Take Away English-Chinese Footballers in the UK 加盟英足的中国球员

Football is gaining popularity in China

In the past few years, the popularity of football in China has increased, and in Britain, football clubs have also taken an interest in Chinese footballers.

In 2002, Sun Jihai signed to Premiership team Manchester City and has since become one of their key defenders¹. Jihai entered the history books by being the first Chinese player to score in the Premiership.

Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce has praised Jihai’s versatility² and said that the player was missed when he was off the pitch due to injury earlier this year.

Another China international, Li Tie has been a regular midfielder at Everton football club for several years. However, he suffered a setback³ at the end of 2004 because of a broken leg which kept him out of action for several months.

The latest Chinese player to join a Premiership team was the 18 year old prodigy⁴ Dong Fangzhou, who was bought by Manchester United in 2004. Because of problems with red tape he does not yet have a work permit to play in Britain, so he is currently at a Belgian feeder club.

However, the striker was able to play for Manchester United in their Far East tour. He impressed manager Alex Ferguson in his first club appearance, scoring a goal to help the team beat Hong Kong 0-2. Ferguson said that Dong has great potential, and compared his goal to British football legend Gary Lineker.

The Scottish premiership has also become interested in Chinese players, with Rangers⁵ football club signing a partnership⁶ deal with Shenzhen Jianlibao to co-operate in coaching and player development.

Rival club Celtic signed another promising⁷ Chinese player, Du Wei, although so far he has stayed on the substitutes’ bench. However, manager Gordon Strachan has described him as a joy in training sessions and said that he is likely to play for the club soon.

GLOSSARY 词汇表
taken an interest in 对…发生兴趣 defenders 后卫 versatility 多面手 international 国际球员 suffered a setback 受挫 prodigy 天才（少年） feeder club (为主队培训队员的)中转俱乐部 potential 潜力 partnership deal 合作协议 promising 有发展前途的	signed to 签约 entered the history books 载入史册 off the pitch 不(能)上场参赛 midfielder (足球)中场 out of action 停赛 red tape 官僚手续 striker （足球）前锋 legend 传奇式人物 rival 竞争对手 on the substitutes bench (替补)板凳队员

 

1 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 versatility   

n.多才多艺，多样性，多功能

参考例句：

• Versatility is another of your strong points,but don't overdo it by having too many irons in the fire.你还有一个长处是多才多艺，但不要揽事太多而太露锋芒。
• This versatility comes from a dual weather influence.这种多样性是由于双重的气候影响而形成的。

3 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。

4 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

5 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

6 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

7 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。