20100517 Soccer - the Worlds Game (1)

Soccer - the Worlds Game

Whether you call it "soccer" or "foothall," the whole world loves this sport!

Soccer, or football, ranks as the world's favorite sport - hands down. Soccer claims around 3 billion fans - nearly half the world's population! And according to FIFA's count in 2006, 265 million people play this game. That's 4 percent of the global population!

The game's roots
Determining soccer's original birthplace isn't easy. Many ancient peoples played early forms of this modern game. Cu ju (蹴鞠), a ball-kicking game in ancient China, was reported as early as 2,500 B.C.

Around the same time, Greeks were also playing a similar ball game without using their hands. During the Middle Ages, different varieties of the sport developed and spread throughout Europe. But modern soccer didn't become official until 1863 when England's Cobb Morley stepped in. Morley introduced the idea of a football association and wrote the sport's official rules. This association, founded in London, would later spark other associations in countries outside Britain. These would eventually come together to form the FIFA, which organizes the World Cup.



hand down 毫無爭議地
=> without much effort
=> usually we see the phrase in sporting context
=> 另外和踢足球時不能用手，因此有雙關之意
eg: Michael Jackson was one of the most talented entertainers, hand down.
=> Michael Jackson 毫無疑問是最有才華的藝人之一。

hand down 輕而易舉的
eg: The football team won hands down over their opponents.
=> 這支美式足球隊輕而易舉地打敗他們的對手。

claim v. 聲稱/宣稱有某個權力或東西
eg: The candidate claimed victory before all the tickets were even counted.
=> 候選人在所有票還沒清點完之前就聲稱勝利。
eg: If no one claims the lost notebook, the person who found it should be able to keep it.
=> 如果沒有人來認領這台筆記型電腦，撿到的人應該可以保留它。

step in 插手/介入
=> get involved in the situation
eg: The police had to step in and stop the conflict between the two groups of protesters.
=> 警察必須介入來平息二組抗議者之間的衝突。
eg: The teacher stepped in to end our argument.
=> 老師介入來平息我們的爭論。


claim v. 聲稱
FIFA [Federation Internationale de Football Association] 國際足球聯盟
birthplace n. 出生地/發源地
World Cup 世界杯


spark
=> begin/start

//== Chat room ==//

足球在美國要用soccer，在美國以外的國家要用football
football比soccer還要早出現，但是soccer卻是現代足球最早的用法
在十九世紀英國足球協會成立，並制定統一的比賽規則正式進行比賽
當時的足球比賽統稱為Association Football(協會式足球)
而soccer則是源自於association的縮寫。


soccer (美)足球
football
Association Football
association


在rugby傳到美國之後，美國人修正了rugby的規則，
將新的運動名字取名為football，也就是American football，
英國人也許是為了和美國人互別苗頭，反而不再說soccer，將足球統稱為football

rugby 橄欖球
American football 美式足球



//== More Information ==//

Most of the world calls it football, but in some places, such as the United States, people call it soccer. Where does the name soccer come from? It comes from the abbreviation a-s-s-o-c, which is short for association - years ago the sport's official name was Association Football. Soccer is different from American or Canadian football and rugby in that it is mostly played with the feet.