VOA常速英语2008年-Super Bowl About More Than Big Game

By Tony Budny
Washington, DC
01 February 2008
 
Hundreds of millions of people from around the world will watch the New York Giants face the New England Patriots¹ in the Super Bowl this Sunday. The National Football League championship game is traditionally surrounded by holiday spirits in the United States as friends and family gather for celebrations. Tens of thousands will actually attend the game -- and the host city of Glendale, Arizona in the southwest United States is ready to welcome them. VOA's Tony Budny has more.

Ninety-three million people watched the Super Bowl last year in the United States alone. This year, there is added interest, because the Patriots are playing to become only the second undefeated team in N.F.L. history.

The events around the Super Bowl last all week long and not only attract people interested in American football, but in having a good time.

Local businesses in Glendale are weighed down by tens of thousands of football fans and rooms are hard to find. Benedictine nuns² in nearby Phoenix³ are trying to help out. They are renting rooms for $250 a night, compared to $500 elsewhere.

Sister Linda offers insight into the monastery's discount. "I would think that God's got to be excited about the Super Bowl as well. He wants people to enjoy life," she said.

Restaurants have no reason to rely on divine intervention⁴. One employee says, "We've maxed out our staff and brought in a few people for our corporate⁵ headquarters to make sure everything's running smoothly⁶."

An event this large needs extra security. A small army of local police and federal officers are posted across town.

Not only does the town have to prepare for the unexpected, but so do the players. Ines Gomez Mont of TV Aztec had a very personal question for Patriots quarterback Tom Brady at a Super Bowl Media Day news conference.

Brady: "To the woman in the wedding dress."
Mont: "I'm in love with you, Tom!"
Brady: "Are you really?"
Mont: "Marry me, please!"
Brady: "Wow. I've never had a proposal before."

We will leave those two to work that out. For everyone else, get ready to watch the Super Bowl -- not to mention its always-creative TV commercials.

1 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

2 nuns   

n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns. 小尼姑之流是阿Q本来视如草芥的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Nuns are under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. 修女须立誓保持清贫、贞洁、顺从。 来自辞典例句

3 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

4 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

5 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

6 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。