【英语趣味课堂】英国的足球-Football in England

Todd: Now, Phil, you're from England and you're a big football fan. 

Phil: Yeah, very much. Definitely. Football's one of my main passions in life. 

Todd: OK, I'm a huge American football fan, and I know American football there's a certain process when you go the game that happens on game day. Can you talk about what happens when you go watch a British match, like a Premiere League match? Like what's the routine from morning to night? Like if you're a fan? 

Phil: If it's a home game then I guess I leave about two hours before the game. I arrive at the stadium and go the bar and have like a drink of beer before the game, and then I'll always wear my football kit¹: my shirt and my scarf; and then I'll go the game. I'll find my normal place in the stand, cause I always stand or sit in the same place. It's kind of tradition. It's like my routine, and then for about half-an-hour before the game, the stadium starts to fill up, the supporters start to make a lot of noise and they start to get behind the team and everyone... the adrenaline's flowing, and there's a few opposition² supporters and it's generally kind of banter³ between the supporters whilst the players are warming up on the pitch. 

Todd: Right, and then what happens like during the game? In British soccer you have a lot of songs, correct? 

Phil: Yeah, there's a lot of songs. Generally they're either supporting the team or insulting the other team or local rivals. 

Todd: Right, right. And like how do you know when to sing? Like somebody just busts⁴ out in song or do you have a leader or? 

Phil: I've always wondered this. There's no designated leader but there's always a group that starts song or, there must be someone who does it, but I've never actually never know who or why, but it just seems that everyone spontaneously starts to sing at the same time and a certain song. 

Todd: Now is it always the same songs, or do the team come up with new songs from time to time? 

Phil: The team doesn't come up with any of them, the supporters do. Generally there's a set hard core group of songs for each team that you have and then there's occasionally specialty⁵ songs. If it's a local derby game against someone you really don't like, then there's specialty songs for that game, or a few new ones come up depending on events that have been happening, so maybe one of the players have been in the news recently. They'll be a song about the player or something. 

Todd: That's cool. So you said "derby", that's your team? 

Phil: Derby is the term when a local game... when you play like your rival team, we call it like a local derby in English football. 

Todd: Oh, really? 

Phil: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Todd: It's called a local derby. 

Phil: Derby is also the name of the team, but that's just coincidence. 

Todd: Oh, OK. So, derby means when you play your rival team? 

Phil: Yeah, you play a local team, a team that's based near to you. It's called a derby game. 

Todd: A derby game. And it's D-A-R-B-Y? 

Phil: D-E. 

Todd: Oh, so it's like derby. OK. 

Phil: Yeah. 

Todd: Got it. Phil: In English, we pronounce it derby, yeah. 

Todd: Derby! OK, interesting. OK, sorry... Do you ever go the away games? 

Phil: Yeah. Yeah, I used to travel quite a lot. I once traveled nine hours to an away game. 

Todd: Wow! 

Phil: And my team lost that day. And because we lost, we went down to the league below. I was not very happy on the way home. 

Todd: What a terrible day. 

Phil: Yeah, yeah. But we kind of knew we were going to lose because my team was very bad that year and the opposition was a very strong team so it's kind of everyone's attitude. We expected to lose, so we went there in a party spirit anyway so it wasn't so bad. 

Todd: Well, cool. Thanks for talking about the Premiere League. 

Phil: Anytime, I love football.

1 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 banter   

n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑

参考例句：

• The actress exchanged banter with reporters.女演员与记者相互开玩笑。
• She engages in friendly banter with her customers.她常和顾客逗乐。

4 busts   

半身雕塑像( bust的名词复数 )； 妇女的胸部； 胸围； 突击搜捕

参考例句：

• Dey bags swells up and busts. 那奶袋快胀破了。
• Marble busts all looked like a cemetery. 大理石的半身象，简直就象是坟山。

5 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。