2006年VOA标准英语-US Soccer Team to Play World Cup Opener in High

By Parke Brewer¹
Washington
25 May 2006

The two cities that will kick off play at the 2006 World Cup in Germany June 9 are Munich and Gelsenkirchen. Munich will host Costa Rica versus² Germany and about one hour after that match ends, Gelsenkirchen will host Poland versus Ecuador. Located in the central western part of the country, near Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen has a high tech stadium that will also be the venue³ for the U.S. soccer team's first World Cup match against the Czech Republic on June 12.

-----------------------------------------------

Aerial view of the Gelsenkirchen stadium    
  

The World Cup stadium in Gelsenkirchen proudly displays a plaque⁴ in its main entryway from football's world governing body that declares it has a five-star rating. And it's easy to see why.

Opened in 2001, it replaced the previous home of the Bundesliga club FC Schalke that had been adjacent to it. The new arena⁵ features state-of-the-art technology like no other in the world, as stadium press officer Klaus Horstmann explains.
 

Interior of the Gelsenkirchen stadium  
  
"Every seat is covered by a roof and we have a closable roof to protect the lawn and to use it as a multi-functional arena," said Klaus Horstmann. "The most important thing about the arena of FC Schalke is that it is a multi-functional stadium. We can do concerts in it, we can do truck racing⁶, anything you can imagine in sports, because the ground, the pitch, is stored outside and only moved in for the football, for the soccer matches. Otherwise we can use it for anything you can imagine in sports and entertainment."

Gelsenkirchen stadium with the sliding grass playing field  
  
The sits in a large tray that can be rolled into and out of one end of the stadium on rails. It is stored and maintained outside when not being used for matches. The floor of the stadium in Gelsenkirchen is concrete so it is adaptable⁷ for all kinds of entertainment. It takes only 30 minutes for the roof to be opened or closed. There are movable stands and a huge video cube hanging in the middle of the facility visible to all.

For Bundesliga matches the arena holds 61,000, but for the World Cup it will seat 54,000, because FIFA required all the standing-room areas be eliminated.

Horstmann told VOA Sports that a lot of thought went into the construction.
 

Exterior⁸ view of the Gelsenkirchen stadium  
  
"When we made the decision to build a new one, we visited stadiums in the Netherlands, in the USA as well, to get ideas how to build it," he said. "And then we talked with HBM, the company that built the stadium. It's a large Netherlands building company. And they listened what we wished to have. And they said okay, we'll try. And they suggested this design with blue glass outside, with a closable roof, with a moveable pitch, and then we tried to finance it and finally it worked."

Klaus Horstmann said Gelsenkirchen officials planning the stadium even consulted with Schalke's football fans on what they wanted and he said response has been tremendous. Demand for tickets has been greater than ever

"At most the games, more people would like to come if we had the tickets," noted⁹ Klaus Horstmann. "But unfortunately we couldn't build a larger stadium for about 100,000 spectators. We would like to do it for the fans but it would be economically mad."

The cost to build the stadium in Gelsenkirchen was about $200 million and none of it was paid with public money. The infrastructure¹⁰ like parking and a rail station were already in place. Now the arena is set to host five matches during the World Cup, including four first round games and a quarterfinal.

1 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

2 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

3 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

4 plaque   

n.饰板，匾，(医)血小板

参考例句：

• There is a commemorative plaque to the artist in the village hall.村公所里有一块纪念该艺术家的牌匾。
• Some Latin words were engraved on the plaque. 牌匾上刻着些拉丁文。

5 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

6 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

7 adaptable   

adj.能适应的，适应性强的，可改编的

参考例句：

• He is an adaptable man and will soon learn the new work.他是个适应性很强的人，很快就将学会这种工作。
• The soil is adaptable to the growth of peanuts.这土壤适宜于花生的生长。

8 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。