Meet Sofia, an eleven-year-old gymnast from Lisbon with Olympic dreams. In her own words, she walks you through every part of the body a gymnast has to train, and the setback she had to overcome to get there.
What you’ll learn
- the parts of the body in Portuguese
- querer plus the infinitive for talking about dreams
- vocabulary for sport and training
Texto
Tap any sentence to see its English underneath. Tap it again to hide.
A Sofia só tem onze anos, mas ela tem um sonho enorme: ela quer ser a melhor do mundo na ginástica.Sofia is only eleven years old, but she has an enormous dream, she wants to be the best in the world at gymnastics. Ela nasceu em Lisboa e vive lá com os seus pais e com o seu irmão mais novo.She was born in Lisbon and lives there with her parents and her younger brother.
Segundo ela, para ser uma boa ginasta precisamos de ter muita força e flexibilidade em todas as partes do corpo, por isso é importante treinar com regularidade.According to her, to be a good gymnast we need a lot of strength and flexibility in every part of the body, so it's important to train regularly.
Ela diz-nos que no início ela não tinha muita força nos braços e por essa razão não podia fazer muitos exercícios.She tells us that at the start she didn't have much strength in her arms, and for that reason she couldn't do many exercises.
As pernas e os pés fortes também são necessários por causa da capacidade de impulsão.Strong legs and feet are also necessary because of the power needed to push off the ground.
Nas mãos, precisamos de ter também muita força e treino, para ter dedos fortes e poder fazer vários exercícios.In the hands, we also need a lot of strength and training, to have strong fingers and be able to do various exercises.
O pescoço também precisa de estar forte, assim como os ombros e o tronco.The neck also needs to be strong, and so do the shoulders and the torso.
E finalmente, é necessário cuidar muito bem dos joelhos.And finally, it's necessary to take very good care of the knees. Há muitas lesões que aparecem porque não temos os joelhos resistentes.Many injuries happen because our knees aren't resilient enough.
Ser ginasta é uma coisa muito exigente, segundo a Sofia, mas ela acredita que pode chegar aos jogos olímpicos, um dia.Being a gymnast is a very demanding thing, according to Sofia, but she believes she can make it to the Olympic Games one day.
Vocabulário
Key words from this text. Hide a column to test yourself.
- o sonho
- the dream
- a ginasta
- the gymnast
- a força
- strength
- a flexibilidade
- flexibility
- treinar
- to train
- a impulsão
- the push-off, the spring in a jump
- os dedos
- the fingers
- o joelho
- the knee
- a lesão
- the injury
- exigente
- demanding
Perguntas
Answer out loud in Portuguese, then check.
Want to practise this out loud?
Read it with Nuno in a live lesson. First conversation is a relaxed chat about your goals.
Book a lesson with Nuno