I'm Dan.

我是丹

And I'm Neil.

我是尼爾

Now, Neil,

尼爾

do you like going to live football matches?

你喜歡看美式足球比賽嗎？

Oh yes, I love it.

喔！我超愛的

Is it better than watching them on TV?

那有比在電視上看更好嗎？

Well, you don't really see as much as you

有，你無法在電視上看到

do on TV,

所有賽況

but then on TV you don't really feel the atmosphere.

因為在電視上你無法感受到當下的氣氛

You can't sing along

你在家也無法

with the chants and songs at home.

和大家一起唱歌

Well, it's good you mentioned the songs and

很高興你提到了歌曲

chants because that is today's topic.

因為這是今天的主題

It seems that for some football clubs, the atmosphere

對美式足球俱樂部來說

in the stadiums is becoming a bit 'quiet'.

球場上的氣氛逐漸變得「安靜」

Now, before we look at this topic in more

現在在我們進入今天主題前

detail, here is today's quiz.

這裡有一個小考

As we are talking about football, in which decade was

當我們說到美式足球，哪一個年代

the first ever international football match played?

是第一次舉辦國際美式足球比賽？

Is it a) in the 1870s

是 a) 1870 年代

b) in the 1890s

b) 1890 年代

or c) in the 1910s

或 c) 1910 年代

I could be wrong but I think it was before

我可能會錯，但我覺得是在

the turn of the century, so I'll say the 1890s.

世紀末，所以應該是 1890 年代

Well, we'll see if you're right or not later in the show.

嗯 ... 我們將會在節目後揭曉答案

Now, songs and chants are part of the experience

歌曲是美式足球比賽的

of football matches.

一部分

But where do they come from? What are they about?

但是這些歌曲來自哪裡？是關於什麼？

Here's Joe Wilson from BBC Sport.

這是來自 BBC 運動頻道的喬伊威爾遜

Which team name does he mention?

他提到哪個隊名？

Some songs can be witty, honed specifically

有些歌可以很詼諧，專為了慶祝

to celebrate a certain player or

某個球員或是

moment in a club's history.

足球隊歷史上的某個時刻

Others rely more on a hypnotic repetition of syllables.

其他歌可能具有催眠性的重複音節

U-NI-TED, for example.

像是 U-NI-TED

So, which team does he mention?

所以他提到哪個隊伍？

Well, he used the syllables from United.

他用 United 的音節來舉例子

This isn't one team as there are quite a few professional

這不是一個團隊，因為在英國有不少

teams in Britain that have United

職業球隊的隊名也有 United

in their names, in fact there are over a dozen.

事實上有超過十幾個

Perhaps the most well-known though would be

可能最有名的是

Manchester United.

曼徹斯特聯足球隊

I think fans of Welling United might argue

我想威靈聯足球隊的粉絲會

with you about that! Anyway, what did Wilson say

不同意你的想法！不管如何，威爾遜說了什麼

about the nature of football songs?

關於美式足球歌曲的本質？

He said they could be witty. Witty means

他說它們可以很詼諧

funny but in a clever way.

Witty 的意思是以聰明的方式表達有趣

He also said that they could be honed.

他還說它們可以被雕琢

Honed is an interesting word here.

Honed 在這裡是個很有趣的單字

Something that is honed is carefully crafted,

某物被精心打造

skilfully created and developed over a period of time.

巧妙地創造和發展一段時間

When it comes to witty football songs Wilson

提到詼諧的足球歌曲

describes them as being honed to be about a particular

威爾遜說歌曲是專為慶祝某個特定的球員

player, or a moment in a club's history.

或是足球隊歷史上的某個時刻而精心打造

But these aren't the only kinds of songs.

但不只有這類型的歌曲

Another kind of song he describes

他提到還有另一類型的歌曲

is the hypnotic repetition of syllables.

是具有催眠性的重複音節

Something that is hypnotic repeats again and again

有些是催眠性的不斷重複

– like a magical spell or chant.

像是魔法咒語或是聖歌

What's interesting is that in football songs words

有趣的是足球歌的歌詞

can have more syllables than you would expect.

可以有超乎你想像多的音節

Oh yes, for example, let's take England.

喔！沒錯，我們舉 England 為例子

Two syllables, right?

兩個音節對嗎？

Right!

沒錯！

Wrong!

錯了！

At least in a football stadium it becomes

至少在足球場上它變成

three syllables.

三個音節

Eng – ger – land, Eng – ger – land …

Eng – ger – land, Eng – ger – land …

Alright! Thank you! Let's listen to Mr Wilson again.

好吧！謝謝你！我們再聽一次威爾遜先生的介紹

Some songs can be witty, honed specifically

有些歌可以很詼諧，專為了慶祝

to celebrate a certain player or moment

某個球員或是足球隊歷史上的

in a club's history.

某個時刻

Others rely more on a

其他歌可能較

hypnotic repetition of syllables.

具有催眠性的重複音節

U-NI-TED, for example.

像是 U-NI-TED

Now, apparently, in many stadiums, the crowds

顯然地，在很多球場上

aren't singing as much as they used to.

觀眾已經不像過去那樣唱歌了

Some managers have complained that the fans

有些負責人抱怨粉絲

are too quiet and that this has a negative effect

太過安靜，這會對球員產生

on the players.

負面的影響

So what are some of the reasons for this?

所以為什麼會這樣呢？

Here's BBC Sport's Joe Wilson again.

在一次來到 BBC 運動頻道的喬伊威爾遜

How many reasons does he mention?

他提到多少個原因？

The decline in singing may be explained by

唱歌減少的原因可能是

changing demographics in football attendance.

觀賽人口統計數據的改變

Older supporters, more expensive tickets.

越老的支持者會花越多錢買票

Or by stadium design.

或是體育場的設計

All-seater arenas may discourage the instinct

全座的賽場可能會阻礙

to stand up and sing.

觀眾想要站著唱歌的興奮感

So, what reasons did he give for the decline

所以他認為

in singing, for the fact that singing

越來越少人在球賽唱歌

is getting less common.

的原因是什麼

He gave a number of reasons.

他給了一些原因

He talked about the change in demographics.

他提到觀賽人口統計的改變

Demographics refers to a section of the population

Demographics 是指一部分的人群

that do a particular thing.

做某件特定的事情

It can refer to age groups or wealth, for example.

舉例來說它可以是年齡組成或是財富組成

What Wilson says is that the members that

威爾遜說觀眾造成

make up a football crowd are changing.

足球人群的改變

They are older and wealthier, and perhaps that

他們較老且較富有，也許這是

is a demographic or group that is less likely

一群不太可能在

to sing in public.

公共場合唱歌的人群

Another reason he gives is that sitting down

他提到的另一個原因是坐下

might also discourage people from singing.

也許會阻礙人們想唱歌的感覺

If something discourages you, it makes you

如果某事 discourage 你，代表它造成你

not want to do it.

不想做某事

Most stadiums in the UK have to have seats and maybe

大部分英國的體育場都有座位

singing is something that people feel happier doing

也許當他們站著時，唱歌會讓

when they are standing up.

人們感到更開心

Well, the final whistle is about to blow on

今天節目的終場哨聲

today's programme.

即將吹響

Before that though,

在這之前

here's the answer to our quiz question.

我們要揭曉今日小考的答案

I asked you

我問你們

when the first international football match took place.

第一次國際的美式足球賽舉辦在什麼時候

And I took a guess with the 1890s.

然後我猜 1890 年代

And that's a red card, I'm afraid, Neil.

尼爾，我很遺憾你答錯了

The first international football match took place in the

第一次國際的美式足球比賽是在 1870 年代舉行

1870s between England and Scotland.

是英國的和蘇格蘭的足球隊比賽

Oh, come on ref!

喔！拜託~裁判！

And now, to take us to the whistle, let's

節目結束前，我們來

review today's vocabulary.

複習一下今天的單字

The first word we had was witty.

第一個單字是 witty

A kind of humour that is smart and clever.

一種聰明且詼諧的幽默

Then we had honed for something that is crafted

再來是 honed，代表某物被精心打造

and improved over time.

而且持續發展一段時間

A bit like my physique.

有點像我的體格

I've been honing my body in the gym.

我都在健身房努力雕塑我的體格

Really?

真的嗎？

Are you being witty?

你很幽默嗎？

I wasn't trying to!

我沒想到！

Anyhow, we then heard about hypnotic repetition

無論如何，我們還聽到 hypnotic repetition

to describe the effect of thousands of people repeating

描述數千人一遍又一遍的

the syllables of a football team over and over

重複足球隊的音節

and over and over and over and over and over…

一遍又一遍 ... 一遍又一遍 ...

OK, Dan! OK, Dan!

好了好了！丹！

We use the phrase a decline in

我們使用一個片語 a decline in

to say that something is getting less.

來表示某事變得越來越少

Demographics refers to a group or section

Demographics 表示一個族群或是

of the population that is involved a particular activity.

人口的一部分參與了某特定的活動

And finally we had the verb discourage for

最後有個動詞 discourage for

something that makes us less likely to do something.

表示某事導致我們不想做某事

Well, that is it for this programme.

這是我們今天的節目

If you're not interested in football,

如果你對美式足球沒興趣

I hope we didn't discourage you from listening again!

希望你還會想聽我們的節目！

Indeed, I hope it doesn't lead to a decline

事實上，我希望這不會造成

in our audience.

我們觀眾的減少

We want to have as wide a demographic as possible.

我們想要盡可能有個廣泛收聽族群

So with that in mind, don't forget to find

不要忘記你可以在 Facebook

us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube,

Twitter、Instagram 和 YouTube 上找到我們的影片

and of course, on our website – bbclearninenglish.com!

當然還有我們的網站 - bbclearninenglish.com

Bye!

拜！

Goodbye!

拜拜！