VOA文化艺术2025--What is the Super Bowl?

This Sunday, February 9, is not a holiday in the United States, but it might seem like one to Americans.

Many will be attending parties to watch Super Bowl LIX. The Super Bowl is the championship game of professional American football.

The National Football League, or NFL, has 32 teams mainly based in large cities across the U.S.

The first professional league was formed in 1920, when representatives of four teams met in Canton, Ohio. The group first called itself the American Professional Football Association¹ but changed the name two years later to the National Football League.

In 1960, Texas businessman Lamar Hunt pushed the effort to create the American Football League, or AFL. The two leagues competed with each other to sign top football players from universities around the country.

In 1965, established NFL players began negotiating² to play for the competing league. So, officials of the two leagues decided³ to work together. This agreement established a championship game between the two leagues. It was officially called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game but became known as the Super Bowl.

The first Super Bowl was played in 1967 in Los Angeles, California. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. It was not a very exciting game. Many of the seats in the sports center were empty. That changed with the Super Bowl played two years later. Experts say the public finally accepted the new league when the New York Jets⁴ defeated the Baltimore Colts.

After that game in 1969, officials of the two leagues decided to create a new National Football League. They divided the teams into two competing conferences, the American Conference, or AFC, and the National Conference, NFC. Each year, the conference champions play in the Super Bowl.

Today, the Super Bowl is a major sporting event. Tens of thousands of people will be watching the game Sunday at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Tens of millions of other people around the world will be watching Super Bowl LIX. They will be watching to see if the AFC Kansas City Chiefs or the NFC Philadelphia Eagles become the champions of American football.

Both teams have had success in the Big Game. The Eagles are one-time NFL champions. They defeated the New England Patriots⁵ in Super Bowl LII. This Sunday will be the team's fifth NFL championship game appearance.

The Kansas City Chiefs have played for the championship six times. They have won four times, including the last two Super Bowls. The Chiefs are the first team in NFL history to have a chance to win a third Super Bowl in a row.

I'm Caty Weaver⁶.

Caty Weaver wrote this report for VOA Learning⁷ English with contributing information from the Associated Press.

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league -n. sports teams that play each other and are linked by a business agreement and rules

exciting -adj. something that causes excitement

in a row -phrase one following another in a series

1 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。

2 negotiating   

n. 谈判 动词negotiate的现在分词

参考例句：

• They were coerced into negotiating a settlement. 他们被迫通过谈判解决。
• We want to get all the parties back to the negotiating table. 我们想把有关各方拉回到谈判桌上来。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 jets   

n.喷嘴( jet的名词复数 )；喷气式飞机；喷射流；煤玉

参考例句：

• The firemen directed jets of water at the burning building. 消防队员把水柱喷向燃烧着的楼房。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The giant jets that increasingly dominate the world's airways. 越来越称雄于世界航线的巨型喷气机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

6 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

7 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。