新西兰英语 243 Sportsperson of the Year

　　Last night was the annual sports awards for the best sports man and woman for the year. Nominations¹ included people from these sports: rowing, basketball, netball, cycling, sailing, surfing, cricket², rugby, football, Paralympics (for disabled people), speed skating, ice hockey, athletics³, boxing, and motor racing⁴. The winner of the sportsman of the year was the Beijing gold medal rower, Mahe Drysdale.
The rowing pair, Eric Bond and Hamish Murray, won the sports team of the year.
The sportsperson of the year was Valerie Vili who is still number one in the world in the shot put. She could have immigrated⁵ to the UK because her father was born in England. She would have made much more money from sponsorship in England because it has a bigger population but she chose to stay in New Zealand because she loves the sport and the country, not for the love of money.
The champion of the decade, from 2001 to 2009, was the rowing team of Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, who are twin sisters. They are now married with different surnames⁶ and they have given up the sport. Listen to August 17th 2008
One winner said it was very difficult for the judges to decide who should be the winner because it was like comparing apples with oranges. All the sports are so different.
Last night’s celebrations were held at Sky City in Auckland. The awards are called the Halberg Awards, named after the famous runner, Murray Halberg, who won the 5,000 mrace in the 1962 Olympics. To find out more about Sir Murray Halberg, listen to June 2nd 2008
Questions to think about
1. How can you compare winning Olympic gold medals with winning golf tournaments, rugby tournaments, surfing or motor races? Is this like comparing apples with oranges?
2. How can you compare disabled sports people with others who are not disabled?
3. These sports awards are like the Oscars for movies. Winners get a silver cup, not money. Why are they happy about winning?

1 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

2 cricket   

n.蟋蟀，板球运动；adj.公平的

参考例句：

• The England cricket team scored quite a useful total.英格兰板球队得分总数令人满意。
• We could hear the shrill of the midsummer cricket.我们可以听到仲夏时节蟋蟀的尖叫声。
• Your behaviour isn't cricket.你的行为不光彩。

3 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。

4 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

5 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

6 surnames   

n.姓( surname的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Everybody called each other by their surnames. 大家相互之间都以姓氏相称。 来自辞典例句
• The author index has entries arranged in alphabetical order of author's surnames. 著者索引中有按著者姓氏字母顺序排列的著录。 来自辞典例句