Mexican president meets with national soccer teams

     MEXICO CITY, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday met with three of the country's soccer selections¹ and wished them best of luck ahead of their upcoming World Cup competitions.

    The teams include Mexico's women's team that will participate in（参加） the upcoming 2011 World Cup which starts in Germany on June 26, the national men's team for the Under-17 World Cup which starts in Mexico on June 18, and the men's beach soccer team that will start playing in Italy on Sept. 1.

    "See yourselves as champions, never give up to fight for being the best, never be defeated by the adversities, have confidence in yourselves and like this you can change a lot of things," Calderon told them during a short ceremony where he was accompanied by Sports Minister Bernardo de la Garza.

    Mexico is one of the only tree countries in the world besides Brazil and New Zealand which has succeeded in seeing its national soccer team qualified² in all categories of the World Cup organized by the International Federation³ of Association⁴ Football (FIFA), which also includes a World Cup for the Under-20 teams.

    The Mexican Under-17 team will compete in the World Cup in Mexico in Group A together with DPR Korea, Congo and the Netherlands, where Mexico will seek to repeat the triumph⁵ of the Under-17 team that won the title in Peru in 2005.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 selections   

n.选择，挑选( selection的名词复数 )；被挑选的人[事物]；选萃，选集；可供选择的东西

参考例句：

• These are selections from ten thousand. 这些是从一万个里挑选出来的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The band played selections. 乐队演奏一些选曲。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

3 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

4 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

5 triumph   

n.胜利，成功；vi.获胜，成功；击败

参考例句：

• The victorious army returned in triumph.获胜的部队凯旋而归。
• I could detect no triumph in his eye.我不能在他的眼里看出胜利的喜悦。