2007年VOA标准英语-National Pride Inspires US Davis Cup Team

By Jim Stevenson
Winston
08 April 2007

For most professional tennis players, each season is filled with the individual pursuits¹ of winning tournament titles and prize money. But as VOA's Jim Stevenson reports, a handful² of players often find their most satisfying moments by playing for no money while representing their nations on the tennis courts.

Each year, the Davis Cup tournament is played to determine the best men's national team. Countries competing often have at least one highly³ ranked player on the court. Four singles matches and one doubles match make up each best-of-five series known as a "tie."

This year, the United States team has two top-10 players - number three Andy Roddick and ninth-ranked James Blake. Brothers Mike and Bob Bryan are the top ranked doubles tandem⁴ in the world.

James Blake

For Blake, Davis Cup tennis has a special feeling.

"This team feels like a family. We do everything together. And when we win, we have a great time celebrating together. When we lose, we have a quiet dinner and we talk about it [the loss]. And we talk about getting them [beating them] next time," he said.

Andy Roddick likes the fact that both the players and fans are enjoying the sport with some extra meaning.

"I think it brings out a new level of passion from the fans. They are not rooting for a guy. You can get behind the flag (support your country). And I think the players feed off of that as well," said Roddick.  "It is probably no small part to the rest of my team. They are some of my best friends. And so I know I am playing for them too."

For James Blake, the Davis Cup tournament is providing a new opportunity he has not experienced⁵ before in competitive⁶ tennis.

"It is a great thing because I have the feeling of competing as a team. And I have never reached the pinnacle⁷ of any team accomplishment," said Blake. "I was thinking about it just a few months ago about the fact I never won an NCAA [college] championship as a team. I never won a high school championship as a team. I never won inter-sectionals, I never won any of that stuff⁸. So, now to have the chance to do it at the top level would mean the world to me."

Blake and his teammates need to get past Sweden in the upcoming semifinals (in September) to have a chance to win the title in December. The United States holds a record 31 Davis Cup titles, but none since 1995.

The Davis Cup began in 1900 as a competition between the United States and the British Isles⁹. It now includes 120 nations.

1 pursuits   

n.追赶( pursuit的名词复数 )；工作；消遣；嗜好

参考例句：

• Games like chess are rather intellectual pursuits. 棋类比赛是相当费脑力的娱乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has been engaged in literary pursuits. 他从事了文学生涯。 来自《用法词典》

2 handful   

n.一把；少量，少数，一小撮

参考例句：

• We invited 30 people, but only a handful came.我们邀请了30人，但是只到了几个人。
• He pulled out a handful of coins from his pocket.他从口袋里掏出一把硬币。

3 highly   

adv.高度地，极，非常；非常赞许地

参考例句：

• It is highly important to provide for the future.预先做好准备非常重要。
• The teacher speaks very highly of the boy's behaviour.老师称赞这个男孩的表现。

4 tandem   

n.同时发生；配合；adv.一个跟着一个地；纵排地；adj.（两匹马）前后纵列的

参考例句：

• Malcolm's contract will run in tandem with his existing one.马尔科姆的合同将与他手头的合同同时生效。
• He is working in tandem with officials of the Serious Fraud Office.他正配合欺诈重案办公室的官员工作。

5 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

6 competitive   

adj.竞争的，比赛的，好竞争的，有竞争力的

参考例句：

• Some kinds of business are competitive.有些商业是要竞争的。
• These businessmen are both competitive and honourable.这些商人既有竞争性又很诚实。

7 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。

8 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

9 isles   

岛( isle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the geology of the British Isles 不列颠群岛的地质
• The boat left for the isles. 小船驶向那些小岛。