Unless you have been living on the planet Zorg for the last few months, you can’t have failed to notice that the 2014 World Cup (also known as Brazil 2014) is almost upon us. In fact as I write this post, we are just a week away from the start on 12 June.
除非上幾個月你在Zorg星球上生活，否則你一定會注意到2014世界杯（即巴西2014）的到來。事實上，在寫這篇文章時，我們離6月12號還有一周的時間。

We’ve already had a few friendly matches. England beat Peru last Friday 3-0 (nil) and as I write this, England are playing Ecuador in another friendly. The score is 2-1 to England at the moment (we are in the 67th minute).
我們已經(jīng)看了一些友誼賽。上周五英格蘭隊對秘魯隊3—0。在我寫這個的時候，英格蘭隊正在跟厄瓜多爾隊打友誼賽，此時英格蘭隊已經(jīng)2—1領(lǐng)先了（球賽進行到第67分鐘）。

Are youimpressed by my knowledge? I know, I am super impressed, too. I would like to point out that I know practically NOTHING about football. I can just about understand the scoring system, what a penalty shoot out is and what the goalkeeper is supposed to do. No matter how many times my husband has tried to explain the off side rules to me, I cannot seem to grasp them. Life’s just too short…..
是不是對我的足球知識量贊不絕口??？我就知道，我也覺得超級讓人有印象。我想說明的是實際上我對足球完全沒有了解，我只知道的足球知識也就是：一點點記分方法，罰點球決勝負是啥，還有守門員應(yīng)該做什么。無論我老公如何努力的和我解釋越位規(guī)則，我就是記不住。生命可是短暫的（記不了那么多）。。。。。。

For those of you who really want to have some football vocabulary in English, here’s a useful?infographic?designed by Kaplan International.
對那些真正想了解足球詞匯的人，這里有一張由卡普蘭國際英語設(shè)計的非常有用的信息圖。

So as the world gradually builds itself into a?frenzy?and?focuses?its?attention?on Brazil, I shall have to find other ways to?amuse?myself or follow the crowd. When England plays all the pubs will be?jam-packed full of people glued to the large screens, drinking?copious?amounts of beer,?swearing?at the screens and shouting out their expert advice on how the game should be played.
隨著世界逐漸投入到對世界杯的狂熱而且舉世矚目巴西，我不得不尋找一些方式來自娛自樂或者跟隨大部隊進入瘋狂。當(dāng)有英格蘭隊進入比賽時，所有的酒吧會擠滿人群，他們聚集在電視屏幕前就像被粘住一樣，喝著大量的啤酒，在電視機前邊咒罵邊憤憤的吼出他們的專家意見，喊這個比賽該怎么打。

Whilst the pubs will be heaving with people, the streets will be eerily quiet as will the shops and supermarkets. That will be the ideal time for me to catch up on some “me time” and get some good retail therapy done. That’s of course if the matches are being played during the day.
此時酒店人滿為患，而街道、商店和超級市場卻安靜的出奇。這對于我而言絕對是個絕好時機去抓住自己時間，去買點好東西來慰勞自己。當(dāng)然前提是白天都有比賽。

For the evening matches, I am hoping that my husband goes to the pub with his friends or goes round to his parents or siblings and watches the game there. That way I will have sole command of the remote control! Imagine what I could do with such power!!
對于晚上的比賽，我希望我老公能和朋友們一起去酒吧、去他父母那里或者是兄弟們那里看比賽。這樣我就獨享電視機的遙控器權(quán)利啦！想想看，一下有這么大的權(quán)利我會做些什么！

My real dilemma will come if England and Italy reach the important stages like the quarter or semi finals or,wonder of wonders, even the finals. At that stage I will really need to think hard about where my loyalties lie – England or Italy. I think it’ll be easier to simply toss a coin.
當(dāng)意大利和英格蘭進入關(guān)鍵局比如四分之一決賽或者半決賽，或者奇跡中的奇跡進入決賽時，那讓我左右為難的時刻就到來了。到那個時候，我要好好想想自己應(yīng)該忠于哪一只隊-英格蘭還是意大利.?我想可能拋硬幣決定會簡單很多。

Are any of you like me? I call myself a football widow. What will you be doing to survive the World Cup?
你們中有人和我情況類似嗎？我稱自己為“足球寡婦”。在世界杯期間你將會怎么做呢？

If you’re football mad and think that learning English through the ‘beautiful game’ would be the best thing ever, take a look at these resources:
如果你是足球狂熱者，覺得在比賽中學(xué)習(xí)英語是件非常棒的事情，可以看一下下面的學(xué)習(xí)資源：

Languagecaster -This wonderful site is managed by two English Language Teachers who are staunch football supporters. Their lessons are delivered through?podcasts?where they introduce football?cliches, expressions, football quizzes and World Cup vocabulary.
Languagecaster -這個非常棒的網(wǎng)站由兩位英語老師管理，這兩位老師是足球的忠實支持者。他們的課程通過播客來傳送，他們在播客里面介紹關(guān)于足球的一些慣用表達，表達搭配，足球知識小問答以及世界杯詞匯。

Premier Skills English –Brought to you by the British Council and Barclays Premier League. You can play vocabulary games and practise your reading with stories on and off the?pitch. You can also watch videos with exercises and do listening activities and grammar exercises.
Premier Skills English-它由英國文化協(xié)會和英超聯(lián)賽提供。你能夠通過球場上或幕后的故事來玩詞匯游戲并鍛煉你的閱讀能力。你還能夠邊運動邊看視頻，練習(xí)聽力和語法。

However, don’t think that football is only about competition and rivalry. It is also a fantastic way of bringing language learners together as seen in a friendly football competition that was organised by Kaplan International recently at West Ham United’s stadium. In total 150 students from 25 nationalities took part in the event. You can see highlights of the event here.
然而，不要認為足球就僅僅是競爭和對抗。它同時也是一種非常了不起的方式讓學(xué)習(xí)語言的人們聚集在一起，最近卡普蘭國際組織就組織大家在西漢姆聯(lián)隊體育場一起看足球友誼賽。有來自25個國家共計150名學(xué)生觀賽。

Well, that’s it folks. I hope you enjoy the 2014 World Cup and may the best team win!
好吧，就到這。我希望你們盡情享受2014世界杯，也希望最棒的球隊取得勝利！