2006年VOA标准英语-Tiny Belize Has World Cup Covered

By Parke Brewer¹
Munich
06 July 2006

Of the 2,100 media accreditations for coverage³ of the World Cup in Germany, three went to the tiny country of Belize. And as VOA Sports Editor Parke Brewer reports from Munich, you might call Belize television's coverage of the football championship a family affair.

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Belize   
  
Belize is a small, rather poor country, with a population of less than 300,000. It is located on the east coast of Central America on the Caribbean Sea, bordered by Guatemala on the west and south, and by Mexico to the northwest.

Saul Barrera is the host of a weekly sports program on Belize television called Teve Deportes. He has had the show for five years and has covered many sporting events in Central America, as well as the Gold Cup football tournament in the United States. Last year he thought, why not try to cover the World Cup in Germany?

On his application to FIFA, Barrera had to explain what his coverage plans were and write justifications⁴ for those who would be in his crew, especially because it's all in the family and includes one very young journalist.

 
Javier Langer, Ricardo Barrera and Saul Barrera 
  
The other commentator⁵ besides himself is his wife's cousin, Javier Langer. Their assistant is Barrera's 14-year-old son, Ricardo. Barrera told VOA Sports that Ricardo does a little bit of everything. He serves as a cameraman, audio man, helps with the computer files and whatever else needs to be done.

Brewer question: "Is he doing a good job?"
Barrera: "Yes, yes. He's a very, very good boy. He's a disciplined boy and helps me with so much."

Barrera and his Belize TV crew have been videotaping, producing and packaging a 30-minute show with game highlights, player profiles and features every day of the World Cup. "I put different shots for people outside the stadium, the color. The World Cup is that, the people, you know. It really, really looks beautiful."

Barrera says they do whatever voice-overs are needed, edit² the shows on laptop computers, use a special program to compress them into smaller files and send them back to Belize over the Internet to be shown in their home country. "You know it's not the quality of ABC or Univision, oh no. But it's the first time I've tried to do all the jobs. What's important is the people watch me and I send information. The people very much like it. We get good comments. They're very happy for my work. (with what I'm sending back)"

Saul Barrera says it's been very tiring. He and his crew have been staying at a friend of a friend's place in Munich and then making long day trips to other German cities hosting World Cup games.

He says he's been getting feedback via e-mail that the Belize viewers like what he's doing.

So after covering this World Cup, even though it's been exhausting, would Saul Barrera want to do another one?

"Yes. I think so, yes. Because I like it. I like it. It's my first time and it's a very, very good experience."

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 edit   

vt.编辑，校订，主编，编辑，剪辑（影片等）

参考例句：

• You'll have to edit that tape,it's too long.那盘录音带太长，你得把它剪辑一下。
• It is not yet decided who will edit it.由谁校订未决。

3 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

4 justifications   

正当的理由，辩解的理由( justification的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• If he a vulgar person, she does not have justifications for him. 如果他是个低级趣味的人，她早就不会理他了。
• It depends on their effect on competition and possible justifications. 这则取决于它们对于竞争的影响和可能存在的正当抗辩理由。

5 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。