英国新闻听力 威廉姆斯荣获年度体育人物

She is a beautiful, graceful¹, tennis champion, a world class athlete, and role model for millions of women around the world. And yesterday in America, tennis ace², Serena Williams, was pronounced Sportsperson of the year by the Sports magazine, Sports Illustrated³. It is the first time an African American woman has been awarded this honour and only the third time that it has gone to a woman in the magazine’s history. But, being a powerful, black sportswoman in tennis, a sport often viewed as a bastion of white advantage, comes with constant challenges to her gender⁴ and ethnicity.

Not long after the announcement of the award was made, social media was abuzz with a number of complaints from a section of the magazines readers. These disgruntled sports fans pointed⁵ to an online poll, by Sports Illustrated fans, which gave a landslide⁶ victory, not to Serena Williams, but to the racehorse, ‘American Pharaoh’.

I think that the Sports Illustrated fans who voted for American Pharaoh missed an important point. The purpose of the award is to acknowledge the accomplishments⁷ of a human being; the award has never gone to an animal. But I have to wonder, why is it that an animal, however graceful and powerful, gets recognized above the humanity of an accomplished⁸ black woman?

It is a truism to say that some bodies count more than other bodies, but I'd like to flesh out this statement, pun intended.

The message of the advent⁹, the coming of Christ into the world, is that we can identify God precisely¹⁰ by coming into contact with a human body. The church, for centuries, particularly the Gnostics, who denied God could be so closely aligned¹¹ with physicality -- that if Jesus were God he couldn't be born as a baby, has struggled with this core element of the gospel.

Ranking American Pharaoh above Serena Williams suggests that we in the Western world, even here in Britain, still struggle with bodies--especially the bodies of women, and particularly the bodies of black women.

Throughout her career, the very body of Serena Williams, rather than her sportsmanship, has been attacked: too muscular, too physical, too aggressive--too unlike other bodies traditionally associated with greatness in tennis. Have our own commentators¹² given her the credit she deserves?

I believe the online discussion of Serena’s body is an illustration of a larger question. A question about personhood; recognizing and respecting people for who they are, and what they have done. And how we should live out the meaning of Advent, the idea that God lives in all flesh, and that all flesh is good.

她是一位漂亮优雅的网球冠军，世界级运动员，是全世界数百万女性的楷模。昨天，在美国，网球顶尖高手塞雷娜·威廉姆斯被《体育画报》杂志评为年度体育人物。这是首次由非洲裔美国女性获此殊荣，也是该杂志历史上第三次由女性获得该奖项。但是，作为网球界一位有影响力的黑人女运动员——网球常被视为白人比较有优势的领域——她在性别和种族方面都不断面临挑战。

该奖宣布以后，社交媒体上充斥着部分杂志读者的抱怨。这些存在不满情绪的体育迷指出，《体育画报》粉丝们进行的网络民意测验显示，赢得该奖项的不是塞雷娜·威廉姆斯，而是以压倒性优势获胜的赛马“美国法老”。

我认为，投票给“美国法老”的《体育画报》粉丝们错过了重要的一点。该奖项的目的是认可人类的成就；该奖项从未颁发给动物。但是我不得不思考，为何是这样一个动物，无论它如何优雅而有影响力，比有成就的黑人女性更获得人们的认可？

如果说有些人比其他人重要，那是陈词滥调。但是我要充实这个说法，这个说法有双关的意思。

基督降临人世传达的信息是，我们可以通过与人体接触来精确地辨认上帝。几个世纪来，基督教堂，尤其是诺斯替派一直奋力抵抗福音书的核心因素。他们否认上帝应该与肉体一致，认为如果耶稣是上帝，那么他不应该以婴儿的形体降生。

“美国法老”凌驾于塞雷娜·威廉姆斯之上表明，在西方世界，甚至在英国，仍然不认可身体，尤其是女性的身体，特别是黑人女性的身体。

在塞雷娜·威廉姆斯的职业生涯中，受到攻击的一直是她的身体，而不是她的体育精神：肌肉太发达，太强健，太具攻击性，与网球界传统认可的其他身体大有不同。我们自己的解说员给了她应得的赞誉吗？

我认为，对塞雷娜身体的讨论彰显了一个更大的问题。关于人格的问题，认可和尊重别人的人格和他们的成就。我们的生活应该体现基督降临人世的意义。上帝是以血肉之躯存在的，所有的血肉之躯都是好的。

1 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

2 ace   

n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的

参考例句：

• A good negotiator always has more than one ace in the hole.谈判高手总有数张王牌在手。
• He is an ace mechanic.He can repair any cars.他是一流的机械师,什么车都会修。

3 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

4 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

5 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。

6 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

7 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

9 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

10 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

11 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

12 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》