英語趣味課堂：談?wù)撟闱?Talking about Football

Todd: So Paul I thought we would talk a little bit about football. Now both of our countries recently got left out in the cold for the future World Cup, so England lost to Russia for the two thousand eighteeen World Cup and the US lost out to Qatar for the two thousand and twenty two World Cup.

Paul: Yes.

Todd: So first let's talk about England. How did you feel about the result?

Paul: I've become a little bit kind of apathetic towards my country and these international competitive arenas. The thing about the English is that they think that they're up there with the best but more often than not we get reminded that we're quite mediocre. Maybe there was a time in the past where we were very dominant and kind of important as far as dictating how things ran but I think that period's ended. We had the face of Beckham, we had the Prime Minister come and was there and we had Prince William and some other high ranking faces, if you like, but from what I've read the campaign, the head of the FA, the Football Association, was completely, he was another one of a long line of people who were inadequate running the Football Association. There was the BBC who released a program about corruption within FIFA weeks before the poll, the vote, so it didn't really come as a surprise to me as much as it did some of my other fellow countrypeople.

Todd: So a lot of people back in England thought that for sure you would get it?

Paul: It seemed that way, yeah, a lot of, speaking to some of my friends back at home they were like yeah we're quids in, the World Cup is coming to England. I think the campaign was kind of based on the football history of England and the passion that we have for the game and the current high level of facilities that we can provide. But I guess there was a bit of a shock like there was a shock at the England team's performance at the last World Cup. If you watched the game versus Germany, it was embarrassing, we were outclassed and not many other countries have much sympathy for England in this situation.

Todd: One thing though about your country when it comes to football, you really do have a lot of pressure I would say from the media. I mean there's a lot of maybe unrealistic expectations put on the team's performance and maybe that kind of leads to its downfall.

Paul: Yeah. The media circus yeah is very intense and there's this kind of pattern that keeps repeating itself whereby people are heralded as being the saviour and the best in the world and then they make a mistake and then they're completely destroyed. It happened to David Beckham earlier in his career where he was heralded as being the future of England and he made a small mistake and got sent off in a big game and the media response to that was just embarrassing. They really tore him to pieces so we do have this problem with the media circus within England which kind of could be said to be responsible for generating this false sense of confidence. So yeah I agree with you on that point.

學(xué)習(xí)內(nèi)容：

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

left out in the cold

Now both of our countries recently got left out in the cold for the future World Cup.

Here, left out in the cold means eliminated from competition. Notice the following:

They were left out in the cold for hosting the 2020 Olympics.

I felt left out in the cold.

apathetic

I've become a little bit kind of apathetic towards my country

When we are apathetic, that means we have no interest or opinion in something that may be important to others. Notice the following:

I'm really apathetic about the tuition increase.

He's always so apathetic about everything!

heralded

People are heralded as being the saviour and the best in the world

Someone or something that is heralded is being widely talked about as in a positive way. Notice the following:

Michael Jackson was heralded as the king of pop.

David Beckham was briefly heralded as the saviour of American soccer.

tear someone to pieces

They really tore him to pieces.

When we tear someone or something to pieces, that means we speak about in a very negative way. Notice the following:

The press tore him to pieces.

The movie was torn to pieces by critics.

media circus

We do have this problem with the media circus within England.

An event that triggers a lot of activity by the press - TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc., is said to cause a media circus. Notice the following:

The royal wedding caused a media circus.

The media circus was almost more entertaining than the event.