影片對白  These are probably the best years of our lives and how long have we got? Ten, if we're lucky? Or even less, if we get hurt like Jamie. And it can happen to any of us. Just like that, We're one tackle away from flipping burgers.

 

文化面面觀

足球的起源

現(xiàn)代生活中再也沒有比足球更令人激動不已的運(yùn)動了。足球的歷史可謂悠長久遠(yuǎn)。早在古希臘就有一種類似今天的手球的游戲。以后，羅馬人在此基礎(chǔ)上又有所發(fā)展。隨著羅馬人征服歐洲的數(shù)百年間，這運(yùn)動便得以在英倫三島廣為流傳。在中國古代，也有一種類似足球的運(yùn)動，叫做蹴鞠。但可惜的是，蹴鞠沒有發(fā)展成現(xiàn)代意義上的足球。

最初的足球比賽相當(dāng)粗野、激烈、有的隊(duì)員故意踢對方的小腿而不是踢球，簡直和斗毆毫無二致。

1823年11月21日，發(fā)生了一件改變整個世界足球面貌的具有歷史意義的事件。這天，一群學(xué)生在操場上踢球。一個叫威廉·韋步埃利斯的15歲男孩在比賽進(jìn)行中抱著球跑，這個簡單而平常的動作竟然把足球世界分為兩部分：允許用手持球的成為橄欖球，允許用腳踢、頭頂?shù)某蔀樽闱颉＿@以后，一些熱心于足球運(yùn)動的人在倫敦一家旅館里召開會議，起草足球協(xié)會的章程，其中有一條明確規(guī)定，即禁止手持球走。而允許手持球走的橄欖球聯(lián)合會直到1871年才成立。

Modern football developed with the growth of large industrial towns. In the early 19th cent. the game declined in popularity, but it survived among public schoolboys and at Cambridge University where, in 1848, a first attempt was made to compile common rules. Previous rules were local, with disagreements about charging and hacking, the size and shape of the ball, and the duration of the game. A further attempt to produce standard rules in 1863 led to the formation of a Football Association, from which some clubs soon seceded to follow a handling code.

At this stage football was strictly amateur. The new Association launched a cup competition in 1872. Wanderers beat Royal Engineers 1-0 at the Oval before 2, 000 spectators. Gradually the strength of the game moved towards the midlands and north, where clubs were beginning to pay expenses. A watershed was the 1883 Cup Final, when Blackburn Olympics beat Old Etonians 2-1. In 1885, after protests, professionalism was accepted. Attendances began to edge up. The Cup Final at Manchester in 1893 between Wolves and Everton was watched by 45, 000 people. With professional teams dominating the cup competition, an Amateur Cup was instituted in 1893.

In 1888 twelve clubs from the midlands and north, including Preston North End, Accrington Stanley, and Blackburn Rovers, formed the Football League. Over the next four years, sixteen more clubs joined, including Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, and Everton, and a second division was added in 1892. By 1914 the Football League had extended south to bring in Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Fulham, and Bristol City. The Scottish League began in 1890 and an Irish League the same year.

After the Second World War, recognition of the game was accorded by knighthoods to Stanley Matthews, the Stoke and Blackpool winger, to Alf Ramsay, manager of the World Cup victors of 1966, and to Matt Busby, manager of Manchester United. But by the 1980s attendances were falling in the face of rival leisure activities and a growing distaste for the hooliganism of the terraces. From this parlous state, the game was rescued, largely by television.

The first international football match took place at Partick in 1872 between England and Scotland, ending in a 0-0 draw. FIFA was founded in 1904 but international competition did not make much headway until after the First World War, when the World Cup competition was started in 1930. England did not take part until after the Second World War, and was able to retain a comfortable sense of superiority. This was shattered in 1950 by a 1-0 defeat from the USA, followed three years later by a 6-3 defeat at Wembley from the Hungarians, and was not totally restored by victory in the World Cup at Wembley in 1966. In European competitions, British clubs, often with a good stiffening of foreign players, have done remarkably well, but apart from its triumph in 1966, the English national team has tested the patience of its supporters.

Recent developments towards premier leagues and super leagues have made life difficult for small clubs and a number of them have fallen by the wayside. But underpinning the 90 or so professional clubs in the English league are the semi-professional leagues, and the vast number of amateurs, of all shapes, sizes, and talents, who play on windswept recreation grounds in Saturday or Sunday leagues, where attendances are measured in single figures, and it is not unknown for teams to turn up with nine men.

考考你

將下面的句子譯成漢語。

Hey, man, thanks for covering for me, yeah. You're a top man. If you fingered me, I was right in the shitter.

We're even, OK? I don't owe you no more favors.

Hey you think I'm some greaseball who doesn't know stuff?

Goal!《一球成名》（精講之四）考考你 參考答案

1. 老板整個上午都死死地盯著我。

The boss was breathing down my neck all morning.

2. 選手從裁判那獲得了同意的信號。

The contestant got the nod from the judges.

3. 周三瑞士勉強(qiáng)拿到了世界杯決賽的入場券。

Switzerland scraped through to the World Cup finals on Wednesday.

 

影片對白  These are probably the best years of our lives and how long have we got? Ten, if we're lucky? Or even less, if we get hurt like Jamie. And it can happen to any of us. Just like that, We're one tackle away from flipping burgers.