2007年VOA标准英语-Dungy, Smith Make History as First Black Head C

By David Byrd
Washington
30 January 2007

National Football League head coaches Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears have been friends for years. Dungy mentored² Smith when both were with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and now the two men will lead their teams into Super Bowl XLI in Miami February 4. As VOA's David Byrd reports, the two men have already made history by being the first black head coaches in the NFL's championship game.

 
Super Bowl XLI tickets
The Super Bowl represents the pinnacle³ of National Football League achievement. To make it to the championship game after a 16-game season and the playoffs takes dedication⁴, hard work, focus, and intensity⁵. But in the 41-year history of the championship game, an African American coach has never won the title.

That statistic⁶ is largely because of a lack of opportunity. In the modern era, Art Shell became the first African-American NFL head coach in 1989. This season, seven of the 32 head coaches - or just over 21 percent - were African Americans, with 161 assistants league-wide. This is in a league where more than two-thirds of the players are black.

 
Tony Dungy answers questions at the team hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 29 Jan 2007
Tony Dungy has been an NFL coach since joining the Pittsburgh Steelers as an assistant in 1981. Dungy says making the Super Bowl reminds him of the many coaches who did not have the opportunity he and Lovie Smith have.

"I came in in 1981 and there were less than 15 African-American assistant coaches at that time," he said. "But there were some good guys, some guys who were exceptional and never really were given the chance to do what Lovie and I have the chance to do."

Dungy was close to the Super Bowl before - with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He spent five years with Tampa Bay, took the team to the playoffs three times and won a division title in 1999. However, he was fired after the 2001 season when the Bucs lost to Philadelphia in the playoffs. But the team Dungy built went on to win the Super Bowl in 2003.

Lovie Smith was one of Tony Dungy's assistants at Tampa and was named the Chicago Bears' head coach in 2004. Last season he was voted NFL Coach of the Year after leading the Bears to 11 wins and five losses. Chicago lost to Carolina in the second round of the playoffs.

 
Lovie Smith talks to reporters in Miami, 28 Jan 2007 
Smith says facing his one-time mentor¹ in Miami is the fulfillment of a dream he has had for a long time.

"A dream of mine was to have a chance to play the Colts," he said. "My dream was for Tony Dungy to be in the Super Bowl. That dream has been fulfilled. Now it's about the Chicago Bears trying to win the Super Bowl."

Both Smith and Dungy are known for their respectful treatment of players and their calm in situations where many other coaches would lose their temper or berate⁷ players. Both men also share a deep Christian⁸ faith, and Smith has said he learned what it means to be a coach from Dungy.

The Reverend Nelson Rivers is the Chief Operating Officer of the National Association for the Advancement¹⁰ of Colored People (NAACP). He told VOA that Dungy and Smith show that character - not just performance - are paramount¹¹ to success.

"Tony Dungy said 'coaching the way I do, respecting the players, having the right people on my team, being more concerned about character than athletic¹² ability, I believe I can win like this.' And they kept saying he was too nice to win," he said. "And I am so glad that Tony Dungy has proven that nice guys can finish first."

Rev⁹. Rivers said that Lovie Smith followed Dungy's coaching model, particularly when Chicago fans wanted to bench Bears' quarterback Rex Grossman.

"Lovie Smith absolutely refused all year to listen to the nay-sayers, those who were trying to become the lynch mob, metaphorically¹³, for what was going to happen to Rex Grossman," he said. "And the real irony¹⁴ is that this is an African-American coach, standing¹⁵ up for this white player, who represents a group of people who in many instances in the past, not too distant past, did not have the same kind of support."

Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy made the Super Bowl the week after the United States marked civil rights leader Martin Luther King's birthday. They will face one another in February which, ironically, is Black History Month in the U.S. But both men have already made history, regardless of who wins February 4.

And their legacy¹⁶ will continue beyond Super Bowl XLI. The NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers hired their first African-American head coach - and another of Tony Dungy's protégés, Mike Tomlin - in late January.

1 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

2 mentored   

v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They had a fantastic dean who really mentored a lot of people. 那儿的教务长非常出色，的确为许多人提供了指导。 来自互联网
• The famous professor mentored him during his years in graduate school. 那位著名的教授在他读研究生期间指导他。 来自互联网

3 pinnacle   

n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰

参考例句：

• Now he is at the very pinnacle of his career.现在他正值事业中的顶峰时期。
• It represents the pinnacle of intellectual capability.它代表了智能的顶峰。

4 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。

5 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

6 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

7 berate   

v.训斥，猛烈责骂

参考例句：

• He feared she would berate him for his forgetfulness.他担心，由于健忘又要挨她的训斥了。
• She might have taken the opportunity to berate scientists for their closed minds.她也可能会去利用这个机会斥责那些抱成见的科学家。

8 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

9 rev   

v.发动机旋转，加快速度

参考例句：

• It's his job to rev up the audience before the show starts.他要负责在表演开始前鼓动观众的热情。
• Don't rev the engine so hard.别让发动机转得太快。

10 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

11 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

12 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

13 metaphorically   

adv. 用比喻地

参考例句：

• It is context and convention that determine whether a term will be interpreted literally or metaphorically. 对一个词的理解是按字面意思还是隐喻的意思要视乎上下文和习惯。
• Metaphorically it implied a sort of admirable energy. 从比喻来讲，它含有一种令人赞许的能量的意思。

14 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。