VOA慢速英语2016--网球运动中的腐败事件

AS IT IS 2016-01-20 Media Reports: Corruption¹ in Tennis 网球运动中的腐败事件

Two news organizations say corruption in professional tennis continues because tennis authorities do not stop it.

The reports were released as the Australian Open tennis tournament began this week. The reports say corruption reaches high levels, and includes Wimbledon -- the top tournament in the sport.

The British Broadcasting Corporation and Buzzfeed.com said they had received documents “from inside the sport.”

The news reports said that in 2007 the Association of Tennis Professionals, or ATP, found that criminal groups in Russia, northern Italy and Sicily placed bets on matches. Investigators² said the matches were fixed³ so that the criminals won hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Three of the matches reportedly took place at Wimbledon.

The BBC said that a secret report was given to tennis officials. It reportedly said 28 players were involved in match-fixing. But, the news reports said, “the findings were never followed up.” It said, for years, “there were repeated alerts sent to the [Tennis Integrity Unit] about a third of these players. None of them was disciplined by the TIU.”

The TIU is an organization that investigates corruption in tennis. It has received many accusations⁴ against players in the past 10 years, the BBC and Buzzfeed reported.

The tennis association began investigating possible corruption in the sport after a match in Poland in 2007. A British betting company received a large number of bets on the match. Most of the bets were for one player.

His opponent voluntarily left the match even though he was winning. The betting company cancelled all the bets. Neither of the players was charged.

But the news reports said the investigation⁵ was expanded. The reports said investigators found that other players were involved in match-fixing. But officials did not investigate further.

Since then, the reports said, the ATP has “repeatedly been warned by betting companies, police and other investigators about many of the same players, but has not taken any action against them,” according to the Associated Press.

On Monday, Novak Djokovic -- the world’s top-ranked men’s tennis player, spoke⁶ about an experience he said he had in 2007. Djokovic said people who worked with him were asked if he would accept tens of thousands of dollars to fix a match.

He says he did not accept the proposal.

He said fixing a match would be a crime. “I don’t support it,” he said. “I think there is no room for it in any sport, especially in tennis.”

“It made me feel terrible because I don’t want to be…linked to this kind of -- you know, somebody may call it an opportunity,” he said.

Djokovic said he thinks the recent media reports are about matches that took place almost 10 years ago. He said active players are not involved. And he said he does not believe there is corruption among the sport’s top players.

Roger Federer is one of those top players. He said he wants players suspected of corruption to be named. He said, “then at least it’s concrete stuff and you can actually debate about it. Was it the player? Was it the support team? Who was it?” He asked, “how high up does it go? The higher it goes, the more surprised I would be.”

The BBC reported that Serena Williams -- the top-ranked women’s player – said she did not know of any match-fixing.

She said, “When I’m playing, I can only answer for me. I play very hard, and every player I play seems to play hard.”

Chris Kermode is the president of the Association of Tennis Professionals. He said investigators have not found corruption in tennis.

He said “the Tennis Integrity Unit and the tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed for any reason or isn’t being thoroughly⁷ investigated.”

Kermode told reporters that investigators were “vigilant⁸” in the fight against corruption.

He said the sport investigates every corruption report it receives. He said it acts only when there is enough evidence.

Kermode also said TIU investigations⁹ have led to punishment against 18 people. They include five players and one official who have been banned from the sport.

Many of those who have been punished were lower-ranked players. Two former Top-50 players who had been banned from the sport were permitted to return by the Italian Tennis Federation¹⁰ last year.

Words in This Story

tournament – n. a sports competition or series of contests that involves many players or teams and that usually continues for at least several days

bet – n. an agreement in which people try to guess what will happen and the person who guesses wrong has to give something (such as money) to the person who guesses right

fix – v. to control or affect (something, such as a game or election) in a dishonest way

alert – n. something (such as a message or loud sound) that tells people there is a problem

discipline – n. punishment for bad behavior

rank – n. a position in a society, organization, group, etc.

concrete – adj. relating to or involving specific people, things or actions rather than general ideas or qualities

stuff – n. informal used to speak in a general way about something that is talked about, written about, etc.

vigilant – adj. carefully noticing problems or signs of danger

1 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

2 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

4 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

8 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。

9 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

10 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。