Video-Task 21
Tennis players use their arms a lot. And of course they use their hands to hold the racquet. You can hold a tennis racquet in your right hand or in your left hand. Sometimes, tennis players hurt their elbows. In fact, “tennis elbow” is a common problem for them.
Soccer players cannot touch the ball with their hands (except for the goal-keeper, of course — he has to use his hands). Soccer players kick the ball with their feet. You can kick a soccer ball with your right foot or your left foot. You can also hit a soccer ball with your head. Now, soccer players have to run a lot, so of course their legs are very strong. Sometimes they hurt their knees. The knee is a very delicate part of the body.
Rugby players, and American football players, can hold the ball in their hands. A rugby player has no protection on his head, but an American football player wears a helmet to protect his head and his neck. Rugby and football are pretty violent contact sports, and players often get hurt.
If you play a musical instrument, for example the piano, or the violin, or the guitar, you have to be very careful about the position of your body. For most musical instruments, you have to use your arms, and your hands, and your fingers, of course.
For example, a guitarist holds the guitar in his (or her) arms, and plays with his (or her) fingers.
An organist, “on the other hand”, uses not only his hands — and his fingers, of course — but also his feet, to play the pedals.
Singers have to be very careful about their health. If they get a cold, a cough, or a sore throat, they have a big problem. Have you ever seen a famous soprano before — or after — a performance at the Covent Garden Opera House in London? She always keeps her throat covered with a nice warm scarf.
Francesca studies English, at the VirtuAule English Language System — she’s an English student. She uses her eyes to read her books, and her ears to listen to the recordings. She uses her mouth to repeat after the voices on the recordings, and to practise her pronunciation. She doesn’t use her nose for anything in particular, but she uses her chin a lot. She rests it on the palm of her hand, when she’s a little tired. But she has to use her head, to think about English grammar!
Frank and Helen have a beautiful little baby named Lisa. Lisa is 10 months old, and she’s just beginning to talk… well, she can’t exactly talk yet, but she can make some very interesting noises.
One day, while Helen was in the kitchen, getting the baby’s dinner ready, Frank was in the living room, playing with little Lisa. While Frank was talking to Lisa — baby talk, of course, not a real serious conversation — Lisa started to say something. “Daddy, daddy!” she said — or at least, that’s what Frank heard. Actually, Lisa was just experimenting with English phonetics. She was practising the sound “da”, and she was very encouraged by her father’s enthusiastic reaction. “Da, da,” she said. And again: “Da-da, da-da”.
Frank called his wife immediately. Helen came running in from the kitchen, and he told her that the baby was talking! Little Lisa could speak! And her first word was: “Daddy”!
Frank wanted Lisa to say “Daddy” again, but Lisa just made some more experimental noises — things like “la, la”, and “na, na”. Helen was very sceptical.
“Oh, Frank! She can’t talk yet!”
“Yes, she can! She said ‘Daddy’! I heard her!”
“I’m sorry, Frank, I just can’t believe it!”
During Frank and Helen’s little argument, baby Lisa was continuing her phonetic experimentation, and she discovered another very interesting sound: “ma”. “Ma, ma,” she said. “Ma, ma.”
Well, you can imagine Helen’s reaction! Now it was obvious! Lisa was talking, and she was saying: “Mummy!”
“Oh, Frank! I believe you now! Our little Lisa can talk!”
You’ve never seen two happier parents than Frank and Helen. Lisa was very happy too. She was learning many new things, and a new world was opening before her! With two little syllables — “ma, ma”, “da, da” — she had complete control over her mother and father!