VOA标准英语2008年-US Volleyball Team Plays on After Stabbing

With heavy hearts, the U.S. Men's Olympic Volleyball team decided¹ to take the court Sunday, one day after the stabbing death in Beijing of a close relative of the head coach. VOA Sports Editor Parke Brewer² is in the Chinese capital and has the story.
　
US President George W. Bush, center with US men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon, left, and members of his team in Beijing, 08 Aug 2008

The U.S. men had to go a full five sets to defeat Venezuela in their opening Pool A match, 3-2. They won the deciding set 15-10 (full score: 25-18, 25-18, 22-25, 21-25, 15-10).

On Saturday, their head coach, Hugh McCutcheon, left practice as soon as he heard about the stabbing attack against his wife's family at the ancient Drum Tower, a tourist attraction just north of the Forbidden City.

McCutcheon's father-in-law Todd Bachman was killed and Bachman's wife was hospitalized with serious injuries. Their daughter was not hurt, but their Chinese guide also suffered stab wounds.

Their attacker, a 47-year-old jobless, divorced man from eastern China, jumped from the Tower to his death after the assault³. Officials said it appeared to be a random⁴ attack.

With coach McCutcheon leaving to be with family members, assistant coach Ron Larson took over on the sidelines for the Venezuela match.

"I think the best way we can honor them at this juncture⁵ is the only thing we can do, and that is to go out and compete everyday and play hard everyday and enjoy and love the game of volleyball," he said.

U.S. team player Lloy Ball says they miss their head coach but know they must play on.

"You know you can't live in fear or anger about what happened," said Ball. "All you can do is send your prayers and sympathies to the family and try to continue what Hugh would want us to do, and that's try to win a gold medal."

The American men are ranked third in the world behind volleyball powerhouse Brazil and Russia. Their next Olympic match is on Tuesday against Italy.

 

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 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。

3 assault   

v.猛烈地攻击，袭击；n.突然而猛烈的攻击

参考例句：

• She appeared in court on charges of kidnapping and assault.她因受到拐骗和侵犯人身的指控而出庭。
• The trainees were put through an assault course.受训人员接受了突击训练课程。

4 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

5 juncture   

n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头

参考例句：

• The project is situated at the juncture of the new and old urban districts.该项目位于新老城区交界处。
• It is very difficult at this juncture to predict the company's future.此时很难预料公司的前景。