职业曲棍球联盟取消04-05年赛事

National Hockey League Cancels 2004-2005 Season

职业曲棍球联盟取消04-05年赛事

 

The major stumbling block to an agreement was the NHL's insistence¹ on a team salary cap. The final offer from the players' union relented to a cap. While the players' offer did include a 24 percent rollback in salaries, the offer was substantially above what the league said it could afford.

 

Speaking at a news conference in New York on Wednesday, NHL commissioner² Gary Bettman said the union still does not understand the league's financial situation.

 

Gary Bettman: The union has constantly said they do not trust our numbers. We have asked them for five years to audit³ our books. And they have refused. If the party you are negotiating over, in terms of how to create a business structure that works, does not know your numbers [or] does not acknowledge your numbers [then] it is pretty difficult to come to an agreement.

 

A few hours later, players' union executive director Bob Goodenow stressed that the players had given a lot of ground in negotiations⁴, including agreeing to the idea of a salary cap.

 

Bob Goodenow: The players proactively offered proposals and initiated⁵ talks with the league to keep the game on the ice long before the commissioner triggered the second lockout during his tenure⁶. Keep one thing perfectly⁷ clear, the players never asked for more money. They just asked for a marketplace to exist.

 

The NHL and players' union traded a flurry of proposals and letters late Tuesday, but could never agree on a cap. The players proposed $49 million per team while team owners said they could only go as high as $42.5 million. But other conditions made the offers farther apart than they appeared.

 

With the season now gone, commissioner Bettman says labor⁸ negotiations will have to resume from a different point.

 

Bettman: Nobody knows what the damage to the sport will be. Nobody knows what revenues we can count on or predict on. We are going to have to earn back the trust and love and affection of everybody who is associated with the game. And so we are going to have to look at a completely different economic model. The best deal that was on the table is now gone.

 

An NHL Stanley Cup champion had been crowned every year since 1893, with the exception of 1919 when the finals were cancelled after five games due to a flu epidemic⁹. The lockout that started on September 16 ultimately wiped out the entire 1,230-game schedule and the playoffs. The NHL's last game came in June, when the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Calgary Flames, 2-1, in Game Seven to win the Stanley Cup.

 

In Washington, Jim Stevenson,VOA’s sport.

 

注释：

relent [ri5lent] vt. 变宽厚

rollback [`rEJlbAk] n. 压价

commissioner [kE5miFEnE] n. 委员

marketplace [5mB:kit5pleis] n. 集会场所

predict [pri5dikt] v. 预知

playoff [5pleiC:f] n. (双方得分相等时的)最后决赛

1 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

2 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

3 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

6 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。