世界杯吉祥物

 　　The South Africa official 2010 mascot¹, a leopard² known as Zakumi, is seen during a launch in Auckland Park, Johannesburg September 22,  2008. The mascot for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was unveiled in Johannesburg on Monday, with Fifa opting³ for a leopard for the showpiece football tournament's first visit to Africa. "Zakumi is young, vibrant⁴, energetic, smart, self-confident, sociable⁵ and ambitious, but also warm-hearted," Local Organising Commitee CEO Danny Jordaan said at the televised launch. [Agencies]

　　A cuddly⁶ leopard with a green afro leaped through a beaded curtain Monday and into World Cup history. The leopard, named Zakumi, was unveiled as the mascot of the 2010 World Cup, which will take place in South Africa. At Zakumi's introduction at a state TV studio, a performer in a Zakumi costume kicked around a football with Mark Fish, who helped lead South Africa to the African Cup of Nations title in 1996.

　　Zakumi was given a biography and name evoking⁷ South Africa's history and hopes. The character was "born" June 16, 1994, tournament organizers said. The year is when apartheid ended and the date is celebrated⁸ as Youth Day to mark the Soweto uprising of 1976, remembered as the day when young South Africans struck a blow against white rule.

　　The first two letters of Zakumi are the country's initials in Afrikaans, one of South Africa's 11 official languages. "Kumi" means 10 for the year of the tournament in many African languages, World Cup organizers said.

　　Tim Modise, spokesman for the South African organizing committee, said "zakumi" also can be understood as "come here" in southern African languages.

　　The idea, design and realization⁹ of the mascot all came from South Africa, including Cora Simpson, whose company just east of Johannesburg built the costume for Monday's launch.

　　The World Cup "brings business to my company," Simpson said.

　　Her initial contract with the organizing committee was worth less than 250,000 rand (about US$31,000), but Simpson said it would open other opportunities and had spread optimism among her staff of about 30.

1 mascot   

n.福神，吉祥的东西

参考例句：

• The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
• We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。

2 leopard   

n.豹

参考例句：

• I saw a man in a leopard skin yesterday.我昨天看见一个穿着豹皮的男人。
• The leopard's skin is marked with black spots.豹皮上有黑色斑点。

3 opting   

v.选择，挑选( opt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• What courses are most students opting for? 多数学生选什么课程？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Wells doesn't rule out opting out and then re-signing with Houston. 威尔斯没有排除跳出合同再与火箭重签的可能。 来自互联网

4 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

5 sociable   

adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的

参考例句：

• Roger is a very sociable person.罗杰是个非常好交际的人。
• Some children have more sociable personalities than others.有些孩子比其他孩子更善于交际。

6 cuddly   

adj.抱着很舒服的，可爱的

参考例句：

• The beautiful crib from Mom and Dad is so cuddly.爸爸妈妈送的漂亮婴儿床真舒服。
• You can't call a hedgehog cuddly.你不能说刺猬逗人喜爱。

7 evoking   

产生，引起，唤起( evoke的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Some occur in organisms without evoking symptoms. 一些存在于生物体中，但不发生症状。
• Nowadays, the protection of traditional knowledge is evoking heat discussion worldwide. 目前，全球都掀起了保护传统知识的热潮。

8 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

9 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。