pbs高端访谈:足球,丑闻,腐败如同草渍一样普遍

 　　GWEN IFILL:Next, we turn to a scandal that's rocked one of the world's most popular sports.

　　Hari Sreenivasan reports.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN:Soccer has been tainted¹ in the past by evidence of match fixing. But European law enforcement officials outlined a complex scandal yesterday that was enormous in scope and could be deeply damaging to the game's reputation.

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　　The European Union's police agency, Europol, said an 18-month investigation² turned up 680 matches suspected of being fixed³ across the globe. The games were played between 2008 and 2011. The scandal may have even involved qualifying matches for the sport's biggest tournaments, the World Cup and the European Championships.

　　The probe cited links to criminal networks, including a Singapore-based crime syndicate. Europol wouldn't name any of the suspected matches or individuals, but said it involved more than 400 people in 15 countries.

　　For more on this story, I'm joined by Kevin Baxter, who covers soccer for The L.A. Times.

　　Thanks for joining me.

　　KEVIN BAXTER, The Los Angeles Times: Thanks for the invitation to speak with you. Good evening.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN:So, Kevin, tell me, this is not a large soccer country, the United States. Help us put in perspective how big of a scandal this is.

　　KEVIN BAXTER:Well, Rob Wainwright, who is the head of Europol, said that it's so large, at such a grand scale, that it threatens the very fabric⁴ of the gain.

　　And another Europol investigator⁵ said that this is just the tip of the iceberg⁶. To give you maybe a little bit of perspective, the international sports wagering⁷ market is about one trillion—does one trillion of business a year.

　　The Asian markets alone, they have more transactions, sports bets on a daily basis than the New York Stock Exchange goes through. So it's phenomenal, the size of the betting market. Now, that's everything from you or I going down to the nearby casino and putting $5 down on the Super Bowl. It goes from there up to huge bets on soccer matches.

　　And this is throughout the world. Now, with soccer, there are 208 national federations⁸ that oversee⁹ as many as 10,000 clubs worldwide. So it would be very easy to sort of come in, bet on a game, fix a game, some low-hanging fruit perhaps—fix a game, and then put down a lot of bets on it, and be able to walk away with some money. And that's what this investigation found.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN:So, give me an example of what happened. Were they paying off players, refs, team managers?

　　KEVIN BAXTER:Well, they paid off—according to Europol's investigation, and as you mentioned in the lead-in, this is not the first time soccer's been caught up in this.

　　The difference now is the scope. Five continents were involved in this, as you said, World Cup qualifiers, European Championship qualifiers. Basically, what happens is the syndicates—and the focus here is on a Singapore-based crime syndicate—they hire runners.

　　The runners go out and make contact with a player, an official, perhaps a team official of the club that they have targeted. They will sit down with them, ask what they want. Some of the bribes¹¹ have gone as high as $130,000 to fix a match. Then the runner and the person who they have decided¹² to bribe¹⁰, they come together and decide what kind of strategy they want to use.

　　There was a famous incident not too long ago in Turkey where there was an exhibition game played. Most soccer games have a total of three, maybe four goals. They decided the over/under on that would be seven goals, and the referee¹³ was part of the bribe in this case. And the referee—by the end of the match, seven goals had been scored, all of them on penalty kicks.

　　There was one kick that a player missed and the referee ordered him to kick it again, so they could finish with seven goals, which is what the crime syndicate wanted. So, it's pervasive¹⁴. It's at all levels. And it's something that the soccer community globally needs to clean up, especially ahead of the next World Cup.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN:And so what's the potential for impact of this scandal on the United States?

　　KEVIN BAXTER:Well, that's interesting.

　　I think that's the question that a lot of people are going to be asking: Could it happen here? U.S. soccer says they have not been contacted by anyone in this investigation. We know that a Canadian team was involved in this, that there was a suspicious match there in Canada that was investigated.

　　We know that other teams CONCACAF, which is the conference that the U.S. team plays in during World Cup qualifying, we know that Central American teams were involved in this scandal. The U.S. says it couldn't happen here because they have too many safeguards.

　　And Major League Soccer is involved with a number of different organizations that give early warning signs, tip them off when lot of movie is moving—a lot of money, rather, is moving on one match. And they have tried to keep a handle on that.

　　But to say that it couldn't happen here, you look at the United Kingdom and the football association there, which is now looking into the possibility that Liverpool, one of the most famous clubs in the world, may have been involved in this Europol scandal.

　　So to say that it couldn't happen here, they may be a little bit arrogant¹⁵. As this scandal has shown, it's pervasive. It's everywhere. Some people are saying now that this illegal market in soccer bribes, soccer betting now may be as large and pervasive and as lucrative¹⁶ as the international drug market.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN:All right, Kevin Baxter from The L.A. Times, thanks so much for joining us.

　　KEVIN BAXTER:Thanks for having me.

1 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

3 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

4 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

5 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

6 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

7 wagering   

v.在（某物）上赌钱，打赌( wager的现在分词 )；保证，担保

参考例句：

• Generally, wagering contracts are illegal and will not be enforced. 通常情况下，赌博性合同是无效的并且不能执行。 来自互联网

8 federations   

n.联邦( federation的名词复数 )；同盟；联盟；联合会

参考例句：

• These problems are women's special problems and special work of women's federations. 这样的问题，就是妇女的特殊问题，就是妇联的特殊工作。 来自互联网
• The Bridge Federate is a feasible solution to achieve multi-federations interconnection. 基于桥接成员实现多联邦互连是目前较为通用和可行的方法。 来自互联网

9 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

10 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

11 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

14 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

15 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。

16 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。