听播客学英语 237 温网公开赛

 　　The Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2006 have begun. Wimbledon is a place in south-west London. Tennis championships have taken place there every year since 1877. And, because this is England, there are important traditions about tennis at Wimbledon.

　　Tradition 1 – the spectators drink champagne¹ and eat strawberries (if they can afford to)

　　Tradition 2 – English players do not win. Every year people say that this year Tim Henman will win the men’s championship. He never does.

　　Tradition 3 – it always rains. This year there was only one hour’s play on the first day because of rain.

　　Tradition 4 – the winner of the men’s championship gets more prize money than the winner of the women’s championship.

　　But many people say that this is wrong. Wimbledon is now the only big tennis championship where the prizes for men and women are not the same. Venus Williams, last year’s women’s champion, says, “For us, it’s about equality. It’s about treating a human as a human, no matter what the sex is. It’s about a premier² women’s sport setting an example all around the world.”

　　The organisers of Wimbledon point out that the men players play matches with 5 sets, while the women play only 3 sets. Therefore it is only fair that the men’s prizes are larger. They also say that men’s tennis attracts more money from ticket sales and sponsorship, for example, that women’s tennis does. But other people dispute this.

　　I think that the prizes for men and women should be the same. What do you think?

1 champagne   

n.香槟酒；微黄色

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。

2 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。