VOA标准英语2010年-Volunteers Prepare for South Africa Wo

As South Africa prepares to host the football (soccer) World Cup, organizers have recruited thousands of volunteers to help the hundreds of thousands of fans who will be attending.

Some 2,000 World Cup volunteers gathered at a convention hall in Johannesburg recently for three days of training.

They were among a total of 18,000 volunteers who were chosen from nearly 70,000 applicants¹ from 170 countries. Their job will be to provide information, directions and translations to 400,000 foreign fans who are expected for football's World Cup.

This group is to work at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium. The 90,000-seat arena² is hosting seven matches, including the opening and final games, as well as a star-studded music concert the night before kick-off on June 11.

World Cup coordinator³, Sibongile Mazibuko

The city's World Cup coordinator, Sibongile Mazibuko, says volunteers must be friendly, multi-lingual and able to deal with potentially difficult fans.

"The volunteer is actually the face of South Africa to anyone who will be coming here for first time, even those that will be coming here for the second or third time who actually don't know our venue⁴ well. But it will also be the smile, the smile that says you are welcome," Mazibuko said.

The volunteers will be paid the equivalent of $14 per day to cover expenses. An additional 3,000 volunteers coming from abroad will pay their own way.

Andrew Drummond is the oldest volunteer of this group. The 74-year-old native of Scotland has lived in Johannesburg for 44 years. He says he is looking forward to making new friends and helping⁵ visitors in his adopted home.

"I went to Australia for the Olympic Games in 2000 and the best part of that was the volunteers. They were everywhere and they were mainly pensioners⁶, believe it or not. And they were great people. They were wonderful. When I saw this advert⁷ that they wanted volunteers [for the 2010 World Cup] I said to my wife, I'm going. I'm going to do this thing. So, that's why I got [came] here," he said.

Many of the volunteers say they applied⁸ for the job because they wanted to be part of the first World Cup to be held on African soil.

Like most students, Shirley Nathye, 21, will be on holiday during the month-long event. "I just wanted to be part of 2010 World Cup. I am not doing anything so I might as well as contribute by giving back to the community," she said.

Robert Nephalama, who works at a bank near Johannesburg, wants to make the tournament a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the visitors as well.

"For me being a volunteer, I do believe that I am going to make a difference to those guys that are coming to South Africa," he explained. "So that even if the World Cup is over they will feel that they should come [back] because of the experience that we gave them."

Simon Bobbejaan, 27, works at a guest house and as a tourism ambassador in neighboring North West Province. He has a message for visitors. "We are going to make your stay a memorable⁹ one. You will come back. And we are looking for you to come back because you are going to experience things that you have never experienced in your country," he said.

The volunteers are expected to know many facts about South Africa, the World Cup and its organizers. And they must also know the cities and the stadiums where they will be stationed.

The highlight of the day's training is learning the World Cup's signature dance, the Diski. The Diski is named after a local term for football and its steps mimic¹⁰ football players' best moves.

Most of the volunteers quickly learn the steps. But a few give up and return, exhausted¹¹, to their seats. Fortunately, learning the Diski is not one of the requirements for the job.
 

1 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

2 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。

3 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

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 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 pensioners   

n.领取退休、养老金或抚恤金的人( pensioner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He intends to redistribute income from the middle class to poorer paid employees and pensioners. 他意图把中产阶级到低薪雇员和退休人员的收入做重新分配。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am myself one of the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. 我自己就是一个我们的高贵的施主遗留基金的养老金领取者。 来自辞典例句

7 advert   

vi.注意，留意，言及；n.广告

参考例句：

• The advert featured a dolphin swimming around a goldfish bowl.该广告的內容为一条在金鱼缸里游动的海豚。
• Please advert to the contents below.I believe you won't be disappointed.敬请留意后面的内容。相信您一定不会失望的。

8 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

9 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

10 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

11 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。