ELEPHANT POLO текст для читання

Read the text and do the task below.             ELEPHANT POLO                                                by Nathan Harris

 Today I went to see the most unusual game in the world: elephant polo. I thought it was a joke at first. But people really play polo on elephants. Two people sit on the back of each elephant. One player waves a long mallet and tries to hit the ball. The other player gives the elephant commands.

The World Elephant Polo Tournament takes place in Nepal every year. The elephant is driven by a “mahout”, or Nepalese trainer, and the player is tied onto the elephant’s back with ropes, so he won’t fall off. The player tells the mahout where to go. Then the mahout commands the elephant by pressing hard on the back of its ears with his feet. The elephant and mahout work together for years, so the animal reacts very quickly to the commands.

Elephants may look very heavy and slow, but they can really move when they want to. The field is much smaller than a football field. There are only eight animals playing at the same time and they only play for ten minutes each half.

Of course, there are some rather funny rules for elephant polo. For example, elephants are not allowed to lie down in front of the goal. Personally, I enjoyed watching the “poop scooper” running behind the elephants picking up the large dung heaps that they dropped.

Elephant polo is great fun, but it is also very expensive. It costs $12,000 just to enter the tournament. It’s exciting to watch and if you can afford the price of a ticket to Nepal, it’s highly recommended!

 Task 1. True or false?

1. One person sits on each elephant.                                2.     The players try to score goals.

3.     The playing field is bigger than a football field.       4.     There are ten elephants on each team.

5.     Each half of the game lasts only ten minutes.

Task 2. Choose the correct answer.

1.     Elephant polo is an _____ game.             a)   unusual        b) real           c) heavy

2. People really play polo on _____.              a)  mahouts    b) elephants    c)  players

3. The mahout presses hard on the back of the elephant’s _____ with his feet.     a)  eyes     b) feet      c)  ears

4. There are only _____ animals playing at the same time.         a) 10    b) 8        c) 9

5. Elephant polo is also very _____.                         a) cheap    b) heavy     c )expensive