by Chike Okwudiafor

翻譯：浩宇

I grew up in the southwestern part of1)Nigeriain a family2)involvedgreatly in soccer. Growing up in a home full of watching and playing soccer, I have grown to love the game. I watch mostly3)Europeansoccer and I support an English club called Arsenal. Throughout the years, soccer has become a great part of my life and made mefall in love withthe sport. There are a lot of reasons I have grown to love soccer.Soccer to me is the only sport I know that can speak to everyone in the world; that is why it is called a “global sport” and it speaks one language called football.

1. It is quite easy

Soccer is a very easy sport to learn and play. Looking from the outside, it might seem really hard, but when you start learning, it is not that hard. Soccer involves a ball and a human. There are other rules and4)technicalitiesinvolved, but,with time, you wouldbe able tounderstand them

2. It is very educating

I have learned so much from soccer throughout the years. The things I have learn through soccer,I don’t think I would have learned them anywhere else. For example,through soccer, I know almost all the countries and cities in them. I know places like Zurich, Leicester,Liverpool, Munich, and Shrewsbury.I know these places because when you watch soccer, especially European soccer, you get to listen to a lot of5)analyticalthought on teams that come from these places.Also, through soccer, I was able to6)scorehigher on my SAT. Listening to experienced7)commentatorsduring the soccer matches also helped8)improvemy vocabulary, and during my SAT, a question appeared about a word I heard a commentator use in a match the week before.

3. It is fun and brings people together

There are many chances where soccer was used for peace. In my country, Nigeria, soccer is a very popular sport and it is played and watched everywhere. For example, acivil warbroke out in Nigeria from 1967 to 1970.In 1967, Pele traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, to play anexhibition match. In order to9)allowboth sides of the10)con fl ictto see the greatest-ever play the game, a 48-hour11)cease firewas called and12)honored. It was13)incredibleseeing that millions of lives were lost in this war, and because of soccer the war had a cease fire. Another example of this is a personal one. My brother and I never used to get along, and during those times, the only thing that kept us together was either playing soccer or watching soccer,and it was through this sport we finally became close. Another example is seen at Lee University. Every Friday my friends and I play soccer at the Rec Center at 7:30 p.m.,and through this I have been able to meet more people from all over the world.

To me, soccer is more than just a sport; it is life. It promotes peace, love, and understanding.

中考考點(diǎn)

1.fall in love with意為“愛(ài)上”，表示動(dòng)作；be in love with“與……相愛(ài)”，表示狀態(tài)，可以與一段時(shí)間連用。

They fell in love with each other after working together for many years. 他們?cè)谝黄鸸ぷ鞫嗄旰笙鄲?ài)了。They have been in love for three years. 他們相愛(ài)已有三年了。

He fell in love with the girl. 他愛(ài)上了那女孩。

2.be able to可用于各種時(shí)態(tài)中，常用來(lái)表示can所不能表示的將來(lái)或完成的概念。

be able to還含有經(jīng)過(guò)努力而能夠的意思。

Will you be able to come? 你能來(lái)嗎？

If you study hard, you’ll be able to catch up with your classmates. 如果你努力學(xué)習(xí)，你就能趕上你的同學(xué)們。

拓展：用can來(lái)表示客氣的邀請(qǐng)，常用Can you…? Can she…? Can he…? Can they…? 等形式，其肯定回答常常是：Sure, I’d love to.或Sure, I’d like to.；否定回答除了用I’m sorry, I can’t./No,he(she, they) can’t.外，還應(yīng)在其后說(shuō)明原因，以示對(duì)別人的尊重。

參考譯文

我在尼日利亞西南部一個(gè)與足球有著很深淵源的家庭長(zhǎng)大。在我成長(zhǎng)的過(guò)程中，身邊的人都會(huì)看球踢球，耳濡目染地我也漸漸愛(ài)上了這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)。我看得最多的是歐洲球隊(duì)的比賽，其中我最喜歡英超俱樂(lè)部阿森納。這么多年下來(lái)，足球已經(jīng)成為我生活中不可或缺的一部分，我也愛(ài)上了這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)。喜歡足球有很多原因，對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)足球是唯一一種世界上每個(gè)人都知道的運(yùn)動(dòng)。這就是為什么它被叫作“世界第一運(yùn)動(dòng)”，足球是世界的共通語(yǔ)言！

1. 足球很簡(jiǎn)單

足球上手很容易。沒(méi)有接觸過(guò)的人可能會(huì)覺(jué)得很難，其實(shí)當(dāng)你開(kāi)始學(xué)習(xí)踢球的時(shí)候你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)很簡(jiǎn)單。足球最重要的就是人和球，還有其他的規(guī)則和技巧，隨著慢慢學(xué)習(xí)都可以理解。

2. 足球具有教育意義

這么多年我從足球中學(xué)到很多，這些東西都是從別處學(xué)不到的。舉個(gè)例子，通過(guò)足球，我知道了幾乎所有的國(guó)家和城市，比如蘇黎世、萊斯特、利物浦、慕尼黑及什魯斯伯里這些地方。當(dāng)我看比賽的時(shí)候，尤其是歐洲球隊(duì)賽事，我可以聽(tīng)到很多對(duì)來(lái)自這些地方的球隊(duì)的分析，由此了解到這些城市。還有，看比賽時(shí)聽(tīng)那些專業(yè)評(píng)論員的解說(shuō)豐富了我的詞匯量，讓我可以在高考中取得更好的成績(jī)。還記得考試的時(shí)候有一個(gè)關(guān)于某個(gè)單詞的問(wèn)題，而恰恰我在一周前的比賽中聽(tīng)到有一位解說(shuō)員使用那個(gè)單詞。

3. 足球充滿樂(lè)趣并把人們凝聚在一起

足球在很多地方都起到了和平的作用。在我的祖國(guó)尼日利亞，這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)風(fēng)靡全國(guó)，幾乎每個(gè)地方都有人踢球看球。1967～1970年間，尼日利亞爆發(fā)內(nèi)戰(zhàn)。而就在內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的第一年，球王貝利在準(zhǔn)備尼日利亞的拉各斯踢一場(chǎng)表演賽。為了讓戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)雙方都能看到這場(chǎng)偉大的比賽，一場(chǎng)48小時(shí)的停戰(zhàn)協(xié)議得到了各方的支持。讓人難以置信的是，盡管這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)剝奪了上百萬(wàn)人的生命，因?yàn)樽闱騻ゴ蟮镊攘?lái)了?；稹＿€有一個(gè)關(guān)于個(gè)人的例子。我和我的兄弟從來(lái)都相處不來(lái)，只有看球和踢球的時(shí)候我們才能好好地一起相處，也正是因?yàn)檫@項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)，我倆最終變得親近。還有就是我在李大學(xué)就讀的時(shí)候，每周五晚7點(diǎn)半我都會(huì)和朋友們一起去休閑中心踢球，也正是在那里我才有機(jī)會(huì)認(rèn)識(shí)了很多來(lái)自世界各地的朋友。

對(duì)我而言，足球不僅僅是一項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)，它是生活，它促進(jìn)了和平，愛(ài)和人與人之間的理解。

1) Nigeria [na?'d???r??] n. 尼日利亞

2) involve [?n'v?lv] v. 參與

3) European [,ju?r?'pi(?)?n] adj. 歐洲的

4) technicality [tekn?'k?l?t?] n. 專門性

5) analytical [,?n?'l?t?k?l] adj. 分析的

6) score [sk?:] v. 得分

7) commentator ['k?mente?t?] n. 評(píng)論員

8) improve [?m'pru?v] v. 提高

9) allow [?'la?] v. 允許

10) con fl ict ['k?nfl?kt] n. 爭(zhēng)端

11) cease fire [si?s'fa??] n. 停火

12) honor ['?n?] n. 榮譽(yù)

13) incredible [?n'kred?bl] adj. 難以置信的

詞組加油站

★civil war內(nèi)戰(zhàn)

★exhibition match表演賽