Lesson 6 The sporting spirit

单词

• sportingadjective, (especially British English) fair and generous in your treatment of other people, especially in a game or sport. 体育精神，公平，友善。

• amazed (L. 1) adjective, amazed. 惊讶。

• goodwill (L. 1) friendly or helpful feelings towards other people or countries. 友善。

• common (L. 2) adjective, [only before noun] ordinary; not unusual or special. 普通的，平凡的。

• inclination (L. 3) a feeling that makes you want to do something. 意向。

• concrete (L. 3) adjective, based on facts, not on ideas or guesses. 真凭实据的。

• orgy (L. 4) orgy (of something) (disapproving) an extreme amount of a particular activity. 肆意。

• village green (L. 7) (in Britain) an area of grass in the centre of a village. It is one of the traditional centres of village life, used for games, fêtes and other public events. 村中绿茵场，用于举行比赛，节庆等。

• arise (L. 9) intransitive verb , (rather formal) (especially of a problem or a difficult situation) to happen; to start to exist. 触发（问题或困境）。

  arouse verb, make somebody have a particular feeling or attitude. 激起。

• warfare (L. 11) [uncountable]. 不可数名词。

句子

• … when I hear people saying that … (L. 1)

  hear people saying, verbs of sensation can be followed by object + present participle, either complete or not. 动词后加宾语和现在分词，表示发觉宾语正在做某事。

• … if only the common people of the world could meet … (L. 2)

  if only, wish something was true or that something has happened. 但愿。

  only if, (rather formal) used to state the only situation in which something can happen. 只有。

• … of the nations who work themselves … (L. 12)

  make yourself/somebody, make yourself/somebody work, especially very hard. 逼迫。

• … at any rate for short periods … (L. 13)

  at any rate, (informal) used to say that a particular fact is true despite what has happened in the past or what may happen in the future. 目前如此。

文章

课文选自 The sporting spirit，是1945年12月 Orwell 发表在英国《论坛报》Tribune上的一篇文章，后来收入文集 Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays（1950）。

Brendan Gallagher 2004年7月30日在英国《每日电讯报》The Telegraph 上发表一篇 How Orwell misread the sporting spirit，驳斥 Orwell 观点。

作者

George Orwell，原名 Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950)，英国作家。他最著名的作品是 Animal Farm (1945) 和 Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)。但他也是散文 （essay）大家，文风简洁犀利，代表作有 Politics and the English Language。由于家贫他没有上过大学，在伊顿公学读了四年后于1921年辍学去印度当警察，自学成才。

背景

Orwell 写这篇文章是源于1945年苏联 Dynamo Moscow 足球俱乐部访英，但大部分英国人完全不知此事。Dynamo Moscow 是俄罗斯最古老的足球俱乐部，当时称霸苏联足球联赛。当年访英成为第一个访问西方的苏联俱乐部，并在友谊赛中以 3–3 逼平切尔西（Chelsea）， 3–4 战胜阿森纳 （Arsenal）， 1–10 轻取卡迪夫城市队（Cardiff City）。

Orwell 认为这次访问将恶化英苏关系。他提议如果要派一支英国球队回访，应该派一支二流球队去苏联，这样英国人就可以说这支球队并不能完全代表英国足球水平。

中国人比赛前也常讲 ‘友谊第一，比赛第二’，但真的到了比赛，不争个你死我活，誓不罢休。如果是国际赛事比如奥运，更是事关国体，不惜带病带伤坚持比赛，还要大肆宣传这种奥运精神。真的 ‘友谊第一，比赛第二’，就应该不排名次，不设奖杯。

原文:大专栏  新概念每日一课 006