Controversy 1)Swirls Around Cricket World Cup

Broadcast: Feb 07, 2003

 

The Cricket World Cup opens in South Africa Sunday, amid much controversy¹ over matches planned for Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Cricket, cricket, cricket! The opening ceremony is tomorrow down in the mother city, Cape² Town!

South African radio and television stations are busy promoting the launch of the Cricket World Cup, scheduled for Saturday.

But despite the ²⁾hype, controversy continues to threaten the tournament's success.

The New Zealand team has already announced that it will not play its scheduled match in Kenya because of security fears, following November's terrorist attack in the coastal³ city of Mombasa.

The Kiwis have had first-hand experience with terrorism. A powerful, deadly bomb went off outside their hotel in Pakistan last year. The cricketers were not the targets of the blast, but the close call left them unwilling⁴ to take chances. Critics, however, point out that the Sri Lankan players are no strangers to the impact of terrorism, and they still intend to play their match in Kenya.

But the main controversy continues to surround Zimbabwe, and the English team's ³⁾reluctance⁵ to play there. After a four-hour, closed-door meeting Thursday, the ICC denied England's request to move their match to South Africa instead of Harare on safety grounds. The English team appealed, leaving the final decision to South African Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs.

Cricket World Cup Executive Director Ali Bacher is desperately⁶ hoping the controversy over Zimbabwe will not⁴⁾overshadow the World Cup itself. For weeks, he has been urging the media to stop focusing on Zimbabwe, and start focusing on cricket. "We are confident that this will be a terrific world cup for South Africa, for Africa and for international cricket," he said. "But it's very important that non-cricketing issues as soon as possible get off the front page and get replaced by cricketing topics and discussion, because we are about to host, within this country and in Africa, the world's premier⁷ players."

That was more than two weeks ago, just after he returned from a fact-finding trip to Zimbabwe. On the eve of the opening ceremony, Mr. Bacher's wish still had not come true. The Cricket World Cup continues to get international attention, but not because of the quality of the cricket to be played.

At last, however, the South African media are starting to think about the opening match. The South African team will meet the West Indies at Newlands in Cape Town on Sunday.

As for the rest of the competition, the Australians are the defending World Cup champions, and they are going into this tournament the firm favorites. South Africa is ranked a close second, and hopes to pull off an ⁵⁾unprecedented⁸ home-team victory; the host nation has never before won the World Cup.

Bookies say other potential candidates for the trophy⁹ are Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and possibly the resurgent West Indies.

New Zealand and England could be seriously hurting their own chances by refusing to play in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Any team that chooses not to play its scheduled matches will forfeit¹⁰ the points it could have gained from those games, making it harder to reach the second round.

Challiss McDonough VOA news, Johannesburg.

1)    swirl[swE:l]vi.打漩, 盘绕, 眩晕，盘绕

2)    hype [haip]n.大肆宣传,大做广告

3)    reluctance to  不愿, 勉强

4)    overshadow [7EuvE5FAdEu]v.遮蔽, 使蒙上阴影，使...失色

5)    unprecedented [Qn5presidEntid]adj.空前的

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

2 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

3 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

4 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

5 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

6 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

7 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。

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 trophy   

n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品

参考例句：

• The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
• He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。

10 forfeit   

vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物

参考例句：

• If you continue to tell lies,you will forfeit the good opinion of everyone.你如果继续撒谎，就会失掉大家对你的好感。
• Please pay for the forfeit before you borrow book.在你借书之前请先付清罚款。