The English Premier League 1
The English Premier League 英超联赛 Pre-season Transfers 赛季前的转队球员 Although the 2005/2006 football season doesn t start until mid-august, Premiership clubs are in a state of frantic negotiation as they try to sign new players for the forthcoming season. The transfer market has started to heat up and whet the fans appetite for the games to come. Champions Chelsea, look to strengthen their attack with the signing of England International Shaun Wright-Phillips from Manchester City for 21 million. The 23 year-old step-son of the legendary Arsenal striker Ian Wright will be competing for a place with the injury prone Duff. Whilst fans have welcomed the move at Chelsea, it has been greeted with dismay at Manchester City who saw Wright-Phillips as their key to a successful season. Many supporters fear that by cashing in on their talent they run the risk of future relegation. FA Cup winners and runners up in the league last season, Arsenal will be looking to challenge to Chelsea this year. The big talking point was the sale of French international Patrick Viera. Viera had an unsuccessful campaign last season, and is felt by many to be past his best. Meanwhile Arsenal Manager, Wenger is confident that he will capture Brazilian striker Julio Baptista from Seville for 17.5 million, whilst a new one year deal for veteran striker Bergkamp keeps his attacking options open. As for Manchester United, despite a squad featuring big name stars like Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney, last season was disappointingly lacking in silverware. However, comfortable wins over Hong Kong and Beijing Hyundai during their 2005 Far East tour indicate that they still have potential to succeed at the highest level. One Manchester United player who has been of particular interest is Dong Fangzhuo. The 20-year-old midfielder, who previously played for Dalian Shide, scored against Hong Kong in his first game for United. However, not all Premiership teams can afford to spend millions on new players. New-comers, Wigan have failed to make any big money, high profile signings. There s no panic on my behalf said manager Paul Jewell. I won t buy for the sake of it. Nevertheless, if his team suffers a few heavy defeats, he may be eating his words sooner rather than later! 2
Glossary 词汇表 transfer market 转队员市场 whet the fans appetite 让球迷们的兴趣 / 渴望大增 greeted with dismay 以忧郁来迎接 relegation 降级 talking point 谈论的热点 striker 前锋 silverware 奖杯 new comers 新手 heat up 升温 ; 加热 injury prone 易受伤的 cashing in ( 以金钱 ) 兑现 runners up 第二名 past his best 过了他的鼎盛时期 squad 球队 midfielder 中锋 eating his words 食言 1. Reading Quiz 阅读测验 Are these sentences true or false? Circle the correct answer. 以下句子哪句是真? 哪句是假? 请圈出正确答案 1. The transfer market is usually very quiet in the summer months. True / False 2. Chelsea s new striker Shaun Wright-Phillips comes from a famous footballing family. True / False 3. Arsenal managed to take third place in the 2004/2005 football season. True / False 4. Arsenal fans are all in agreement that it is a good thing that Viera has left the club. True / False 5. Wigan have found it difficult to get new players. True / False 3
2. Vocabulary 词汇 Complete the sentences using words from the box below. 请用下面方框中的词汇填充句子 relegation greeted with dismay eat my words new comers strengthen past its best whet my appetite runners up 1. Chelsea have bought a new striker to their team. 2. Have you seen the advertisement for the new Harry Potter book? It has really. I can t wait to read it! 3. I told him Chelsea would never win the league, but when they did I had to. 4. When I told my children we couldn t go to the zoo the news was. They had really been looking forward to it. 5. My team never comes first in the league. It seems like we re always going to be and never get past second place. 6. All the teams near the bottom of the league are trying desperately to avoid because it s so hard to get back into the Premiership. 7. We would like to welcome all the who are joining the company today. 8. Although my suit is good quality, it s really. It s time I bought a new one. 4
3. Phrasal Verbs 短语动词 Look at the phrasal verbs below. Can you match them to their definitions? 请看下列短语动词, 请将它们与各自的定义对应起来 1. to send off a. to become more exciting 2. to heat up b. to require a football player to leave the pitch as a punishment for bad behaviour 3. to cash in c. increase or improve on a previous success 4. to build on d. to sell and make money from something you own Now complete the sentences below using one of the multi word verbs from above. 现在请用以上的某个短语动词完成下列句子 1. We need some extra money. Let s and sell our car now before it gets too old. 2. The election didn t until 2 weeks before the final voting. Then things began to get interesting. 3. The singer s first album sold a million copies. He quickly released his second album, hoping to his success. 4. The referee the football player for making a dangerous late tackle on another player. 5
4. Wordsearch 单词搜索 Try to find the words associated with football in the puzzle below. There are ten words to find. Words can be written horizontally ( ), vertically ( ) or diagonally ( ) 请在下面的字谜游戏中, 找出与英国足球有关的英语单词来 共有 10 个单词, 其组成方式可能以水平的 ( ) 垂直的 ( ) 或对角的 ( ) 形式出现 x m i d f i e l d e r h c s r s c u p q w i n o s v u y i t b z n a h i t t k p t z r j c w f p r b c a e b h i o d t f e m r y a r a e k i o q n j i r m l s x c e z u g t t a e i o t u p r p t p l e g e n d a r y n h s y o w e r t u r q v e d b k s d e i o u s s n f r e l e g a t i o n striker superstars team win midfielder strengthen legendary cup relegated lose 6
Answers 答案 1. Reading Quiz 阅读测验 Are these sentences true or false? Circle the correct answer. 以下句子哪句是真? 哪句是假? 请圈出正确答案 1. The transfer market is usually very quiet in the summer months. False 2. Chelsea s new striker Shaun Wright-Phillips comes from a famous footballing family. True 3. Arsenal managed to take third place in the 2004/2005 football season. False 4. Arsenal fans are all in agreement that it is a good thing that Viera has left the club. False 5. Wigan have found it difficult to get new players. False 2. Vocabulary Complete the sentences using words from the box below. 1. Chelsea have bought a new striker to strengthen their team. 2. Have you seen the advertisement for the new Harry Potter book? It has really whet my appetite. I can t wait to read it! 3. I told him Chelsea would never win the league, but when they did I had to eat my hat. 4. When I told my children we couldn t go to the zoo the news was greeted with dismay. They had really been looking forward to it. 5. My team never comes first in the league. It seems like we re always going to be runners up and never get past second place. 6. All the teams near the bottom of the league are trying desperately to avoid relegation because it s so hard to get back into the Premiership. 7. We would like to welcome all the newcomers who are joining the company today. 8. Although my suit is good quality, it s really past its best. It s time I bought a new one. 3. Phrasal Verbs Look at the phrasal verbs below. Can you match them to their definitions? 请看下列短语动词, 请将它们与各自的定义对应起来 1. b 3. d 2. a 4. c Now complete the sentences below using one of the multi word verbs from above. 现在请用以上的某个短语动词完成下列句子 1. We need some extra money. Let s cash in and sell our car now before it gets too old. 2. The election didn t heat up until 2 weeks before the final voting. The things began to get interesting. 4. Wordsearch 单词搜索 m i d f i e l d e r s c u p w i n s u t t p t r r e i e a r k n m s e g t r t l e g e n d a r y h o r e s s n r e l e g a t i o n 3. The singer s first album sold a million copies. He quickly released his second album, hoping to build on his success. 4. The referee sent off the football player for making a dangerous late tackle on another player. 7