VOA常速英语2015--国际足联面临不确定的未来

FIFA Faces Uncertain Future 国际足联面临不确定的未来

Football's world governing body postponed¹ the bidding process for the 2026 football World Cup after the United States Justice Department issued corruption² and bribery³ charges last month against nine FIFA officials and five corporate⁴ executives. Swift world reaction to the scandal included talk not only about FIFA’s alleged⁵ misdeeds, but the U.S. role in exposing them.

When the US criminally indicted⁶ some top FIFA executives, it was welcomed by many in Europe and around the world, according to British football writer Keir Radnedge, who spoke⁷ via Skype.

英国足球专栏作家凯尔·拉迪奇通过Skype接受美国之音采访时候称美国对国际足联一些高管的的刑事起诉受到欧洲及世界各地很多人的欢迎。

“For most people certainly, if you look at U.K. media over the last five, seven years, this has been a long time in coming," he said. "There’s been a feeling of frustration⁸ that things haven’t worked quicker and people haven’t been caught out sooner, but parts of the problem, of course, lay with FIFA’s own very, very lax governance systems.”

“对大多数人来说,当然,如果你在过去5至7年关注英国媒体,这是很长时间的等待。有失望的感觉,因为办事效率不是很快而且人们没有提早发现,但问题一部分当然在于国际足联本身非常松懈的管理体系。”

The corruption scandal led to the resignation of FIFA President Sepp Blatter, less than a week after he had won reelection.

这场腐败丑闻导致获得连任不到一周后的国际足联主席布拉特辞职。

David Larkin is a U.S. sports lawyer. He said FIFA’s operations have not been transparent⁹.

美国体育运动律师大卫·拉金表示国际足联的运作体系向来都是不透明。

“It’s important to kind of structure this debate around what is FIFA?" he said. "I would argue that it’s basically 25 people, plus or minus people co-opted onto it, that basically operate in secret and that have no accountability.”

“这场辩论的重要实质是国际足联究竟是什么?我想说,基本上是25人,加上或者减去增选的人们,主要是秘密运作而且没有责任。”

The indictments¹⁰ unveiled last month paint a picture of corruption and bribery at the Swiss-based organization that runs the World Cup and other major tournaments.

上个月的控诉揭露出这家总部设在瑞士运营世界杯及其他主要赛事组织的腐败及收受贿赂黑幕。

David Francis, a writer at Foreign Policy magazine, described his view of the objectives of the U.S. investigation¹¹.

《外交政策》杂志作家大卫·弗朗西斯描述了他对于美国方面调查的目的。

“You get the ‘small fish,’ you get the small fish to talk, and it gives you the bigger fish, and that’s what we saw over the last couple of weeks," he said. "Now what really prompted the U.S.? I highly doubted that it was going after the World Cup, because it probably isn’t going to get it in 2022 no matter what happens.”

“你抓到了小鱼,让小鱼供出大鱼,这就是我们在过去几周看到。现在是何真正促使美国去做这件事? 我强烈怀疑这是世界杯之后,因为无论发生什么事这个国家可能都不会得到2022年世界杯的举办权。”

Though some might disagree, David Larkin said until now FIFA's public image was one of purity and autonomy, but it's an image shattered by the U.S. corruption charges.

虽然有人可能持怀疑态度,但大卫·拉金表示直到现在国际足联曾经的纯洁自律自主的公众形象被美国的腐败指控彻底颠覆。

Radnedge, though, pointed¹² out that FIFA still has hundreds of well-meaning employees using football for youth development, health and education.

然而拉迪奇指出国际足联仍有数百名热忱员工致力于足球的青少年发展,医疗和教育工作。

“The work they do is tainted¹³ by these guys who have this money-making clique¹⁴ at the top,” he said.

“他们的工作是受这些利欲熏心集团高层家伙所影响。”

The host for the 2026 World Cup was to be chosen by FIFA members during its 2017 Congress in Malaysia. But FIFA said it would delay that decision.

2026年世界杯的主办国本应由国际足联在2017年马来西亚的会议中选出。但国际足联表示将推迟这一决定。

1 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

2 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

3 bribery   

n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿

参考例句：

• FBI found out that the senator committed bribery.美国联邦调查局查明这个参议员有受贿行为。
• He was charged with bribery.他被指控受贿。

4 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

5 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

6 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

9 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

10 indictments   

n.（制度、社会等的）衰败迹象( indictment的名词复数 )；刑事起诉书；公诉书；控告

参考例句：

• A New York jury brought criminal indictments against the founder of the organization. 纽约的一个陪审团对这个组织的创始人提起了多项刑事诉讼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These two indictments are self-evident and require no elaboration. 这两条意义自明，无须多说。 来自互联网

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

13 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 clique   

n.朋党派系，小集团

参考例句：

• The reactionary ruling clique was torn by internal strife.反动统治集团内部勾心斗角，四分五裂。
• If the renegade clique of that country were in power,it would have meant serious disaster for the people.如果那个国家的叛徒集团一得势，人民就要遭殃。