2007年VOA标准英语-Defending Women's World Cup Champion Advances

By Jim Stevenson
Hangzhou, China
17 September 2007

Germany has defeated Japan, 2-0, to reach the quarterfinal round of the Women's World Cup football (soccer) tournament in China. VOA's Jim Stevenson was at the game in Hangzhou, where the defending champions seemed to struggle at times, despite playing a relatively¹ weaker opponent².

Germany's Birgit Prinz (r) gets past Japan's Yukari Kinga during their Group A match for the FIFA Women's World Cup soccer tournament in Hangzhou, China, 17 Sep 2007

Germany opened the scoring in Hangzhou's Dragon Stadium with a 21st minute strike from captain Birgit Prinz. The score was the 13th career goal for Prinz in a Women's World Cup game, making her the all-time scorer at the event. Her first goal came in the 1995 tournament.

The German women ran past the Japanese defenders³ for most of the game, but came up short on several scoring opportunities. Prinz told VOA sports that fact bothers her, and makes her record somewhat⁴ meaningless.

"Honestly, after the game it is not so important for me. And I was not satisfied with my game today," said Prinz.

German coach Silvia Neid was watching anxiously as her team clung⁵ to a one-goal lead for most of the game.

"We did not want to wait for the opponent to score a goal," said Neid. "So we tried to win this game. We tried to scores ourselves. We went for the second one. Especially for the midfield, it was not an easy game since they had to do a lot of running. But we prepared well and it showed on the pitch."

Germany's 2-0 victory puts the defending champions into the quarterfinal round as the best team from Group-A, with two wins and one draw. In Chengdu, England thrashed Argentina, 6-1, to place second with one win and two draws. Japan and Argentina are now eliminated⁶.

Germany will next play the second place team from Group-B while England will face that group's winner. The United States and North Korea currently⁷ lead Group-B with one win and one draw each. They are also even on goal differential.

Tuesday, the Americans play Nigeria in Shanghai while North Korea faces Sweden in Tianjin.

The 16-nation Women's World Cup concludes September 30 in Shanghai.

1 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

2 opponent   

n.对手，敌手，反对者；adj.敌对的，反对的

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• After a fierce struggle,he got a beat on his opponent.经过殊死的较量，他占了对手的上风。

3 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 somewhat   

pron.一些，某物；adv.多少，几分

参考例句：

• The cake we made was somewhat of a failure.我们做的蛋糕不大成功。
• The two office buildings are somewhat alike in appearance.这两座办公楼在外形上有点相似。

5 Clung   

v.附着于( cling的过去式和过去分词 )；抓紧或抱住；坚持；依恋，依附于

参考例句：

• The Prime Minister clung to his job like a limpet, despite calls for him to resign. 首相不顾有人要求他辞职，死赖在他的职位上不下台。
• She clung to the hope that her son was not dead. 她抱定儿子并没有死的希望不放。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 eliminated   

v.排除( eliminate的过去式和过去分词 )；消除；除掉；干掉

参考例句：

• He was eliminated in the first round of voting. 他在第一轮投票中被淘汰。
• Her misspelling of that word eliminated her from the contest. 因为她把那个单词写错了，所以不能参加比赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。