VOA标准英语2014--World Cup Stickers Score in US

 

World Cup Stickers Score in US

SAN FRANCISCO — For years, the World Cup has inspired an international craze that’s easiest to compare to baseball card collecting. An Italian company sells stickers and a matching album that gets football fans of all ages trading like children in a schoolyard.

This year sticker trading in the United States has really taken off ... with a boost from the Internet.

Outside a downtown train station in San Francisco, Philippe Sion and Bolivar Assink - who goes by the nickname Bolo - are meeting for their second trade in less than a week. They found each other on the Internet through Craigslist, looking for trading partners. The goal is to fill up a special album with 640 numbered stickers - one for every player on every team. A pack of seven costs about $1, and people end up with lots of duplicates. Sion needs a couple of cards for members of the Ivory Coast team, so he perks¹ up when Bolo guides another Craigslist user their way from his cell phone.

When Jan Piotrowski, a finance executive, shows up, they discover that he's already made arrangements to meet Sion to trade stickers later that day. But an earlier meeting is fine, and Piotrowski quickly opens his bag to pull out a stack of stickers the size of a deck of playing cards. He peels a few off for Sion.

International sticker sensation

The Italian-made sticker albums have been an international sensation for decades. Swiss-born Sion completed his first one in 1982. Bolo knows them from Ecuador.

"It makes me think of my young years," he said, "meeting good people, and that’s the great thing about it."

Both men say this is the first time they’ve seen any sign of the albums in the U.S.

Dan Kupsco discovered the albums while he was traveling around Mexico last month. When he returned home to San Francisco, he took to Craigslist.

"Yesterday was the first day I had a post," he said, "and in the last 24 hours I’ve gotten 150 stickers or something. It’s been insane."

Sion, who's met him at a local coffee shop for a bit of trading, agrees.

"Today, somebody traded two stickers with me literally² in the driveway of a hotel," he said. "He didn’t even get out of his car.  We just traded very quickly through the window. He said 'The only one I’m missing is 149. Can you help me please? Spread the word.'"

Making connections that stick

Outside the Powell Street train station, Bolo gives his new friends a quick hug and thump³ on the back before heading off to his restaurant job. Philippe Sion marvels⁴ at the connections he's making.

"You know we are entering for a very short period into peoples’ lives and peoples’ passion, and we just cross each other and in the middle there are a few stickers," he said.

There’s a chance they could connect again -- when the stickers come out for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

1 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 thump   

v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声

参考例句：

• The thief hit him a thump on the head.贼在他的头上重击一下。
• The excitement made her heart thump.她兴奋得心怦怦地跳。

4 marvels   

n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor's treatment has worked marvels : the patient has recovered completely. 该医生妙手回春，病人已完全康复。 来自辞典例句
• Nevertheless he revels in a catalogue of marvels. 可他还是兴致勃勃地罗列了一堆怪诞不经的事物。 来自辞典例句