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
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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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 and
wanting 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.
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Dan: Exactly, I totally agree. Let’s hear from Brad again, as he talks about his
favourite 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, go
under, over, between; ways of moving that challenge me directly. I do enjoy developing
creative 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.
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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 was
fun 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.
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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!
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Kate: Goodbye!
