Take Away English-Big Sporting Events in the UK 英国重大体育活动

Commonwealth1 Games" width="203" src="/upimg/allimg/080603/0957450.jpg" /> Athletes going for gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games

While everyone in China, and in fact around the world, is getting excited about the upcoming 2008 Olympics, lots of people in Britain are pleased that two major sporting events will be taking place here in the future.

First there was the announcement that London would be hosting the next Olympics in 2012, and just this week it has been revealed that Scottish city Glasgow will host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The Commonwealth Games takes place every four years. It is a competition between all the countries of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 53 countries, most of which are former British colonies. This event has been taking place since 1930.

Glasgow was in competition with the Nigerian capital city Abuja to host the games but the Scottish city comfortably beat its rival.

The hundreds of people who had gathered in the city centre to hear the announcement greeted the result with jubilation². The residents of Glasgow are particularly excited, not only because they are proud to have such an event, but also because it will make the area prosper³. The government will pump lots of much-needed money into housing, retail⁴ and leisure developments, which will make Glasgow a more exciting and attractive city.

Preparation is also well under way for the London 2012 Olympics. Last week the design for a new Olympic stadium was revealed. It will cost £496 million (7.5 billion RMB) to build. It's a bowl-shaped design with 80,000 seats.

It is designed in such a way that once the Olympics have finished, temporary seating will be removed and it will become a 25,000-seat venue⁵ that will serve the local community.

There is already a well-established team of politicians and officials taking charge of all the preparations for the Olympics. They can now look forward to collaborating⁶ with the organisers of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth games to ensure both the events run smoothly⁷.

This is an exciting opportunity to put the UK well and truly on the map as a very competent host of major international sporting events.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

upcoming 即将到来的 Commonwealth Games 英联邦运动会 voluntary association 志愿团体 comfortably beat 轻松击败 jubilation 欢呼庆祝 pump 注入 temporary 临时的 serve 为…服务 collaborating 协调 to put the UK well and truly on the map 使英国真正被列入世界运动主办国的行列

revealed 披露；报道 the Commonwealth 英联邦 former British colonies 前英国殖民地 rival （竞赛）对手 prosper （使）繁荣 well under way 筹备早已开始 venue 地点 taking charge 主管 run smoothly 顺利运作 competent （能）胜任的

1 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

2 jubilation   

n.欢庆，喜悦

参考例句：

• The goal was greeted by jubilation from the home fans.主场球迷为进球欢呼。
• The whole city was a scene of jubilation.全市一片欢腾。

3 prosper   

v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣

参考例句：

• With her at the wheel,the company began to prosper.有了她当主管，公司开始兴旺起来。
• It is my earnest wish that this company will continue to prosper.我真诚希望这家公司会继续兴旺发达。

4 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

5 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

6 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

7 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。