2007年VOA标准英语-Beckham Makes MLS Debut in Washington

By Parke Brewer¹
Washington
10 August 2007

English star David Beckham made his Major League Soccer debut² Thursday night here in Washington, but his Los Angeles Galaxy³ club lost to DC United, 1-0. VOA Sports Editor Parke Brewer was at the match at RFK Stadium and has details.

Los Angeles Galaxy's midfielder David Beckham, left, from England, fights for control of the ball against DC United Luciano Emilio from Brazil

Before a sellout crowd of nearly 47,000 and a national television audience, David Beckham came on as a substitute in the 72nd minute, shortly after a pouring rain let up. His Los Angeles Galaxy team was trailing 1-0 and also playing a man short after Kyle Martino was red-carded in the 67th minute for a hard tackle⁴.

With an injured left ankle that's bothered him for two months, it was uncertain if Beckham would take the field, but the 32-year-old midfielder had assured his coach Frank Yallop that he could manage, and Yallop was okay with the field conditions.

"I think it made it a bit easier because it was not so much of a sticky field. I think ankles tend to get caught up in the grass and you can turn them again, so I think once the rain started to come down I felt more comfortable with putting David on," said Yallop. "You know we asked him and he said he was ready to go, so that was good news; great to see him out there."

Beckham did not deny that he is still affected⁵ by the ankle, injured while playing in a European Championship qualifier for England June 6, but he said it was good to finally see MLS action after leaving Spain's Real Madrid at the end of the Spanish league season and coming to the United States.

David Beckham at a post-match news conference in Washington DC, 9 Aug 2007

"There was tenderness. There was hesitation⁶. Obviously I haven't played for eight weeks. I haven't trained [fully] for eight weeks on a field so it's the first sort of time I've really gotten into anything competitive," said Beckham. "But I was happy to be out there. I was happy to get out there and at least get 20 minutes in the game."

Beckham had played 16 minutes on July 21, but that was in the Galaxy's friendly match against English club Chelsea. He did not get in before a disappointed sellout crowd in Toronto last Sunday. Beckham said he appreciated the warm reception he got from the sell-out Washington crowd when he entered the game.

"It's not nice to disappoint people that have paid a lot of money to come and see the game and buy tickets, and I was thankful that I could actually even get on the [field] tonight. So it was a good night, but a bad night because we ended up losing the game," said Beckham.

The only goal of the game came in the 27th minute from DC United's Brazilian star Luciano Emilio. He has scored 11 goals in the last 10 games and is Major League Soccer's leading scorer with 13.

1 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

4 tackle   

n.工具，复滑车，扭倒；v.处理，抓住

参考例句：

• Don't forget to bring your sports tackle with you tomorrow.别忘了明天带上你的体育用具。
• We have gained sufficient experience to tackle this problem.我们已经有了足够的经验来处理这个问题。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。