BBC听英文｜Football songs: Why are crowds so quiet these days?
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Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Dan.
大家好，欢迎来到六分钟英语。我是丹。
And I’m Neil.
我是尼尔。
Now, Neil, do you like going to live football matches?
现在，尼尔，你喜欢去看足球现场比赛吗？
Oh, yes, I love it.
噢，是的，我喜欢去看现场比赛。
Is it better than watching them on TV?
那比在电视上观看还要好吗？
Well, you don’t really see as much as you do on TV. But then on TV you don’t really feel the atmosphere. You can’t sing along with the chants and songs at home.
好吧，现场观看没有你在电视上观看到的那么多。但是电视观看的话你不能真正地感受现场氛围。在家里你没办法和跟着一起唱足球之歌。
Well, it’s good you mentioned the songs and chants, because that is today’s topic. It seems that for some football clubs, the atmosphere in the stadiums is becoming a bit ‘quiet’. Now, before we look at this topic in more detail, here is today’s quiz. As we are talking about football, in which decade was the first ever international football played?Is it a) in the 1870s b) in the 1890s or c) in the 1910s ?
好吧，很好，你提到了足球之歌，因为那是我们今天的主题。似乎一些足球俱乐部在体育场中的气氛变得有点“安静”。现在，我们着眼这个主题更多细节之前，先看一下今天的问题。正如我们现在在谈论足球，哪个年代首次举行国际足球比赛？是a) 19世纪70年代 b) 19世纪90年代 还是 c) 20 世纪10年代?
I could be wrong but I think it was before the turn of the century, so I’ll say the 1890s.
我可能会选错，但是我认为是在世纪之交之前，所以我说是19世纪90年代。
Well, we’ll see if you’re right or not later in the show. Now, songs and chants are part of the experience of football matches. But where do they come from? What are they about? Here’s Joe Wilson from BBC Sport. Which team name does he mention?
好的，我们稍后将在节目中看看你是否回答正确。现在，足球之歌是足球比赛体验的一部分。但是它们来自于哪里？它们是关于什么的？这是来自BBC体育频道的乔•威尔逊。他提到了哪支队伍的名字？
Some songs can be witty, honed specifically to celebrate a certain player or moment in a club’s history. Others rely more on a hypnotic repetition of syllables. U-NI-TED, for example.
一些足球歌曲诙谐幽默，是专为庆祝足球俱乐部历史上特定的运动员或者特定时刻而打造的。另外一些足球之歌更多的是依靠音节反复重复。例如U-NI-TED。
So, which team does he mention?
所以他提到了哪支队伍？
Well, he used the syllables from United. This isn’t one team as there are quite a few professional teams in Britain that have United in their names. In fact there are over a dozen. Perhaps the most well-known though would be Manchester United.
好的，他用到了联队这个单词里的音节。联队不是一支队伍，英国有许多职业队伍中有联队的名字。实际上数量超过12个。或许最知名的是曼彻斯特联队。
I think fans of Welling United might argue with you about that! Anyway, what did Wilson say about the nature of football songs?
我觉得威灵联队的粉丝或许会和你争论。不管怎样，威尔逊说足球之歌的本质是什么？
He said they could be witty. Witty means funny but in a clever way. He also said that they could be honed.
他说足球之歌可以是诙谐的。诙谐指的是有趣但讨巧。他同样说足球之歌久经磨练。
Honed is an interesting word here. Something that is honed is carefully crafted, skilfully created and developed over a period of time.
“久经磨练的”在这里是一个有趣的单词。磨练某事物就是仔细制作，巧妙创作并在一段时间内改进发展。
When it comes to witty football songs, Wilson describes them as being honed to be about a particular player, or a moment in a club’s history. But these aren’t the only kinds of songs. Another kind of song he describes is the hypnotic repetition of syllables.
谈到诙谐的足球之歌时，威尔逊将其描述为专为俱乐部历史上特殊运动员或者特殊时刻而打造的。但是那些并不是唯一一种足球之歌。他描述的另一类足球之歌是音节的反复重复。
Something that is hypnotic repeats again and again, like a magical spell or chant. What’s interesting is that in football songs words can have more syllables than you would expect.
一些反复重复的东西，像魔咒或魔曲一般。有趣的是在足球之歌中，单词的音节比你预期得要多。
Oh, yes, for example, let’s take England. Two syllables, right?
哦，是的，让我们以英格兰为例。两个音节，对吗？
Right!
对的！
Wrong! At least in a football stadium it becomes three syllables. Eng – ger – land, Eng – ger – land …
不对！至少在足球体育馆里它会变成三个音节。Eng – ger – land, Eng – ger – land …
Alright! Thank you!Let’s listen to Mr Wilson again.
好吧。谢谢你。让我们再听一下威尔逊先生是怎么说的。
Some songs can be witty, honed specifically to celebrate a certain player or moment in a club’s history. Others rely more on a hypnotic repetition of syllables. U-NI-TED, for example.
一些足球歌曲诙谐幽默，是专为庆祝足球俱乐部历史上特定的运动员或者特定时刻而打造的。另外一些足球之歌更多的是依靠音节反复重复。例如U-NI-TED。
Now, apparently, in many stadiums, the crowds aren’t singing as much as they used to. Some managers have complained that the fans are too quiet.And that this has a negative effect on the players. So what are some of the reasons for this? Here’s BBC Sport’s Joe Wilson again.How many reasons does he mention?
现在很显然，在一些体育馆里，观众并不像曾经那样合唱足球之歌了。一些人经理人抱怨称粉丝们太安静了。并且那对运动员有消极影响。所以造成这的原因是什么？这是BBC体育频道的乔•威尔逊再次谈到的。他提到了几点理由？
The decline in singing may be explained by changing demographics in football attendance. Older supporters, more expensive tickets. Or by stadium design. All-seater arenas may discourage the instinct to stand up and sing.
合唱足球之歌的下降趋势或许可以解释为是足球比赛中观众的人口统计特征发生变化。支持者年龄更大，票价更加昂贵。或者是由于体育馆的设计。全坐席竞技场或许会妨碍人们站起来高唱足球之歌。
So, what reasons did he give for the decline in singing, for the fact that singing is getting less common.
所以对于高唱的足球之歌的衰减趋势，高唱足球之歌越来越少见，他给出了什么理由？
He gave a number of reasons. He talked about the change in demographics. Demographics refers to a section of the population that do a particular thing. It can refer to age groups or wealth, for example.
他给出了许多理由。他谈到了人口统计特征的变化。人口统计特征指的是一个地区从事某种个别事宜的人口。例如它可以指代年龄群体或者财富群体。
What Wilson says is that the members that make up a football crowd are changing. They are older and wealthier, and perhaps that is a demographic or group that is less likely to sing in public.
威尔逊说的是组成足球观众的成员正在变化。他们年龄更大，更富有，或许是不喜欢在公众场合高唱的人口或者群体。
Another reason he gives is that sitting down might also discourage people from singing. If something discourages you, it makes you not want to do it. Most stadiums in the UK have to have seats and maybe singing is something that people feel happier doing when they are standing up.
他给出的另一个理由是坐着或许同样会妨碍人们高唱足球之歌。如果某事妨碍到你，那会让你不想要去做事情。英国大多数体育馆必须有坐席，而且或许高唱足球之歌是人们站着的时候更乐意做的事情。
Well, the final whistle is about to blow on today’s programme. Before that though, here’s the answer to our quiz question.I asked you when the first international football match took place.
好的，今天的节目将要吹响结束哨声。但是在那之前，是今天节目的答案。。我问你第一场国际足球赛事是什么时候发生的。
And I took a guess with the 1890s.
我猜是19世纪90年代。
And that’s a red card, I’m afraid, Neil. The first international football match took place in the 1870s, between England and Scotland.
恐怕你出错了，尼尔。第一场国际足球比赛发生于19世纪70年代，在英格兰和苏格兰之间。
Oh, come on ref!
噢，快点结束吧！
And now, to take us to the whistle, let’s review today’s vocabulary.
现在，到了吹响结束哨声的时刻，让我们回顾一下今天的词汇。
The first word we had was witty. A kind of humour that is smart and clever.
我们学到的第一个词是“诙谐的”。一种讨巧的幽默。
Then we had honed for something that is crafted and improved over time. A bit like my physique. I’ve been honing my body in the gym.
然后我们提到了“久经磨练的”，指的是打造某事物并逐渐改进。有点像我的体形。我一直在健身房打造我的体形。
Really? Are you being witty?
真的吗？你是在搞笑吗？
I wasn’t trying to! Anyhow, we then heard about hypnotic repetition to describe the effect of thousands of people repeating the syllables of a football team over and over and over and over and over and over and over…
我不是想要那样。总之，我们稍后听到了“反复重复”来描述成千上万观众反复重复一些音节，一遍又一遍，一遍又一遍，一遍又一遍……
OK, Dan! OK, Dan! We use the phrase a decline in to say that something is getting less.
够了，丹！够了，丹！我们用词组"a decline in"来说某事物减少，降低。
Demographics refers to a group or section of the population that is involved a particular activity.
人口统计特征指的是涉及个别活动的一个群体或者一个区域内的人口。
And finally we had the verb discourage for something that makes us less likely to do something.
最后我们还听到了“妨碍”这个单词，指的是妨碍人们做某事的事情。
Well, that is it for this programme. If you’re not interested in football, I hope we didn’t discourage you from listening again!
好的，以上就是今天的节目。如果你对足球没有兴趣，我希望我们不会打消你再次收听我们节目的念头。
Indeed, I hope it doesn’t lead to a decline in our audience. We want to have as wide a demographic as possible.
确实是，我们希望这不会导致我们听众数量减少。我们想要有尽可能多的观众。
Goodbye!
再见！