📙 Part 2: Describe a contest you would like to participate in

This episode's vocabulary

Сaber (noun) - a long, heavy wooden pole that is thrown as a test of strength in traditional sports competitions in Scotland.

Tossing - (= throwing) the caber.

Shot put (noun) - a sports competition in which a heavy metal ball is thrown from the shoulder as far as possible.

Modicum (noun) - a small amount of something good such as truth or honesty.

Twist someone's arm (idiom) - to persuade someone to do something they do not want to do.

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Questions and Answers

M: Today, Rory is going to describe a contest he would like to participate in. A contest - like a competition. He's going to say what the contest is about, where the contest will take place, when will it be held, and he's going to explain why he'd like to participate in this contest. Rory, are you ready, Rory? Ready, Rory?

R: Let's get this contest on the road.

M: Yeah.

R: I think it'll never happen. But if I had to choose from one of the limited set of competitions on offer in my country, then it would probably be the Highland Games, which, at least from what I can see, is a massive test of throwing things and people around. This is just a huge strength demonstration competition, really. I used to think that there was only one event every year, but it turns out there's one or at least one in just about every region in the north of Scotland. And at different times of the year. Though, summer is the most popular period because of the nicer weather. Some places in North America even have them, I think, what was also a surprise for me, to be honest with you, when I started finding out things about this. You can do different sports there, like caber tossing. That's when you have to hurl a tree trunk or a log as far as you can. And there are other weight-throwing activities like I think shot putting is one and hammer throwing. Apparently, all of these are called heavy events. I make it sound like a lot of big guys just throwing stuff around and while it's a significant part of it, there are other things to do there as well that are related to dance and traditional music from the Highlands. So there's lots of people with bagpipes, for example. And there are local tourist attractions and information events. So that makes every regional event unique to the area where it is. For example, in Inverness, which is a town in the north and around there, there will be a lot of information or displays about Loch Ness and the Loch Ness monster, but that's unique to that particular area. Elsewhere, there will be other things which are more unique to those places. To be honest, even though I've talked about that there, I doubt I'd be very good at it. But I think it's just about the only sporting event in Scotland I would even have a modicum of success in. Since I've had at least a little bit of experience with lifting and comparatively little experience with any other sport, plus I don't really know of any others and the task is twisting my arm a bit here, so hopefully, that satisfies the requirements.

M: And what about your friends and family? Do they enjoy this contest?

R: I haven't actually heard of any of them going, to be honest.

M: Thank you for your answer!

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