VOA慢速英语2015 在美国板球能流行起来吗?

AS IT IS 2015-10-13 Will Cricket¹ Score Points in the US? 在美国板球能流行起来吗?

Two teams of cricket players will compete in three large American cities in November. They hope Americans will learn more about the sport and begin watching it -- and even playing it.

11月，两支板球队将在美国三大城市展开比赛。他们希望美国人借此能够对这项运动有更多了解，开始学会观看板球比赛甚至自己动手打比赛

Organizers have been working on the project for about a year.

组织者已经花费了一年的时间来筹备比赛

Football -- or what Americans call “soccer” -- has for many years been the most popular sport in the world. Cricket is the second-most popular sport. From Harare to Wellington, London to Islamabad, many people follow cricket like a religion. Players gain fame and launch² political careers in Pakistan and India.

足球是世界上最受欢迎的运动。板球是世界上第二受欢迎的运动。从Harare 到Wellington, London 到 Islamabad,许多地区打板球都成为了地区传统。在印度和巴基斯坦，成功的板球运动员会获得名声和职位

The International Cricket Council³ is the sport's ruling organization. It said its website had the highest number of visitors ever during the World Cup world tournament earlier this year. The Council said its website had more than 26 million visitors and more than 225 million page views. The Council says more than 1.5 billion people watched the World Cup on television.

国际板球协会一直是运动界最有分量的协会。在板球协会网站在今年早些时候浏览量甚至超过世界杯锦标赛。协会表示网站点击率已经超过2.6亿人次，22.5亿网络浏览量。超过10.5亿人次通过电视观看板球世界杯

Cricket officials believe the sport has a chance of becoming more popular in the United States. With an increasing number of immigrants⁴ to the country from South Asia, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, cricket is becoming better known. But it competes with basketball, American football, ice hockey and baseball.

板球协会表示：板球有望成为美国受欢迎的运动之一，因为大量的南亚、加勒比、澳大利亚和新西兰移民使得板球变得更加出名。将和篮球，橄榄球，冰球和棒球向比肩

It is believed cricket began in England. It is similar to baseball: Both are played with a bat and a ball, for example, and there are batters⁶, outs and pitches. A “pitcher” in baseball is called a “bowler⁷” in cricket. Some historians⁸ say early baseball players learned⁹ to bat by playing cricket.

板球起源于英格兰。玩法和棒球类似：双方队员都持有短棍和球，有击球员、守球员和投球员。投球员是棒球里的叫法，板球里叫做bowler。一些历史学家表示：早些时候的棒球选手是用板球棒学习棒球的

But baseball and cricket are also very different from one another. In baseball, when the batter⁵ hits a home run, they touch all of the bases then go sit on the team's bench. In cricket, when a batsman hits a home run they continue to bat until they are “out” or until a set number of pitches are completed. Like baseball, whichever team scores the most runs is the winner of the game.

但是，棒球和板球还是有很多地方是不同的。在棒球中，击球员打出本垒打之后，他们要跑完所有垒，最后回到自己队的本垒。在板球中，当击球手打出本垒打之后，他们要继续击球，直到出局，或者所有投球手已经完成投球。和棒球一样，哪队跑完垒数多哪队获得胜利

For many years, cricket matches lasted for days. But now, most games are played in one day. In India, the game is sometimes played in just three to four hours. This popular version¹⁰ of the game is known as Twenty20.

许多年一起，一场板球比赛往往持续好几天。但是现在，一场比赛只打一天。在印度，一场比赛只要3到4个小时，这种受欢迎的版本叫做20

That is the version of the game that the two teams will be playing in cities throughout the United States. Time magazine reports some of the most popular cricket players in the world will be on the teams. The teams will have some of the best international players from the past 25 years. Two famous cricket stars -- Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne -- are the teams' leaders. They are known by hundreds of millions of people throughout the world. But almost no one in the United States has ever heard of them.

而两支出征美国的板球队在美国进行的比赛也是该版竞技规则。时代杂志报道说：世界上最知名的板球选手也会来参加比赛。板球界的明星Sachin Tendulkar和 Shane Warne分别是两队队长。他们的名字举世闻名，但是在美国却鲜少有人听说

In 2012, Mr. Tendulkar was on the cover of the famous magazine. It called him “The God of Cricket,” and said he was “the world's most famous sportsman” and “the world's best athlete.”

2012年，Tendulkar曾经登上世界著名杂志封面，标题就是“板球之神”“世界上最著名的运动员”和“世界上最棒运动员”

Mr. Tendulkar recently told the magazine he believes Americans will become fans of the game once they see it played.

Tendulkar最近向杂志透露他相信美国人在观看了一场比赛之后，就会被他们征服

“You'll only learn things if you give them a try,” he said. “Americans are used to watching baseball and it's very similar to that. If Americans can start coming to the stadium, I wouldn't be surprised to see them” begin to watch cricket.

“只有试一试才知道到底好不好”他说：“美国人习惯了看棒球比赛，对棒球也很熟悉。如果美国人能够来板球场看一看，他们毫无疑问会开始看起板球来。”

The games will be played in baseball stadiums in New York City, Houston and Los Angeles. The cities were chosen because many people who live there are already interested in cricket and because they have large numbers of people from the Caribbean or South Asia.

比赛将在纽约、休斯敦和洛杉矶的棒球馆举行。这些城市里的人因为受到大量来自加勒比和南亚地区人们的影响，早就开始对板球产生了兴趣。

At the games, the players will teach Americans how to play cricket. And people will be given a small book telling them about the sport.

在比赛中，选手们会教给美国人如何打板球。人们还会领到一本介绍板球运动的小册子

Mr. Warne says he hopes the games will answer such questions as: “What's all the fuss¹¹ about? Why is it the second-most-popular game in the world? What's so special about this game?”

Warne表示：他希望这几场比赛能够回答这样几个问题“板球到底是什么”“为什么它会是世界上第二受欢迎的运动”“板球有什么特别之处”

Words in This Story

page views – n. the total number of times website visitors look at a page or pages on a particular website

star – n. an extremely famous and successful performer or athlete

fan – n. a person who likes and admires someone (such as a famous person) or something (such as a sport or a sports team) in a very enthusiastic way

stadium – n. a very large usually roofless building that has a large open area surrounded by many rows of seats and that is used for sports events and concerts

fuss – n. activity or excitement that is unusual and that often is not wanted or necessary

1 cricket   

n.蟋蟀，板球运动；adj.公平的

参考例句：

• The England cricket team scored quite a useful total.英格兰板球队得分总数令人满意。
• We could hear the shrill of the midsummer cricket.我们可以听到仲夏时节蟋蟀的尖叫声。
• Your behaviour isn't cricket.你的行为不光彩。

2 launch   

vt.发动，推出；发射；n.发射，下水，投产

参考例句：

• The makers are about to launch out a new product.制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。
• Would it be wise to launch into this rough sea?在这样汹涌的大海中游泳明智吗？

3 council   

n.理事会，委员会，议事机构

参考例句：

• The town council passed a law forbidding the distribution of handbills.市议会通过法律，禁止散发传单。
• The city council has declared for improving the public bus system.市议会宣布同意改进公共汽车系统。

4 immigrants   

n.移民( immigrant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Illegal immigrants were given the opportunity to regularize their position. 非法移民得到了使其身份合法化的机会。
• Immigrants from all over the world populate this city. 这个城市里生活着来自世界各地的移民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 batter   

v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员

参考例句：

• The batter skied to the center fielder.击球手打出一个高飞球到中外野手。
• Put a small quantity of sugar into the batter.在面糊里放少量的糖。

6 batters   

n.面糊（煎料）( batter的名词复数 )；面糊（用于做糕饼）；（ 棒球） 正在击球的球员；击球员v.连续猛击( batter的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pitcher has beaned as many as three batters in this game. 在这？热？投手投球竟打中了三个击手的头。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• A storm batters the ship. 一场风暴袭击了这条船。 来自辞典例句

7 bowler   

n.打保龄球的人，（板球的）投（球）手

参考例句：

• The bowler judged it well,timing the ball to perfection.投球手判断准确，对球速的掌握恰到好处。
• The captain decided to take Snow off and try a slower bowler.队长决定把斯诺撤下，换一个动作慢一点的投球手试一试。

8 historians   

n.历史学家，史学工作者( historian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Historians seem to have confused the chronology of these events. 历史学家好像把这些事件发生的年代顺序搞混了。
• Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 历史学家在这个观点上已取得一致意见。

9 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

10 version   

n.版本；型号；叙述，说法

参考例句：

• His version of the events is pure supposition.他对这件事的说法纯属猜测。
• What is your version of this matter?你对这件事情的看法 怎么样？

11 fuss   

n.过分关心，过分体贴，大惊小怪，小题大作

参考例句：

• My mother makes a fuss of me every time I come home.我每次回家，母亲总对我体贴备至。
• Stop all this fuss and do your homework.别大惊小怪了，去做你的家庭作业吧。