Lots of people in the world are fond of sport, because it’s not only healthy, but also spectacular and exciting. For these reason people have started the Olympic Games. They have appeared in 776 BC in Ancient Greece, where people every four years held festivals to please the ancient God Zeus. Later on the Games have disappeared and were revived in the present era, in 1896. The first modern Olympics took place in the capital of Greece, Athens. The old tradition to hold the Games every four years was also revived. So, from then on the Olympic Games took place every four years in different cities of the world. At certain times, such as Second World War, the games were forbidden. The Olympic Games are considered to be the biggest international sports games, which unite people from all over the world. There are two types of Olympic Games: Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. Ancient Greeks didn’t have Winter Games, so the first Winter Olympics were held in 1924 in France. The official emblem of the Olympic Games is a colourful flag with five interlinked rings. The colours of the rings are blue, red, yellow, green and black, because every country in the world has at least one of these colours on their national flag. Another idea sees in each colour a certain continent, for example, blue colour symbolizes Europe, yellow- Asia, red – America, black – Africa and green – Australia. The Olympic Games have been held in many countries, and Russia is no exception. In 1980 the 22nd Olympic Games took place in Moscow, and in 2014 they took place in Sochi.
Nora: Hello, Peter! Happy New Year! How are you doing?
Peter: Oh thanks, Nora! The same to you and your family! I’m fine. What about you?
Nora: I’m great too. I saw you before the New Year’s Eve. I was so excited but you looked quite sad. You didn’t have any plans and you were going to see the New Year in sitting at home alone, before your TV.
Peter: Yeah. But finally I made up my mind to call over my friends and celebrate at my place.
Nora: Wow! That was a fantastic idea! I am sure you enjoyed the party.
Peter: We really had much fun.
Nora: What did you do?
Peter: There were 12 of us altogether. We ate, drank and danced till midnight. Then when the clock struck 12 we drank a toast to the new year.
Nora: Did you make any New Year’s resolutions for the coming year?
Peter: Sure. It’s a good tradition for me. I wanna study hard and become the best student in our group. What about your resolution by the way?
Nora: Well. I decided to start jogging every morning to lose some weight.
Peter: Wow! That’s nice. I’m sure you will succeed in it and you won’t give up your jogging.
Nora: Thanks, Peter. So what did you do after midnight? Did you go to bed?
Peter: Oh no! After midnight we packed some food and had a great picnic in the park. It was so crowded there. We almost lost each other among the people. Anyway it was awesome. We watched colourful fireworks, went skating on the ice rink and played funny games.
Nora: That sounds super. I will definitely go there next year.
Peter: We should go together, Nora.
Nora: O.K. And let’s just hope that the year goes well.
