Winter Sports

— 18 — Activity 5. Restore the order of words in the following sentences: 1. Was/ never/ he/ to/ in/ this/ position/ supposed/ be 2. And/ how/ many /do/ we /complain/ times/ a/ day? in/ 3. Skied/ unbelievable/ Dale 4. But/fame/ and /fortune / not/ be/ allowed/ t/ divide/ the/ Bilodeau/ clan/ will 5. Those/ 23 /allowed/ the/ to /breathe /a /collective/ sigh/ of/ relief /seconds/ nation Activity 6. Answer the following questions according to the text: 1. Who was the smart money on the Canadian team? 2. How did Alexandre Bilodeau pick his way through the mogul’s field? 3. Why was Bilodeau especially touched by his brother Frederic’s presence among the public? 4. What is Alex’s description of his brother? 5. Where did complaints against Bilodeau’s victory come from? 6. What was Geoff Lipshut’s opinion of the final score? 7. What earnings do experts predict for Bilodeau over the next few years? 8. What is Alex’s family reaction to his success? 9. Why did those 23 seconds Alexandre won over his rival allow the nation to breathe a collective sigh of relief? TEXT 6 FEELING THE NEED FOR MORE SPEED The difference between competitors in luge is so minute that it is one of only two Olympic winter sports (short track speed-skating is the other one) in which times are measured to 1/1000 of a second. Taking a highly scientific approach to finding ways to shave thousandths of seconds off the time of its lugers has been a longtime goal of USA Luge, but a seemingly unrealistic one because of the high costs of such studies. Doug Bohl’s combined interests as a scientist, father and winter sports enthusiast helped make the project possible. Bohl, whose 13-year-old son, Bailey, is training with the USA Luge development team, and Brian Helenbrook are mechanical engineering professors at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. They have committed to a project using computer models and wind tunnels to study sleds in an attempt to reduce aerodynamic drag, and therefore increase the...