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　　Sports Facilities 体育设施

　　The information here was written especially to help people answer the questions, "What sports facilities are there near where you live?" and, "What sports facilities are there at your university?"

　　The word 'facility' includes the two ideas of a place and the special equipment in that place, to be used for a certain activity. When speaking of 'sports facilities', you can replace the idea of 'equipment' with the idea of "something special about that place". For example, a running track has no"equipment" but it is especially designed, with lines on the ground representing the running lanes.

　　For the question, "What sports facilities are there near where you live?", the meaning is facilities that the general public can use. This includes: facilities that people can use, free of cost; facilities that people must pay to use; and it also includes such facilities as private sports clubs that you, as a member ofthe public, can join if you want.

　　Maybe there's a private school in your community that has a swimming pool and several tennis courts. If you, a non-student at the school, are not allowed to enter and use these facilities (even when you offer to pay), then it is not suitable to include the school's sports facilities as examples of sports facilities near where you live. Of course,

　　you could mention these facts to the examiner and explain how these facilities exist but are not available for the public to use, and that would be suitable for a Part 3 answer but a little unsuitable for Part 1 unless you firstly address the question of facilities available to the public. Anyway, in Part 1 you probably won't have time to give such an extended and detailed example.

　　What is 'sport'? A sport is a physical activity that is done for exercise and amusement (although some sports involve very little exercise and focus more on physical skills.)

　　Some sports are done mostly for competition, such as football, basketball or tennis. This is the main group of activities that people think of when using the word, 'sport'. These competitive sports have set rules and special areas where the activity is done. A broader definition of 'sport' includes some physical activities that are done purely forrecreation, not competition, such as hunting, fishing, or horseback riding. Most of the water sports such as scuba-diving, snorkeling, water skiing and surfing (surfboard riding) are non-competitive, although water skiing and surfing competitions are held sometimes.

　　The 'extreme sports' are also usually non-competitive. These sports really involve competing against oneself or against nature. Examples of these are: 'sky diving',

　　'white water rafting' down a fast-moving river or mountain climbing (rock climbing), such as climbing Mt. Everest (珠穆朗玛).

　　Some sports don't require much physical exertion but do require physical skills, for example pistol shooting. Similarly, games such as snooker (斯诺克) which are games of physical skill rather than physical exertion are usually also classified as 'sports'.

　　Make sure you know the difference between "sport" and simple "exercise". A sport usually involves physical skills but exercise ( 锻 炼 身 体 ) is simply the physical activity of 'moving the body' – walking up the stairs to your 4th-floor apartment is a form of exercise but it's not sport. A "walking path" in a public park might be used by a lot of people for exercise, but it is unsuitable to describe that as a, "sports facility".

　　Sometimes there is a 'fine line' (= an unclear dividing line) between what is exercise and what is sport. For example, if you go to the swimming pool three times a week and swim ten laps of the pool each time, can you say that you do a sports activity? Personally, I would call it a form of exercise, not sport. (Certainly you cannot say that is 'playing a sport' because you can only 'play' a game and swimming, even incompetition, is not a "game".) On the other hand, if you hit a ping-pong ball across a ping-pong table with your friend for an hour, without keeping score, then I would say you are playing a sport, even though you are not actually playing a formal, competitive game of ping-pong.

　　However, even though I think swimming laps in a swimming pool is not sport, and even though very few Chinese people swim as a competitive sport, it is still suitable to call a swimming pool a 'sports facility' because in other parts of the world, a swimming pool is a place that is often used for sporting competition. For example, in Australia, every public swimming pool has a swimming club where the members hold swimming competitions against each other and against other swimming clubs.

　　I also would not call 'a gymnasium' a sports facility, where 'gymnasium' here simply means 'an exercise room' with weights and exercise machines. But it's probably ok to use that example in your answer, provided you communicate to the examiner the idea

　　that, "it's not really a sports facility but more an exercise facility".

　　The word, 'gymnasium' can also be used to mean, 'an indoor sports arena' where sporting competitions are held – that certainly is a sports facility.

　　Below are some common examples of sports facilities that are found in a town/city or school/university. Of course, there are others. And of course, for some of these, using the plural might be more appropriate, for example, "some basketball courts" and "some ping-pong tables".

　　Most of these examples are compound nouns (复合名词). To speak these, the first word is spoken with more stress than the second word. "More stress" simply means "a little louder". The stressed part of the compound nouns are shown with heavier print, such as "table tennis", where the word "table" is spoken a little louder than the word, "tennis".

　　a swimming pool （游泳池）

　　a basketball court （篮球场）

　　a badminton court （羽毛球场）

　　a tennis court （网球场）

　　a squash  court  （壁球场） a volleyball court （排球场） a football field （足球场）

　　a baseball field （棒球场）

　　a hockey field （曲棍球场） an athletics field （田径场） a running track （跑道）

　　a cycling track （自行车道）

　　a golf course （高尔夫球场）

　　a golf driving range （高尔夫球练习场）

　　an archery range （射箭场） a shooting range （射击场） a shooting gallery （射击场）

　　a)a gymnasium ( = a room for exercising, weightlifting, etc. This item is suitable if you

　　add the fact that it's really an exercise facility rather than a sports facility.) (健身房)

　　b)a gymnasium = an indoor stadium = a big competition room (大厅) that probably has seats for spectators and with facilities for such competitions as weightlifting, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball etc. （体育馆）

　　a bowling alley (for ten-pin bowling) （保龄球馆）

　　an ice-skating rink / a roller-skating rink / a skating rink （溜冰场）

　　a ski slope / a ski run / a ski resort （滑雪场）

　　ping-pong tables (= table tennis tables) （乒乓球台）

　　a billiard room / a pool hall (台球室) a skateboarding park （滑板公园）

　　a mountain bike track = a mountain bike competition ground （山地自行车赛道）

　　Exercise Facilities

　　The following examples are not suitable to use if the question is, "What sports facilities are there near where you live?" As noted above, "exercise" and "sport" are not exactly the same in meaning. However, it is possible to include these examples in your answer to that question, if you communicate to the examiner that you know the difference between "exercise facilities" and "sports facilities" and you are giving an extended answer to the question. This is especially true if either of the two questions 贾若寒作品：《雅思满分流利口语（第二版）》

　　about sports facilities are used in Part 3. You are unlikely to have enough time in Part 1 for such an extended answer.

　　"exercise machines in an exercise area" ( = "exercise equipment" in public parks or public exercise areas) （运动机械）

　　a gymnasium / an exercise room （健身房）

　　a walking path in a public park （公园里的散步道路）

　　a jogging track （慢跑道路）

　　a yoga class (Yoga is classified as a form of exercise or a form of physical training rather than "a sport".) （瑜伽课）

　　an aerobics class (or, an aerobics group) （有氧健身课程）

　　a 'jazz dancing' class or group (which some women join as a form of exercise) （爵士舞课程）

　　a hiking club; a mountain trail for hiking （徒步健身俱乐部）