appeared in 1791 in France. In 1800 a Russian peasant Artamonov made an iron bicycle and travelled on it from Nizhni Tagil to Moscow.

There are many public houses in London and elsewhere, where beer, wine and spirits may be bought and drunk at certain times of the day. These are suitable for all classes of the community and provide a place, where people may meet together and talk, and perhaps play at darts or other games, as well as drink.

The original Olympic Games were held every four years in honour of Zeus, the supreme god of Greek religion. The first record of the games dates from 776 B.C., but it is certain that they existed prior to that. They were held continuously for over 1.000 years until they were abolished in the reign of King Theodosius about 392 A.D. The Olympic festival was a great unifying bond between the Independent city-states of Greece.