3 Beautiful Reasons Why I Love Socce

by Chike Okwudiafor

翻译：浩宇

I grew up in the southwestern part of1)Nigeriain a family2)involvedgreatly in soccer. Growing up in a home full of watching and playing soccer, I have grown to love the game. I watch mostly3)Europeansoccer and I support an English club called Arsenal. Throughout the years, soccer has become a great part of my life and made mefall in love withthe sport. There are a lot of reasons I have grown to love soccer.Soccer to me is the only sport I know that can speak to everyone in the world; that is why it is called a “global sport” and it speaks one language called football.

1. It is quite easy

Soccer is a very easy sport to learn and play. Looking from the outside, it might seem really hard, but when you start learning, it is not that hard. Soccer involves a ball and a human. There are other rules and4)technicalitiesinvolved, but,with time, you wouldbe able tounderstand them

2. It is very educating

I have learned so much from soccer throughout the years. The things I have learn through soccer,I don’t think I would have learned them anywhere else. For example,through soccer, I know almost all the countries and cities in them. I know places like Zurich, Leicester,Liverpool, Munich, and Shrewsbury.I know these places because when you watch soccer, especially European soccer, you get to listen to a lot of5)analyticalthought on teams that come from these places.Also, through soccer, I was able to6)scorehigher on my SAT. Listening to experienced7)commentatorsduring the soccer matches also helped8)improvemy vocabulary, and during my SAT, a question appeared about a word I heard a commentator use in a match the week before.

3. It is fun and brings people together

There are many chances where soccer was used for peace. In my country, Nigeria, soccer is a very popular sport and it is played and watched everywhere. For example, acivil warbroke out in Nigeria from 1967 to 1970.In 1967, Pele traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, to play anexhibition match. In order to9)allowboth sides of the10)con fl ictto see the greatest-ever play the game, a 48-hour11)cease firewas called and12)honored. It was13)incredibleseeing that millions of lives were lost in this war, and because of soccer the war had a cease fire. Another example of this is a personal one. My brother and I never used to get along, and during those times, the only thing that kept us together was either playing soccer or watching soccer,and it was through this sport we finally became close. Another example is seen at Lee University. Every Friday my friends and I play soccer at the Rec Center at 7:30 p.m.,and through this I have been able to meet more people from all over the world.

To me, soccer is more than just a sport; it is life. It promotes peace, love, and understanding.

中考考点

1.fall in love with意为“爱上”，表示动作；be in love with“与……相爱”，表示状态，可以与一段时间连用。

They fell in love with each other after working together for many years. 他们在一起工作多年后相爱了。They have been in love for three years. 他们相爱已有三年了。

He fell in love with the girl. 他爱上了那女孩。

2.be able to可用于各种时态中，常用来表示can所不能表示的将来或完成的概念。

be able to还含有经过努力而能够的意思。

Will you be able to come? 你能来吗？

If you study hard, you’ll be able to catch up with your classmates. 如果你努力学习，你就能赶上你的同学们。

拓展：用can来表示客气的邀请，常用Can you…? Can she…? Can he…? Can they…? 等形式，其肯定回答常常是：Sure, I’d love to.或Sure, I’d like to.；否定回答除了用I’m sorry, I can’t./No,he(she, they) can’t.外，还应在其后说明原因，以示对别人的尊重。

参考译文

我在尼日利亚西南部一个与足球有着很深渊源的家庭长大。在我成长的过程中，身边的人都会看球踢球，耳濡目染地我也渐渐爱上了这项运动。我看得最多的是欧洲球队的比赛，其中我最喜欢英超俱乐部阿森纳。这么多年下来，足球已经成为我生活中不可或缺的一部分，我也爱上了这项运动。喜欢足球有很多原因，对我来说足球是唯一一种世界上每个人都知道的运动。这就是为什么它被叫作“世界第一运动”，足球是世界的共通语言！

1. 足球很简单

足球上手很容易。没有接触过的人可能会觉得很难，其实当你开始学习踢球的时候你会发现很简单。足球最重要的就是人和球，还有其他的规则和技巧，随着慢慢学习都可以理解。

2. 足球具有教育意义

这么多年我从足球中学到很多，这些东西都是从别处学不到的。举个例子，通过足球，我知道了几乎所有的国家和城市，比如苏黎世、莱斯特、利物浦、慕尼黑及什鲁斯伯里这些地方。当我看比赛的时候，尤其是欧洲球队赛事，我可以听到很多对来自这些地方的球队的分析，由此了解到这些城市。还有，看比赛时听那些专业评论员的解说丰富了我的词汇量，让我可以在高考中取得更好的成绩。还记得考试的时候有一个关于某个单词的问题，而恰恰我在一周前的比赛中听到有一位解说员使用那个单词。

3. 足球充满乐趣并把人们凝聚在一起

足球在很多地方都起到了和平的作用。在我的祖国尼日利亚，这项运动风靡全国，几乎每个地方都有人踢球看球。1967～1970年间，尼日利亚爆发内战。而就在内战的第一年，球王贝利在准备尼日利亚的拉各斯踢一场表演赛。为了让战争双方都能看到这场伟大的比赛，一场48小时的停战协议得到了各方的支持。让人难以置信的是，尽管这场战争剥夺了上百万人的生命，因为足球伟大的魅力带来了停火。还有一个关于个人的例子。我和我的兄弟从来都相处不来，只有看球和踢球的时候我们才能好好地一起相处，也正是因为这项运动，我俩最终变得亲近。还有就是我在李大学就读的时候，每周五晚7点半我都会和朋友们一起去休闲中心踢球，也正是在那里我才有机会认识了很多来自世界各地的朋友。

对我而言，足球不仅仅是一项运动，它是生活，它促进了和平，爱和人与人之间的理解。

1) Nigeria [naɪ'dʒɪərɪə] n. 尼日利亚

2) involve [ɪn'vɒlv] v. 参与

3) European [,juərə'pi(ː)ən] adj. 欧洲的

4) technicality [teknɪ'kælɪtɪ] n. 专门性

5) analytical [,ænə'lɪtɪkəl] adj. 分析的

6) score [skɔ:] v. 得分

7) commentator ['kɒmenteɪtə] n. 评论员

8) improve [ɪm'pruːv] v. 提高

9) allow [ə'laʊ] v. 允许

10) con fl ict ['kɒnflɪkt] n. 争端

11) cease fire [siːs'faɪə] n. 停火

12) honor ['ɒnə] n. 荣誉

13) incredible [ɪn'kredəbl] adj. 难以置信的

词组加油站

★civil war内战

★exhibition match表演赛