Chapter 7 Sports in Britain 英国的体育运动I. football in Britain---Football was invented in Britain. It is a rough fast game played in winter and early spring.Legends hold that it derived from the “sport” of ancient warriors celebrating victory by kicking around the decapitated head of an enemy. Today, it is one of the most popular sports in Britain.Millions of people watch the FA Cup games. But in recent years, people are much concerned about football violence.--- the FA Cup: is the trophy title for a series of games played by major member teams of the Football Association(足协). Over 20 million tickets are sold to FA games each season. And sometimes, supporters of rival teams clash violently before, during and after the matches.*Note: association football 英式足球(在英国称soccer), 遵守FA的规则football: (美) American football 美式橄榄球(英) soccer(英式足球)rugby(英式橄榄球)篮球场:football pitch/ ground/fieldII. tennis--- a more gentle sport played by people in early summer. It was invented in Britain and owes its origins to the church. As early as the mid-fifteenth century, people were playing a game called “tenys” around their local churches or cathedrals. The most famous tennis event in the world, the annual international tennis championships, takes place in Wimbledon every year. There are also a lot of social activities during the “Wimbledon fortnight”.---Wimbledon(温布尔登): is a suburb in London. It is the place where the world‟s best players gather to compete in the annual international tennis championship. It is one of the major events of the British sporting calendar and probably the most famous tennis event in the world. There are a lot of other social activities associated with “Wimbledon fortnight”, such as eating strawberries and cream, drinking champagne and hoping that it doesn‟t rain.* 网球场tennis court 网球球拍tennis racquetIII. Cricket--- a most popular sport in summer. It was also one of the very first team sports in Britain to haveorganized rules and to be played according to the same rules nationally.(板球是英国最早有统一规则, 并且全国遵守同一规则进行比赛的罢休体育运动项目之一) As early as 1787, the rules were fixed. It is a quite distinctive sport in many ways—1) the players wear white trousers and appear quite formally dressed; 2) matches do not last just a few hours and they can go on for days—and has much influence on British people‟s life. Cricket is often believed to be associated wi th a set of English moral values such as “fair play”(光明正大的态度、行为).* British English is still full of references and phrases to cricket, such as---to be “on a sticky wicket”: to face difficulties (sticky wicket 原意是指板球比赛中，雨后周围场地泥泞的三柱门，因这种情况使球跳不高而难击，所以喻指艰难的处境)---to “throw a googly”: to act unpredictably （googly原指变向曲线球）--- what you are doing is “not cricket”: you are not behaving ethicly or honourably in a situation--- you are “playing with a straight bat”: you are an honest man （straight bat原指直握球板）* 板球场cricket field 板球球棒cricket batIV. golf--- a game invented by the Scottish. And there is a world famous golf course in St Andres, near Edinburgh. By the 16th C., golf was already very popular in Scotland and royal members like Mary Queen of Scots took great interest in it.* 高尔夫球场golf course = links 高尔夫球棒golf clubV．horsy sports--- horse racing---The true royal sport in Britain is horse racing. Organized national horse races have been held throughout Britain for hundreds of years. There are two kinds of horse racing: flat racing(平地赛马) and steeplechasing（越野障碍赛马）. The Grand National (一年一度在英国利物浦举行的越野障碍赛马) is the world‟s most famous steeplechase. And there is also the biggest social event associated with horse racing: the Royal Ascot(每年6月在英国伯克郡阿斯科特赛马场举行的为期4天的赛马会，是英国最重要的赛马会之一，王室成员参加)。
