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

1.fall in love with意為“愛上”，表示動作；be in love with“與……相愛”，表示狀態(tài)，可以與一段時間連用。

They fell in love with each other after working together for many years. 他們在一起工作多年后相愛了。They have been in love for three years. 他們相愛已有三年了。

He fell in love with the girl. 他愛上了那女孩。

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

be able to還含有經(jīng)過努力而能夠的意思。

Will you be able to come? 你能來嗎？

If you study hard, you’ll be able to catch up with your classmates. 如果你努力學習，你就能趕上你的同學們。

拓展：用can來表示客氣的邀請，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，還應在其后說明原因，以示對別人的尊重。

參考譯文

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

1. 足球很簡單

足球上手很容易。沒有接觸過的人可能會覺得很難，其實當你開始學習踢球的時候你會發(fā)現(xiàn)很簡單。足球最重要的就是人和球，還有其他的規(guī)則和技巧，隨著慢慢學習都可以理解。

2. 足球具有教育意義

這么多年我從足球中學到很多，這些東西都是從別處學不到的。舉個例子，通過足球，我知道了幾乎所有的國家和城市，比如蘇黎世、萊斯特、利物浦、慕尼黑及什魯斯伯里這些地方。當我看比賽的時候，尤其是歐洲球隊賽事，我可以聽到很多對來自這些地方的球隊的分析，由此了解到這些城市。還有，看比賽時聽那些專業(yè)評論員的解說豐富了我的詞匯量，讓我可以在高考中取得更好的成績。還記得考試的時候有一個關于某個單詞的問題，而恰恰我在一周前的比賽中聽到有一位解說員使用那個單詞。

3. 足球充滿樂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。在我的祖國尼日利亞，這項運動風靡全國，幾乎每個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，球王貝利在準備尼日利亞的拉各斯踢一場表演賽。為了讓戰(zhàn)爭雙方都能看到這場偉大的比賽，一場48小時的停戰(zhàn)協(xié)議得到了各方的支持。讓人難以置信的是，盡管這場戰(zhàn)爭剝奪了上百萬人的生命，因為足球偉大的魅力帶來了?；稹＿€有一個關于個人的例子。我和我的兄弟從來都相處不來，只有看球和踢球的時候我們才能好好地一起相處，也正是因為這項運動，我倆最終變得親近。還有就是我在李大學就讀的時候，每周五晚7點半我都會和朋友們一起去休閑中心踢球，也正是在那里我才有機會認識了很多來自世界各地的朋友。

對我而言，足球不僅僅是一項運動，它是生活，它促進了和平，愛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. 爭端

11) cease fire [si?s'fa??] n. ?；?/p>

12) honor ['?n?] n. 榮譽

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