Your weekly English digest from TIME每周一文瘋足球，為什麼中國的男足那麼弱？踢假球的英文你會不會說?

本周的每周一文，與大家分享TIME雜誌的文章。作者在這篇中國男足弱雞多的文章裡，提到國際運動賽事，向來樣樣都要拿第一的中國，為什麼男足一直無法踢出什麼名堂。作者提供了自己的見地，學習這其中的觀察與論點。每周都精讀一篇英文文章，好好吸收養分，多閱讀多寫作，才是寫好文章不二法門。

gif from Kotaku

看完本篇，你將學會踢假球的英文，也會知道赤道幾內亞是啥國家。還會學到超夯單字如sports czar跟 juggernaut的意思。讓你的英文完全跟上時代，不再老摳摳啊。

養梗之道，在於泛讀，培養實力，精讀為上。這十六字教練自創的寫作箴言送給大家啦。

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World Cup Mystery: Why is China So Horrible at Soccer?

By Hannah Beech

The Middle Kingdom cannot seem to transfer "small balls" dominance to "big balls"
China may be the world’s most populous nation世界上人口最稠密的國家 but a men’s soccer giant足球泱泱大國 it is not. Indeed, the nation, ranked 103 in FIFA’s rankings — that’s one below Equatorial Guinea赤道幾內亞(位於中非一個國家) — didn’t even make this year’s World Cup finals. Or the last one. Or the one before that. So how do China’s beleaguered football fans煩擾的足球粉絲 feel? Resigned心甘情願的/認命的, mostly. “If China were in the World Cup,” says Chen Xiao, a football journalist from Shijiazhuang河北石家莊, in northeastern China, “it would contradict the laws of football有違足球定律.”

There are many reasons ascribed 把…歸因為to the dire state悲慘的狀態 of Chinese men’s soccer. (The women aren’t bad at all.) In places like Brazil, kids seem to grow up with footballs attached to their feet. In China, by contrast, there’s no tradition of kiddie soccer兒童足球 fun, even if some patriots愛國者 insist the sport was actually invented in the Middle Kingdom中國(愛國的中國人堅稱足球是中國人發明的，古代稱之為蹴鞠(發音同促局). Nor is there a network of suburban children’s leagues市郊的兒童足球聯盟系統, as in the U.S., because after-school hours in China tend to be dedicated to study, study, study.

That hasn’t stopped millions of Chinese from enjoying the sport, at least as spectators觀眾. President Xi Jinping, for one, is a self-avowed soccer fan自稱是個足球迷. China does have a domestic soccer league but its history of bribery賄賂 and match-fixing踢假球 makes, well, even FIFA look clean. (There are attempts to professionalize the Chinese soccer league成立專業的中國足球聯盟, along with major investments from Chinese billionaires, but that’s a matter for the future.) As for the Chinese national side, it has only ever made the World Cup finals once, back in 2002, when even the coaching of journeyman周遊列國被高薪聘用當教練的 pro Bora Milutinovic知名足球選手，曾帶領四個國家的足球隊踢進世界盃 couldn’t coax the squad to net a single goal可惜無法帶領中國足球隊在比賽得分. In international matches over the past year, China has succumbed to 屈服於the likes of這類國家如 Uzbekistan烏茲別克斯坦, Iraq and a Thai team padded mostly with youth players(這句話的意思是，中國足球隊連跟上述這幾個充斥年輕球員的國家比賽都打輸). (That last defeat compelled irate激怒 Chinese fans to riot.暴動)

Beijing has placed a lot of its international honor on sporting recognition. Through a Soviet-style athletics machine蘇聯模式的嚴格體育訓練機制, the nation’s sports czars運動沙皇(意思是最有權力的決策者) were able to turn an Olympic outcast into the top gold-medal scorer可以化腐朽為神奇，把最不起眼、被奧運淘汰的運動員，訓練成一等一的金牌得主 at the 2008 Beijing Games. China’s sporting juggernaut世界主宰 was based on routine-based pursuits日復一日照表操課的訓練 like shooting, diving and gymnastics. Indeed, the nation’s sports officials lament感嘆 that dominance in “small balls,” like table tennis and badminton, hasn’t sparked success無法有亮眼成績 in “big balls,” like soccer and basketball. (Yes, China really does have sporting departments called “small balls” and “big balls.”) Some in China see hosting the football extravaganza足球大型比賽 as just the catalyst 催化劑the country needs to up its game提升比賽層次(風氣與名次). But others disagree. “The host country will spend billions on the World Cup,” says Liu Yifan, the executive director of Beijing Yifan, a sports-development firm. “We should use that money on improving people’s living standards, especially the poor.”