美国国家公共电台 NPR Underdog 'Reggae Girlz' Make History at Women's World Cup

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We turn now to the Women's World Cup, which has officially kicked off in France. Jamaica will make its debut¹ as the underdog. They are the lowest-ranked team in the tournament. But a couple of years ago, Jamaica didn't even have a national women's soccer team. Tomorrow, the Reggae Girlz, as they are known, take on Brazil. NPR's Jason Beaubien has this report.

(CHEERING)

JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE²: The Reggae Girlz took to the field in Scotland last week to play their final warm-up match before heading to France. A record 18,000 fans showed up. This was more than four times the previous record for a home game for the Scottish women's national squad³. And the teams didn't disappoint.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Goal for Jamaica.

BEAUBIEN: Jamaica went up early on a goal by their star forward, Khadija Shaw, who is also known by her nickname, Bunny. In the end, Scotland, however, rallied to win. Twenty-four-year-old Natalie Lawrence, who describes herself as half-Jamaican, half-Scottish, was in the stands.

NATALIE LAWRENCE: Oh, it was a really good match. It was amazing. Like, let me just say Bunny Shaw, Khadija Shaw - she was amazing.

BEAUBIEN: But Khadija Shaw and the rest of the Jamaican women almost didn't make it to the Women's World Cup - not because they barely squeaked⁴ by Panama in the qualifiers but because just a few years ago, Jamaica didn't even have a national women's soccer team. The Jamaican football federation⁵ disbanded the Reggae Girlz in 2014. Then, after they were resurrected, the federation suspended funding for them again while facing budget shortfalls in 2016.

KHADIJA SHAW: I don't think a lot of people know what we've gone through behind the scenes.

BEAUBIEN: That's Khadija Shaw, the striker who netted two goals in the match against Scotland. Shaw says over the last five years, the Jamaican women's team has had to fight not just to survive but to fund their training camps. The players didn't even have their own uniforms. Until recently, their head coach was a volunteer. Even flying to Europe, the entire team's reservation out of Florida was cancelled because no one confirmed the tickets. The players got rebooked on flights that forced some of them to have to fly through Morocco and then Holland to get to Scotland. Much of their luggage was lost and only arrived just before the game.

SHAW: As I said, we'd face a lot of adversities and setbacks, so that's just nothing new to us.

BEAUBIEN: Shaw says the person who turned around the Jamaican national women's team was reggae star Bob Marley's daughter, Cedella. In 2014, Cedella Marley released a single, "Strike Hard," to cover basic expenses for the team. And since then, Cedella Marley has been a tireless advocate for the female squad.

CEDELLA MARLEY: For me, everyone should have their right to go after their dreams and passions without gender⁶ being a factor.

BEAUBIEN: But to Marley, it was clear that when it came to the Reggae Girlz, gender was a factor. In 2014, when the Jamaican Football Federation disbanded the team, the Federation continued to fund the men's team even though the Reggae Boyz hadn't qualified⁷ for a World Cup since 1998.

MARLEY: I'm not here to say, well, the men got this, and the men got that because they deserve to get all of that. The only problem that I have is when you're saying, well, we can't give that to the woman because we don't believe they're going to be good. We don't believe anybody will come to see them in the stadiums. We don't believe anybody's going to buy a T-shirt, so therefore, no. That wasn't going to work for me.

BEAUBIEN: Marley became the Reggae Girlz's hard-hitting fairy godmother. She spearheaded fundraising drives, badgered the Jamaican Football Federation for support and made it clear that she wasn't going to put up with what she calls outdated⁸ ideas about how girls shouldn't play soccer.

MARLEY: If you have a group of girls, who just want to play football, give them the resources to play football.

BEAUBIEN: But Jamaica is a nation of just three million people, and resources and public attention are limited.

KAREN MADDEN: And, to be honest, women's football is not very popular in Jamaica.

BEAUBIEN: Karen Madden, a sports reporter at The Gleaner⁹ newspaper in Kingston, says the Reggae Girlz have persevered¹⁰ because they've refused to take no for an answer for years.

MADDEN: These are Jamaicans. Khadija Shaw is from a tough, inner-city community. Jody Brown is from a rural town in St Anne. A lot of players on the team are from humble¹¹ beginnings, and they are going to be playing on FIFA's top stage.

BEAUBIEN: Madden says the Jamaican squad has beaten the odds¹² just to get to the Women's World Cup. And, she adds, she wouldn't bet against them now.

Jason Beaubien, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS SONG, "POSITIVE VIBRATION¹³")

MARTIN: And we hope you'll tune¹⁴ in tomorrow when we plan to speak with soccer journalist Caitlin Murray about her history of the U.S. women's team and the triumphs and challenges of women in the sport.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POSITIVE VIBRATION")

BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS: (Singing) Live if you want to live. Rastaman vibration, yeah, positive. Pickin' up, are you pickin' up now? Pickin' up, are you pickin' up now? Jah love, Jah love, protect us. Jah love, Jah love, protect us.

1 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

4 squeaked   

v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者

参考例句：

• The radio squeaked five. 收音机里嘟嘟地发出五点钟报时讯号。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Amy's shoes squeaked on the tiles as she walked down the corridor. 埃米走过走廊时，鞋子踩在地砖上嘎吱作响。 来自辞典例句

5 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

6 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

7 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

8 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

9 gleaner   

n.拾穗的人；割捆机

参考例句：

• Your feet are rosy-red with the glow of my heart's desire, Gleaner of my sunset songs! 你的双脚被我心切望的热光染得绯红，我的落日之歌的搜集者！ 来自互联网

10 persevered   

v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She persevered with her violin lessons. 她孜孜不倦地学习小提琴。
• Hard as the conditions were, he persevered in his studies. 虽然条件艰苦，但他仍坚持学习。 来自辞典例句

11 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

12 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

13 vibration   

n.颤动，振动；摆动

参考例句：

• There is so much vibration on a ship that one cannot write.船上的震动大得使人无法书写。
• The vibration of the window woke me up.窗子的震动把我惊醒了。

14 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。