中英双语新闻 欧洲杯之际 足球教会我们的

You are listening to a program from BBC Radio 4. Good morning. Twenty years ago football came home in Euro 96, and in the coming weeks, even fifty years of hurt will not stop me dreaming that Wayne Rooney lifts the Henri Delaunay Cup in winning the European Championship. But behind what has become a media and financial juggernaut, is a story of faith and hope. While England may claim to the home of football, European and world championships have their origin in France - through Henri Delaunay and his predecessor¹ as President of the French Football Federation², Jules Rimet. They were the architects of both the World Cup and the European Football Championship and represented a morality very different to recent reports of FIFA secret bonuses. For Rimet in particular, football was an outworking of his faith. Inspired by catholic social teaching he took the view that sport was important to God and to the future shaping of society. In his twenties, he founded a sports club, which was distinct for two reasons. First it opposed the view that sport was the preserve of gentleman and amateurs and so his club did not discriminate³ on race or class. Second, it included football which at the time the French looked down upon as only for thugs, professionals and Englishmen. He believed that football could positively⁴ channel nationalism, provide healing and relieve the moral and physical suffering of the poor - but only if it was accessible to all social classes. His dream was that football would spread the Christian⁵ virtues⁶ of hard work,honesty, comradeship and fair play. This dream was not easy to achieve and had to be worked out within the harsh political realities which were costly⁷ to Rimet's time, energy and reputation. His example is a reminder⁸ of the way that faith at its best can be inspiring rather than oppressive. Further it is about the attempt to change the world for good, rather than just a privatized comfort blanket. Indeed, in the last couple of days, within the eulogies⁹ to Muhammad Ali's greatness and human weaknesses, there is a story of faith which was foundational to the man who in the words of President Obama 'fought for what was right.... and spoke¹⁰ out when others wouldn't'. Sport is a key part of human experience and community and I see it as a gift from God. Its commercialization on the world stage is inevitable¹¹, and it is open to all kinds of abuse but it still has the potential to unite us and give us glorious pictures of what humanity can achieve. Whatever England does in the coming weeks, for me in the words of the song 'Jules Rimet will still be gleaming.'

您正在收听的是BBC广播4台。各位听众早上好。20年前，英格兰队借欧洲杯的契机回归，而在未来的数周中，即便曾有50年的伤痛，但我依然梦想着韦恩鲁尼能赢得欧洲杯，举起胜利之杯。但是在足球赛事俨然成了一场媒体和金融界的大造声势之时，足球始终寓意着信念和希望。虽然英格兰号称足球之乡，但欧洲杯和世界杯都缘起于法国：法国足协主席先后由亨利及其接班人朱尔斯担任。他们是世界杯和欧洲杯的构建者，他们代表的品德与当今足协盛传的丑闻大相径庭。这对于朱尔斯来说尤为如此，足球对朱尔斯来说是超乎信念的存在。由于受到天主教的教导，他认为，体育对上帝和未来社会的架构而言都十分重要。他二十多岁的时候，建立了一个足球俱乐部。该俱乐部与其他相比不同寻常有两个原因。其一，朱尔斯的俱乐部反对大众所认为的足球只是绅士和足球爱好者尤物的观点，因此他的俱乐部不介意不同种族和阶级。其二，朱尔斯的俱乐部接纳足球之际，正是法国人因为暴民、专业人士和英国人的加入而瞧不起足球之时。朱尔斯深信，足球能够激发国民精神，抚慰贫穷者身体和心灵的伤痛。但有一个前提条件就是所有社会阶层都可以接触足球。朱尔斯的梦想是足球能够将基督教的价值观广为传播，亦即辛勤劳动、诚实团结、公平正义。朱尔斯的梦想并不容易，只有在严酷政治现实中奋力拼搏才能得以实现。而这些对于朱尔斯的时间、精力和名誉来说都是极大的损耗。朱尔斯以身为范，以他的方式提醒着人们：信念这个东西可以是激人上进，而非压抑难受的。更重要的是，信念是尝试将世界变得更好，而非为一己私欲。确实，在过去的几天中，在我们痛失的拳王阿里身上，既能看到信念的伟大，也能看到人性的脆弱，拳王阿里的故事也是一个有关信念的故事，阿里也是奥巴马口中“为正确之事奋斗”的人，一个敢于说出其他人不敢直言之话的人。体育是人类经历中的重要组成部分，我将体育看做上帝馈赠的礼物。虽然足球的商业化不可避免，且难免或多或少受到世人苛责，但足球仍有将众人团结在一起的力量，能让我们看到人类联合在一起能创造的辉煌景象。无论英格兰接下来表现如何，我的态度始终如这歌词一般“朱尔斯永远闪耀”。

1 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

2 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。

3 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

4 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

8 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

9 eulogies   

n.颂词，颂文( eulogy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her latest film has brought eulogies from the critics. 她最近的这部电影获得影评界的好评。 来自互联网

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。