Giải thích Từ vựng

Fanatical /fuh’natuhkuhl/ adjective
Characterised by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm or zeal, especially in religious matters.

Reverence /’revuhruhns, ‘revruhns/ noun
The feeling or attitude of deep respect

Offside /of’suyd, ‘ofsuyd/ adjective
Illegally between the ball and the opposing team’s goal line,

Prodigy /’produhjee/ noun, plural
A person, especially a child, endowed with extraordinary gifts or powers: a musical prodigy.

Sanguine /’sanggwuhn/ adjective
Naturally cheerful and hopeful: a sanguine disposition.

Misnomer /mis’nohmuh/ noun
An error in naming a person or thing

Punter /punter/ noun
(American Football) A player who kicks a dropped ball before it touches the ground

Bạn có biết?

Trong tiếng Anh, có rất nhiều cách khác nhau để nói đến số không (0) ngoài hai cách thông thường là ‘zero’ và ‘oh’ khi đếm hoặc đọc một dãy số.

Trong bài nghe trên, Michael Bissenden dùng cụm từ ‘nil-all’ để nói đến tỉ số hòa 0-0. Tương tự, ‘three-nil’ là cách nói tỉ số 3-0 trong bóng đá.

‘Nought’ được dùng khi nói đến điểm số ghi được trên tổng điểm, ví dụ 0/10 – ‘nought out of ten’.

Và đặc biệt nhất, số không trong tỉ số tennis được đọc là ‘love’. Theo từ điển Oxford, cách gọi này có thể bắt nguồn từ cụm ‘to play for love (of the game)’ với nghĩa là ‘to play for nothing’. Một giả thuyết khác giải thích rằng ‘love’ trong cách nói tỉ số tennis có thể là một biến thể của từ tiếng Pháp l’oeuf nghĩa là ‘quả trứng’ với hàm ý số không giống hình quả trứng. Tuy nhiên trên thực tế, trong tiếng Pháp l’oeuf không được dùng để nói đến số không. Từ điển Oxford không cho rằng đây là nguồn gốc của cách nói tỉ số này trong tennis.

Bài đọc tiếng Anh nguyên bản

Americans and soccer

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Americans have the same problem as Australians when it comes to soccer; both find it very difficult to call the game football. Both are immigrant nations full of people who have a fanatical reverence for the round ball. But both are also countries with strong loyalties to other types of football, and somehow some of the magic of soccer often gets lost in the translation.

Our North America correspondent Michael Brissenden shares his thoughts on the American perspective of the World Cup soccer.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The United States should be good at this game. This is a country of 300 million people, and at least 50 million of them are Latinos, who, as we all know, are born with an instinctual understanding of the offside rule. But it seems as with many other aspects of American life, their sporting passions are swamped by the dominant culture, at least at an elite level.

That’s not to say soccer isn’t popular with the rest of the ethnic mix here; on the contrary. On any given Saturday, from one side of the country to the other, soccer is a locked in part of the suburban ritual for many families.

And then, if little Harry, or even more likely, little Hannah, are any good and they qualify for what they call here the travel team, the little prodigy’s every after-school moment can be filled with practice sessions and games all over the state and sometimes even further afield. As the father of one promising little player, I can tell you I live in fear that she may indeed may be good enough to reach those heights. I mean, who’s got the time?

In fact, Americans themselves seem surprisingly sanguine about their lack of global dominance in this area. For a nation that loves to win at everything, this is not normal behaviour. Last weekend’s draw against England was described by the Washington Post as a welcome gift. It wasn’t a victory, the paper said, but in many ways it felt like one. And I suppose that if you haven’t actually scored against England in the World Cup since 1950, you might be tempted to see it that way, but it was a draw for goodness sake.

Anyway, Americans have all sorts of theories to explain why the world’s most powerful nation is so ordinary when it comes to world’s most popular sport. First, it’s a game that bans the use of hands. American sports are all games that require a lot of handwork. Think about it – basketball, baseball, ice hockey, golf – no feet anywhere.

Even American football is something of a misnomer; the ball rarely meets a boot and the kicker is such a specialist in this game that often he’s an import from another country. More than a few Australian Rules players have found lucrative post AFL careers as punters for American football teams.

Then there’s the fact that there’s no cheerleaders. Seriously, this is discussed with some passion. Cheerleaders apparently provide a useful distraction when the game itself gets a little slow, and advertisers like the added colour.

Americans are too fat, is another theory put forward by some. Soccer requires stamina; it’s a game for lithe men with dazzling finesse in the foot department. The average American man weighs in at 190 pounds – about 87 kilos; that’s apparently 20 pounds heavier than they were 40 years ago.

That sets you up pretty well for running straight at another big boofy bloke wearing protective clothing and a helmet, but the ankles of most American footballers would just give out if they had to dribble and pass for two 45-minute halves.

And that brings us to the most convincing reason of all; money. American TV networks, well, the advertisers really, just can’t get their heads around a game that has only break in 90 minutes. Unlike American football, that has so many breaks that you sometimes wonder if it can actually be described in any way as exercise.

Many Americans are also perplexed by a game that can be played for so long but often result in such low scores. Nil-all or two-one just doesn’t seem right after 90 minutes.

But then, try explaining cricket to them; I’ve tried, I really have. A game that can be played for five days is just incomprehensible. But that, as they say, is a whole other ball game.

This is Michael Brissenden in Washington for Correspondents Report.

Bản lượt dịch tiếng Việt

Người Mỹ có cùng một vấn đề như dân Úc khi nói đến bóng đá. Cả hai đều là những quốc gia đông dân nhập cư có đầy lòng say mê cuồng nhiệt dành cho trái bóng tròn. Tuy nhiên, cả Úc và Mỹ cũng là những nước có lòng trung thành mạnh mẽ với các loại bóng đá khác và với một lý do nào đó, sức lôi cuốn của môn thể thao vua – bóng đá đã phần nào bị giảm bớt.

(Minh họa: Cổ động viên bóng đá xứ cờ hoa)