Bayern Munich narrows gap to front-runner Dortmund

 　　BERLIN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- German record champion and second positioned Bayern Munich narrowed gap at the Bundesliga standings following a neat 1-0 win over Nuremberg at the 28th round on Saturday.

　　At the southern derby, Jupp Heynckes side carved out a hard earned 1-0 win over dedicated¹ Nuremberg to utilize² Dortmund's draw to narrow the gap to three points at the standings.

　　Nuremberg made life difficult for unimaginative German record champion throughout the match. It had to come to the 70th minute when Bayern midfielder and Dutch international Arjen Robben slotted home a clearance³ attempt into bottom right.

　　After the lead, Bayern retracted⁴, thus Nuremberg sniffed⁵ the chance for a late equalizer but all their efforts remained unrewarded. Bayern stays on second position with 60 points including a three-point gap to front-runner Dortmund. Nuremberg slips from 11th to 12th position with 31 points.

　　Bremen suffered a 3-0 loss against Mainz to suffer a setback⁶ at the battle for international competitions as Mainz staged a faultless performance at Weser stadium. Mainz opened the scoring with 19 minutes into the match as striker Adam Szalai slotted home from 11 meters.

　　After interval⁷, Mainz substitute striker Eric Maxim⁸ Choupo Moting donated a brace⁹ to seal the deal for his side at the 74th minute. Bremen resides on seventh position with 40 points whereas Mainz jumps from 12th to 10th position with 33 points.

　　Leverkusen suffered the fourth consecutive¹⁰ loss at the league owing to a harmless performance against Freiburg that wrapped a deserved 2-0 win at BayArena.

　　Freiburg midfielder Julian Schuster and midfielder mate Daniel Caliguri scored the goals to inflict¹¹ Leverkusen an unexpected loss in front of home crowd. Both sides stay on their positions, Leverkusen on sixth position with 40 points and Freiburg on 13th position with 31 points.

　　At the other matches on Saturday, struggling Hamburg edged bottom team Kaiserslautern with a neat 1-0 win due to the winner by midfielder Marcell Jansen. Wolfsburg came from behind to crush relegation¹² threatened Berlin 4-1 while Augsburg overpowered Cologne 2-1.

　　On Sunday Hannover encounters stunner Monchengladbach and Hoffenheim hosts third positioned Schalke to complete the 28th round of Bundesliga.

1 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

2 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

3 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

4 retracted   

v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回

参考例句：

• He made a false confession which he later retracted. 他作了假供词，后来又翻供。
• A caddy retracted his statement. 一个球童收回了他的话。 来自辞典例句

5 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

7 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

8 maxim   

n.格言，箴言

参考例句：

• Please lay the maxim to your heart.请把此格言记在心里。
• "Waste not,want not" is her favourite maxim.“不浪费则不匮乏”是她喜爱的格言。

9 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。

10 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

11 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

12 relegation   

n.驱逐，贬黜；降级

参考例句：

• Liaoning team lost this game, is still deeply avoid relegation zone. 辽宁队本场失利后，仍然深陷保级区。 来自互联网
• In society, relegation is based on your income. 社会上的规类是以你的收入为基准。 来自互联网