VOA标准英语2009-Aftermath of Egyptian Football Loss to Alger

Relations between Egypt and Algeria have been taking a serious turn for the worse in the aftermath of Algeria's World Cup playoff qualifying victory over Egypt's national football (soccer) team in Khartoum on Wednesday

Edward Yeranian | Cairo 20 November 2009

 
Photo: AP
Egyptian soccer fans clash with anti-riot police during a demonstration¹ near the Algerian embassy in Cairo, 20 Nov 2009

Relations between Egypt and Algeria have been taking a serious turn for the worse in the aftermath of Algeria's World Cup playoff qualifying victory over Egypt's national football (soccer) team in Khartoum on Wednesday. Egypt has recalled its ambassador from Algiers and a wave of nationalistic fervor² is gripping both countries.

Overnight, a mob of distraught Egyptian football fans attempted to attack the Algerian Embassy in Cairo, but were pushed back by security forces. Egyptian TV says that the crowd threw stones, injuring several dozen police officers and damaging cars, businesses and billboards³.

The violence stemmed from this week's football game. Algeria and Egypt had to play a single-match tiebreaker at a neutral venue⁴ in Sudan because they ended the Africa zone group stage World Cup qualifying round with identical records after Saturday's match in Cairo.  Algeria won the Sudan match, 1-0, securing a spot in football's premier⁵ tournament in Africa next year, while eliminating Egypt from contention⁶.

Thursday, Egypt recalled its ambassador from Algeria, to protest violence against Egyptian fans in Khartoum and the looting of Egyptian businesses in Algeria by that country's soccer fans.

Algerian soccer fans celebrated⁷ for hours in the Sudanese capital, after their national team's victory over Egypt. And, many Egyptian supporters complained of being harassed⁸ or attacked. Egypt's Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali insists that such claims are exaggerated.

He says that the latest information we received is that there were no deaths among Egyptian fans, no serious injuries and that every fan made it back safely (from Khartoum).

Relations between Egypt and Sudan have also suffered because of complaints in the Egyptian media about allegedly lax security by the Sudanese government. The Sudanese police official in charge of security around the soccer stadium in Omdurman insists that his men did their best.

He says that the Sudanese security forces did their best, exerting their best effort and deploying⁹ the necessary number of men, to protect the interests of both Egypt and Algeria, including embassies, businesses, and citizens of both countries.

While Egyptians remain downbeat, Algerian soccer fans continue to celebrate, singing songs, chanting and honking¹⁰ car horns. Algerian TV devoted¹¹ lengthy¹² coverage¹³ to the players on the winning national team and discussed plans for next year's world championship in South Africa.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was shown on national TV dancing and celebrating with the players of the national team, as supporters shouted and cheered. Mr. Bouteflika said recently that Algerians need to be proud their soccer team.

He says that Algeria must have a national soccer team that everyone can be proud of, as well as a flag that floats proudly over the nation, and young people that compete with pride.

Said Sadek, who teaches politics and sociology at the American University of Cairo, argues that politicians in both Egypt and Algeria are using soccer to whip up patriotic¹⁴ sentiment.

"Leaderships in the two countries are exploiting the event for some political gains and to whip up emotions and raise national and patriotic sentiment," he said. "It is a distraction¹⁵ from the real problems of the people and the winner would use this victory to cover up for the failure of all sectors¹⁶ of society, whether in Egypt or in Algeria. "

Sadek insists that media reports of recent skirmishes have been "blown out of proportion and that some obscure political objective is being served by the drama for the governments of both countries."

1 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

2 fervor   

n.热诚；热心；炽热

参考例句：

• They were concerned only with their own religious fervor.他们只关心自己的宗教热诚。
• The speech aroused nationalist fervor.这个演讲喚起了民族主义热情。

3 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

4 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。

5 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。

6 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。

7 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

8 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

9 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

10 honking   

v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停，喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Flocks of honking geese flew past. 雁群嗷嗷地飞过。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

12 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

13 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。

14 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

15 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

16 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》