Napli won to chase Juventus

 　　ROME, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Edison Cavani scored a brace¹ as Napoli edged a nervy 3-2 win over Atalanta on Sunday and narrowed the gap between them and the Serie A leaders Juventus to nine points.

　　Cavani ended his own six-week goal drought with an early penalty to hand the initiative to his side, who had failed to win in five games and risked surrendering second spot to AC Milan.

　　Paolo Cannavaro conceded an own-goal, and Cavani was relieved to have doubled up just before German Denis levelled the tie once again midway through the second half. Goran Pandev then pounced² in the final 10 minutes to keep the southerners within nine points of leaders Juventus and two points clear of third-placed Milan.

　　Napoli head coach Walter Mazzarri urged his side not to drop further points.

　　"We are not already thinking about the game with Milan. We had the same discussions before the Juventus match and then we dropped points against Udinese and Sampdoria, so we have to take it one game at a time," he said.

　　Two goals from Mario Balotelli paced AC Milan to a 2-0 victory over struggling Palermo. Milan did not appear to be too disheartened by their midweek Champions League thrashing at Barcelona as Balotelli fired his sixth goal in Rossoneri colors from the penalty spot.

　　Balotelli's close-range second guaranteed an 11th league game without defeat for Massimiliano Allegri's men.

　　Palermo, meanwhile, took one more step towards relegation³ as returning head coach Giuseppe Sannino failed to deliver a first win in 16 attempts for the Sicilians, who remain joint⁴ last with Pescara.

　　Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri claimed Mario Balotelli is "an excellent professional" and have the best chance to show his qualities.

　　"I think this is an important opportunity for Balotelli, as for the first time he is playing as a protagonist⁵ in a team full of youngsters," said Allegri.

　　"He is relaxed and an excellent professional. He has been on the European stage for seven or eight years, but this is his best chance so far to really show his qualities," he said.

　　Fiorentina needed a Mattia Cassani own-goal to fend⁶ off a double fightback from 10-man Genoa and claim a 3-2 victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

　　The result allowed Fiorentina to stay in touch with third-placed AC Milan and out of the reach of Inter⁷, whose game at Sampdoria was postponed⁸ due to heavy rain.

　　Lazio was upset 1-0 at Torino while their cross-city rivals Roma beat Parma 2-0 at home. A second-half onslaught was not enough for Siena to take all three points against Cagliari, who came closest to breaking the deadlock⁹ in a 0-0 draw at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

　　Two late goals edged Pescara closer to relegation and boosted Chievo's hopes of staying up as the visitors won 2-0 at the Stadio Adriatico.

1 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。

2 pounced   

v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击）

参考例句：

• As soon as I opened my mouth, the teacher pounced on me. 我一张嘴就被老师抓住呵斥了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police pounced upon the thief. 警察向小偷扑了过去。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 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

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

6 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。

7 inter   

v.埋葬

参考例句：

• They interred their dear comrade in the arms.他们埋葬了他们亲爱的战友。
• The man who died in that accident has been interred.在那次事故中死的那个人已经被埋葬了。

8 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

9 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。