综合英语教程2课文文本-2

2 Football

Try to speak more

Conversation (A: a football coach, B: a football player)

Conversation

A Sam, I want to talk with you about this match on Saturday.
B What position shall I be playing, Mr. Harris? You know, John and Dick both have trouble in their legs. Neither of them can play, perhaps. May I play John's or Dick's position?
A But I was thinking..., you know, the game is a bit distance this time. It is in London. So I am concerned about your family. It may be very difficult for you to...
B There is no problem here, Mr. Harris. I mean distance is no problem for me.
A But the London team is a bit strong. Besides, we have lost the last three games. I am under a lot of pressure. We are thinking of trying some new blood this time.
B Oh, no! You know, I not only practise very hard, but also play very well in games.
A Let's be frank, Sam. We know that you played as hard as anyone on the team, but both you and Dick fouled a lot recently. Well, if you and Dick can be dropped this time, we may give both of you another chance sometime...
B Oh, no... Let me put it straight, Mr. Harris. ... You either have me play the forward or lose the game, to be frank with you.
A Well, the decision has already been made, hope you understand... I'm sorry, Sam.


What are they for?

Actual Words Spoken

a I was uneasy about leaving her alone at home.
b We are all concerned about the bad news.
c I'm very nervous about having an operation.
d She was in a bit of flap.
e I'm worried about getting lost. That city is so big.
f I'm afraid I'll miss the train.
g I think I have the wedding day jitters.


Text

Football

Football is a very old game. The ancient Romans, Chinese, and Mexicans all played games where men kicked a ball. For the Romans it was a war game, in which two teams of soldiers would use whatever force was necessary to get the ball across either of two defended lines. The Roman Empire has long since vanished, but the violent pastime of the armies has continued — and can still be quite violent.
In the Middle Ages, some kind of "football" was popular in Italy, France, England, and Scotland, but it was such a dangerous game that kings actually banned it, and for 300 years it suffered greatly from official disapproval. Nevertheless, in 1613, the King of England permitted himself to be entertained in an English village with "music and a football match," and, a few years later, the English dictator Oliver Cromwell played football when he was at university.
By the end of the 18th century, however, the game was in real danger of dying out in Western Europe. Curiously enough, it was the English "public" school that saved it from extinction. The rich young men at these schools (which were in fact private rather than public) had nowhere to hunt, fish, ride or otherwise use up their energies; all they could do outside school hour

s was kick a ball in the schools' open spaces. They played the game that they had often seen played on village greens, the game that kings had banned. Gradually each school began to evolve its own special style and rules.
By the time of Queen Victoria, enthusiastic schoolboys were writing out rules for what had once been no more than violent military or village fun. They also took the game with them to the universities. But more rules were needed so that people who had played very different kinds of football at school could play together successfully at university. This was how the Football Association came into being. One public school, however, refused to co-operate. Its delegates objected to the new universal game. This school — Rugby — left the new association to play its own game with its own oval-shaped ball that could be carried as well as kicked. In this way, football and rugby were born and went their separate ways.
In 1863, the Football Association approved a game that outlawed carrying and kept the ball at men's feet. The game still had a long way to go, however, before it would be the football watched by millions around the world on television during the World Cup. Whole teams would rush back and forward on the field with the ball kept close at their feet; there were no passes or long kicks, and some of the rules used in those days were still nearer rugby than football. By the early 1870s, however, the fast, exciting, and open game of modern Association football was beginning to appear. The goal became standard, with a hard crossbar instead of a long piece of tape, and the goalkeeper was the only person permitted to use hands to play. In the process, football changed irrevocably from a gentleman's weekend exercise to the greatest spectator sport in the history of the human race.