6 phút từ vựng: Parkour

 6 Minutes English topic: Parkour

Which city is hosting this year's Parkour World Championships?
a) Vienna
b) Vancouver
c) Venice

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Transcript
Dan: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Dan Walker Smith and in today’s programme Kate and I are going to be talking about parkour. Do you know what parkour is Kate?
Kate: Hi Dan. Well I don’t really know what parkour is, but I’ve got a feeling it has something to do with jumping on and off buildings. Am I right?
Dan: That’s pretty much it actually. Parkour is a growing sport that mixes running, jumping, climbing and gymnastics. You might have seen it on TV; it’s been around. You see people running up walls, climbing across buildings and jumping over objects that are in their way.
Kate: Ah right yes, now I know what you’re talking about. I’ve definitely seen people doing this on the television.
Dan: Exactly, and what’s interesting is that it’s not competitive. Many of the runners don’t even like the idea of commercial events. They’d rather keep it as a pure sport that’s just for fun. Having said that, there are Parkour World Championships. So my question for you Kate is which city is hosting the Parkour World Championships this year? Is it:
       a) Vienna
       b) Vancouver
       c) Venice
Kate: Well I have no idea, so I’m going to guess b) Vancouver.
Dan: Well we will see if you’re right at the end of the show. Now we’re going to hear an extract from the British parkour runner Brad Moss. Here he is talking about what he likes about the sport. He says that because it’s not competitive or professional, you can concentrate on personal development. So he’s less concerned about being sponsored. Kate what does he mean there?
Kate: Ah, well to sponsor in this context is to give someone money in exchange for advertising and publicity. So sportsmen and sports teams are often sponsored by big companies.
Dan: OK, well let’s have a listen to Brad. What other sport did he practise before he took up parkour?
Extract 1
Parkour gave me a real opportunity to develop personally, as opposed to, you know,with skateboarding, which I used to do. It was all about doing things for videos andwanting to get sponsored and things. Whereas parkour had a lot more freedom thorough that, and it’s about practising what you personally need to improve on.
Dan: OK, so Brad was a skateboarder before becoming a parkour runner.
Skateboards are short boards with four small wheels in each corner, and people who ride on them are called skateboarders.  
Kate: Yes, and I think there are a lot of similarities between parkour and skateboarding. For example you’ve got to be very aware of your surroundings, and it’s a way of getting around that’s really quick and very impressive to watch.
Dan: Exactly, I totally agree. Let’s hear from Brad again, as he talks about his fa vourite sort of areas to practise parkour. He uses the word dense, so what’s he saying here Kate?
Kate: Well the word dense means made of or containing a lot of things. So if an area is dense with people, for example, then there are a lot of people in that area.
Dan: OK, let’s listen to the clip, and see if you can spot the ways that Brad gets around objects.
Extract 3
I enjoy spaces where there’s lots of dense things and where I can move. You know, gounder, over, between; ways of moving that challenge me directly. I do enjoy developingcreative movement, but not the extent of doing stunts and acrobatics.
Dan: So using parkour Brad goes under, over and between the objects in his path. But he says that he doesn’t do many stunts or acrobatics. What do these words mean Kate?
Kate: Well a stunt is a dangerous action which you might do to entertain someone. So there are lots of stunts in action films, for example. And acrobatics is another word for gymnastics. It’s using your body to make skilful movements, with lots of jumps and twists.
Dan: Parkour that uses a lot of stunts and acrobatics is known as free running. Let’s listen to a British free runner talking about her first experience of the sport. There’s a couple of interesting words here Kate, so I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind explaining them.
Kate: Sure, no problem.
Dan: OK, well what does she mean when she describes her first class as insane?
Kate: Ah, OK, well insane usually means mad or crazy. But what she probably means here is that the first class was very hard and there were lots of ridiculous moves.
Dan: And she also says there was a positive atmosphere – what does she mean there Kate?
Kate: Well atmosphere here is the feeling that a place gives you, so that when she says there was a positive atmosphere, she means there was a good feeling in the class.
Dan: OK let’s listen to her talking about her first experience of free running. What effect did the class have on her?
Extract 1
I had an insane first class where in the first 10 minutes we were just looking at each other going ‘Oh my God, this is impossible, they can’t expect us to do this.’ But it wasfun and it was a really positive atmosphere and I just got hooked.
Dan: She says she was hooked after her first class. Hooked is an informal word meaning addicted. People usually talk about being hooked on about drugs or on cigarettes, but here she says she was hooked on free running. Does free running or parkour sound like something you’d like to try Kate?
Kate: Oh I’m afraid not; I’m not very good with heights. I think I’ll just watch from now on.
Dan: Well maybe you’ll get convinced one day. But for the moment, we’re almost out of time, so let’s go over some of the vocabulary we’ve come across today:
    parkour
     to sponsor
     a skateboard
     dense
     stunts
     acrobatics
     insane
     atmosphere
     hooked
Dan: And I asked you at the beginning of the show Kate which city is hosting this year’s Parkour World Championships?
Kate: And I took a wild guess at b) Vancouver.
Dan: Actually the answer is Vienna. Although it’s the world championships, a lot of the parkour community are actually against this sort of competition. They want to keep parkour pure and non-competitive, and they see the idea that bringing in a competition is going to make it quite commercial and that people will only do it for money. Kate: Yes I can see their point. But then having a competition does mean that more people get to know about it. Dan: Exactly, and if you are in Vienna this year, you might want to check it out. So from all of us here at BBC Learning English, thanks for listening, and goodbye!
Kate: Goodbye!

Tổng hợp từ vựng mới trong bài

• parkour

• to sponsor

• a skateboard

• dense

• stunts

• acrobatics

• insane

• atmosphere

• hooked