万花筒 2010-04-25&04-26 英格兰申办2018世界杯，英国

-Mark, What is it?

-Well Joe, British Airways¹ has agreed to sponsor the England World Cup bid for 2018 which is in the process of being put together. And it's a real coup² this for the bid committee. The sponsorship deal will be able to be announced tomorrow, I understand it and it will be valued around a million pounds which will be delivered in the form of flights as well as cash for the bid and BA will be  joining other blue-chip names backing the World Cup bid, such as Morrisons and BT. So it's a real coup for the England’s 2018 World Cup bid.

-Is there any thought in briefing noted³ about how much British Airways is planning to stamp out.

-Well, it should be about a million pounds which will be partly in cash and partly in flights which of course invaluable⁴ to a committee that is bidding to stage a global sporting event, because of course they need to travel all over the world to try and solicit⁵ support from FIFA executive committee members. So it should be valued around a million pounds, Mark, and that's invaluable support at a time when the English bid is facing stiff competition from elsewhere.

-Mark Kleinman, Central London, thanks very much.

1 AIRWAYS   

航空公司

参考例句：

• The giant jets that increasingly dominate the world's airways. 越来越称雄于世界航线的巨型喷气机。
• At one point the company bought from Nippon Airways a 727 jet. 有一次公司从日本航空公司买了一架727型喷气机。

2 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

5 solicit   

vi.勾引；乞求；vt.请求，乞求；招揽(生意)

参考例句：

• Beggars are not allowed to solicit in public places.乞丐不得在公共场所乞讨。
• We should often solicit opinions from the masses.我们应该经常征求群众意见。