Directions: You are expected to study this section in class. Don’t preview.

1. Word Pretest

For each italicized word or expression, choose the best meaning below.

1. My cousin is a football fan. He often gets up at midnight to watch football matches.
A. young amateur 　　B. skilled player 　　C. enthusiastic supporter
2. Our football team has a group of loyal supporters. No matter whether we win or lose, they support us all the same.
A. interesting　　　　 B. faithful　　　　 C. noble
3. My friend is an emotional person. She cries and gets excited easily.
A. full of movements　　 B. full of feelings 　　C. full of energy
4. It was not surprising that she turned out to be the champion in the competition because she was the best player.
A. winner 　　　B. loser 　　　C. challenger
5. The earthquake occurred at midnight; a lot of people died when they were asleep.
A. ended 　　　　B. spread 　　　C. happened
6. You must do physical exercises everyday if you want to keep fit.
A. suitable　　　 B. qualified　　　　 C. healthy
7. The crowd cheered the football player when he scored one point.
A. gained　　　　 B. lost 　　　　C. gave
8. He started smashing up all the furniture.
A. cleaning up 　　B. replacing 　　　C. destroying completely

Key

Text
Cultural Background:

FIFA：the Fédération Internationale de Football Association　国际足球联盟

The world is a place rich in natural beauty and cultural diversity, but also one where many are still deprived of their basic rights. FIFA　now has an even greater responsibility to reach out and touch the world, using football as a symbol of hope and integration.

For the Game. For the World.

'Develop the game, touch the world, build a better future'.

Football Fans and Football Violence

Football fans

　　Brazil is the greatest football nation in the world. There are 110 million Brazilians. How many of them are football fans? 100 million! All of them think that they know all about football. This makes life very difficult for the Brazilian team manager. When things go badly for the Brazilian team, the newspapers would demand that the team manager should leave his job. “If we win, they put me in heaven,” as a manager once said. “If we lose, they put me in hell.”
　　You can’t escape football in Brazil. There are football matches on every street and beach. On television, the results of football matches come before the main news programs. There are six television channels in Rio de Janeiro. On Sundays each channel shows a different football match.
　　Brazil is not the richest country in the world. But the government spends huge sums of money on football. It cost more than one billion pounds to prepare for the  1978 World Cup. That’s 10 pounds for every Brazilian man, woman, and child. And many Brazilians don’t earn as much as 10 pounds a week. Is it worth it?
　“Brazil must have a great football team,” says one journalist. “If it costs one billion pounds, that’s all right. If the government doesn’t give us a good team, then it will become unpopular. Football is more than a game in Brazil.”
　　Football is more than a game in Brazil. This is certainly true in its largest city, Sao Paulo. The most popular team is Corinthians. Corinthians’ fans are the most loyal and emotional in Brazil. When Corinthians win, production in the Sao Paulo car factories increases by fifteen per cent. When they lose, it drops. At one time Corinthians won the national championship for the first time. For four days fans danced and sang in the streets.
　　Why are people so loyal to one football team? What makes a football fan? One man says: “Without Corinthians my life would be sad. Corinthians bring some joy and excitement into my life. We all need that, don’t we?”

Football violence

　　Football fans in Brazil are loyal to their team. They cheer when their team wins, they cry when their team loses. But they don’t fight. Football in Brazil is for the whole family. Men bring their wives and children to football matches. They know there will be no trouble. Their family will be safe.
　　However, in many other countries it’s different. Many people don’t want to go and see a football match because they’re afraid of violence. The violence occurs both on the field and off it. Why?
　　Football is a hard game. You have to be fit and strong to play it. Often you have to fight to get the ball and then you have to fight to keep it. Of course, players get excited when they are playing football. The difference between winning and losing a game can be great. Perhaps the manager tells his players before a game: “If you win this, you’ll get one thousand pounds each. If you lose, you’ll get nothing.” What would you do if you were playing in a game like that? Let’s say you’re running towards the goal with a good chance of scoring. Another player holds you back or kicks you. Of course you’re angry. You want to kick the other player or hit him. Then players on both sides join in and a fight starts.
　　Fighting on the football field often starts fighting among the football supporters watching the game. The trouble doesn’t only happen at the football ground itself. A few years ago in Britain, a group of Leeds United supporters and a group of Sunderland supporters fought outside a café and attacked cars and buses on the road. Leeds and Sunderland were not even playing each other that day!
　　Why do football supporters behave in this way? First of all, most of the football fans are young. When their team is playing at home. They go with their friends — always to the same part of the ground. They all wear their team’s colors — on hats, scarves, and badges. They cheer their favorite players. They shout, sing songs and wave their scarves. When they are with their friends, every thing is all right. The trouble starts when one group of supporter tries to attack another group.
　　The away team supporters may attack the home fans. They may try to get into the home supporters’ favorite place. The home supporters fight back, the trouble spreads and the police try to stop the fighting. Next day the newspapers scream: FANS    INVADE FIELD: POLICE ARREST 50.
　　This kind of violence is not new, of course. Writers in Roman times, 1 500 years ago, described fights between groups supporting different chariot racers. One group was called the Blues, the other the Greens. The Greens and the Blues used to sing songs about each other, fight at chariot races, and run through the streets smashing up shops — just the kind of things that newspapers describe today.

Total words: 840
Total reading time:        minutes        seconds        

　Reading Skill: Context Clues to Word Meaning

With the help of the context clues, write down your own definition of the italicized word or phrase in the space provided.

1. Alvin Kraenzlein, an American, won four gold medals in the athletics, running the 60 metres sprint in 7.0 seconds and the 110 meters hurdles race in 15.4 seconds.

2. In the Olympic Games of 1921, he won both the pentathlon competition, which was for five events, and the decathlon.

3. The players in the World Cup are professionals, while those who play in the Olympics must be amateurs.

4. American football is a cross between soccer and rugby. That means it is like soccer in some ways and like rugby in other ways.

5. To help the players have some rest during the game, there are substitute players who may play for other players so that everyone may have some rest during the game.

Reading Comprehension

Circle the letter of the best answer.

1. How many football fans are there in Brazil?
A. 100 million           B. 110 million          C. 120 million
2. The largest city in Brazil is       .
A. Brasilia              B. Rio de Janeiro        C. Sao Paulo
3. Some people danced and sang in the streets for four days in Sao Paulo because       .

1. production in the Sao Paulo car factories increased by fifteen per cent
2. Corinthians won a national foot ball championship
3. Corinthians won the World Cup

4. All the following statements about the Brazilians and football are true except       .

1. the Brazilians knew all about football
2. football had influence on politics in Brazil
3. the Brazilians spent a lot of money on football

5. People are loyal to their football team because       .
A. it brings joy and excitement to their life
B. it always wins
C. it is loyal to them
6. Brazillian football fans don’t fight because         .
A. football in Brazil is for the whole family
B. football is not a hard game
C. football players don’t get excited
7. Which of the following may not start fighting among football fans?
A. Football players fight each other on the field.
B. A football match is canceled.
C. the away team supporters try to get into the home supporters’ favourite    place
8. The main idea of the last paragraph is that         .
A. violence in sports has a long history
B. sports fans in Roman times were all trouble-makers
C. chariot racing started in Roman times

Vocabulary Building

①Match the following words with their definitions within each group of five words

substitute           win; defeat
badge              a person or thing acting in place of anther
conquer            feel or show great joy
rejoice             a person who brings messages
messenger          a piece of metal worn to show a person’s employment, rank or membership of a group

chariot             advantage; profit
festival            a two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle
benefit             any of the races or competitions
event              giving or taking a gift in order to do something dishonest.
bribery            an occasion of public celebration

exhausted          a group of people selected to do something special
stadium            a person who is good at sport
committee          very tired
medal             a large sports-ground with seats for spectators
athlete             a piece of metal given to a person as an honor

Complete the sentences by using the words above. Change the forms if necessary.

1. When I reached the top of the mountain, I was         and wanted to take a rest.
2. Her brother is an         , who is especially good at swimming.

3. Money is no         for happiness.
4. The official accepted the businessman’s money. One year later both of them were arrested and were punished for         .
5. The Normans         England in 1066.
6. A special         was set up to deal with the problem.
7. At the main gate of the university, my classmate was stopped by the guards because he forgot to wear his university         that day.
8. She won a gold         at the Olympic Games.

② Suffix
Many adjectives consist of “national names + -(i)an, -ish or –ese.” Study the examples and then list some adjectives that end in these suffixes in the space provided. Add more if you can.

suffixes              examples
-(i)an                Brazilian, American, Indian
-ish                 Irish, Turkish, Danish
-ese                 Japanese, Burmese, Chinese

-(i)an  1.          2.          3.          4.          5.          
-ish   1.          2.          3.          4.          5.          
-ese   1.          2.          3.          4.          5.          

Many nouns end in the suffix –ship. Study the examples, and then list some nouns that end in this suffix in the space provided. Add more if you can.

suffix              examples
-ship               championship, hardship

-ship  1.          2.          3.          4.          5.          

Fill in each of the blanks with the given word in its proper form.

1.  Nobody knows how the ancient          people built the pyramids without the help of modern technology. (Egypt)
2.          bullfight is a famous sport which attracts many tourists to Spain each year. (Spain)
3. Now more and more people in China speak American English rather than          
English. (Britain)
4. Xiao Li is a top student in his class. Last year he won a          of 800 yuan. (scholar)

5. In the fifth century B.C., the Greeks were conquered by the Romans and Greece became part of the          Empire. (Rome)
6. According to sociologists, there is a certain          between crime and poverty. (relation)
7. Many people in South America are          origin. (Portugal)
8. Lincoln had many of the qualities of          that Americans admire. (lead)

Cloze

Fill in each of the blanks with a word given below.
list         lower       occurs       games        wins
divided     week        types        think         name

　　The football League was started on September 8,1888. Since that date, many teams have played many         against each other in the Saturday League matches. All the best teams play in the League.
　　The League makes a         of all the teams that are in it and they put the name of the best team each          at the top of the list. When a team in the League         Or loses a game, its          goes up or down the list and at the end of the season—games are played from August until the next April—one team is always “Top of the League”.
　　There are 92 teams in the League. They are        into four divisions with more than 20 teams in each. Some people          that we now have too many football teams in England—it is the biggest League in the world. This is not a good thing because not enough people want to watch the teams in the          Divisions Three and Four. Most people, of course, like to see the games that are played by the best teams, the teams in Division One.

Key