鲁达 1996年，伦敦温布利体育场。加雷思•索思盖特(Gareth Southgate)捡起球，放在点球点上，然后退后。这是欧洲杯(European Championship)英格兰对德国的半决赛，双方进入点球大战（词汇），现在轮到这位英格兰的中后卫射点球。Wembley Stadium, London, 1996. Gareth Southgate gathers the ball, places it on the spot, then backs away. EnglAND’s central defender（词汇） is taking a penalty kick（词汇）during a shootout against Germany in the European Championship semi-final.
他想迅速结束这场磨难。裁判哨声刚一响起，他就向前冲刺，起脚向球门左侧低射。德国门将安德烈亚斯•科普克(Andreas Köpke)轻松将球挡出。索思盖特此前只在一场职业比赛中罚过一次点球，那次也被扑出了。而这一次的罚丢是决定性的，英格兰队输掉了这场半决赛。He wants the ordeal over quickly. At the referee’s whistle, he sprints forward, kicking low and to the left. German keeper Andreas Köpke palms the ball away with ease. Southgate has only taken one penalty previously in a professional match. That one was also saved. This failure is decisive. England lose the shootout.
N-COUNT The referee is the official who controls a sports event such as a football game or a boxing match.【AND】N-COUNT A referee is a person who gives you a reference, for example when you are applying for a job.
PHRASE If you have someone or something in the palm of your hand, you have control over them.
此后22年里，英格兰再也没在大型赛事中赢过一次点球大战——直到上周，在主教练索思盖特带领下，英格兰在世界杯(World Cup)与哥伦比亚的点球大战中击败了对方。The team would not win another in a major tournament for 22 years — until this week, when England, now led by Southgate as its manager, beat Colombia on penalties in the World Cup.
N-COUNT A tournament is a sports competition in which players who win a match continue to play further matches in the competition until just one person or team is left.
在结束与哥伦比亚的比赛后，索斯盖特在莫斯科斯巴达克体育场对记者们表示：“我们与球员们谈过，关于书写他们自己的故事。今晚，他们证明了他们不一定要重复过去。他们创造了属于他们的历史。”“We’ve spoken to the players about writing their own stories,” Southgate told reporters at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow after the Colombia match. “Tonight, they showed they don’t have to conform to what’s gone before. They have created their own history.”
V-I If something conforms to something such as a law or someone's wishes, it is of the required type or quality. 【AND】V-I If you conform, you behave in the way that you are expected or supposed to behave.
1970年，索斯盖特出生在西萨塞克斯郡克劳利(Crawley, West Sussex)的一个中产阶层家庭，14岁时加入伦敦的英超(Premier League)俱乐部水晶宫(Crystal Palace)青年队。在这项工人阶级的运动里，他是队友们眼中的“上流男孩”。Southgate was born in 1970 to middle-class parents who lived in Crawley, West Sussex. In a working-class sport, he was considered a “posh boy” by teammates in the youth ranks at Crystal Palace, the London-based Premier League football club that he joined aged 14.
ADJ If you describe something as posh, you mean that it is elegant, fashionable, and expensive.【AND】ADJ If you describe a person as posh, you mean that they belong to or behave as if they belong to the upper classes.
自那时以来指导过索斯盖特的教练们认为，与他的同代人相比，他没有他们那么有天赋和才华，但他更加勤奋和有职业道德。转入职业化后，他先后在水晶宫、阿斯顿维拉(Aston Villa)和米德尔斯堡(Middlesbrough)负责中后场，是一位虽然不突出、但值得信赖的球员。他57次为国征战，是一位守纪律的、队友们可以依靠的防守球员。1996年那场半决赛，当英格兰的多名锋线球员不愿去罚点球时，他主动承担了这一责任。His coaches from that time have suggested his contemporaries displayed more flair and talent, but less diligence and work ethic. After turning professional, he became a trustworthy, if unspectacular, centre back at Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough. He played for his country 57 times, a disciplined defensive player his teammates could rely on. In 1996, he volunteered to take a penalty when many of England’s attacking stars（词汇） shied away（句型） from the responsibility.
这些早期经历可能对他担任足球教练极为有益，公众的羞辱经常让教练们做不下去。2009年索斯盖特在担任米德尔斯堡教练时名声受损，球队降级到英格兰足球联赛第二级别的英冠(The Championship)，不久之后他就被解雇了。These early experiences may have served him well （句型）during the frequent ignominies that befall football coaches. His reputation was damaged as manager of Middlesbrough, leading the side to relegation to the Championship, the second tier of English football, in 2009. He was fired shortly afterwards.
N-UNCOUNT Ignominy is shame or public disgrace.
V-T If you relegate someone or something to a less important position, you give them this position.
2013年他被任命为英格兰21岁以下国家队教练，在这里，他受到的关注不像在大俱乐部时那么严厉。于是他推动了一场静悄悄的革命。2014年，英格兰足球管理机构——英格兰足球总会(Football Association)发起了一项雄心勃勃的倡议以改变英格兰队的命运，索斯盖特在其中起到了重要作用。In 2013, he was appointed manager of England’s under-21s, where he was able to work under less scrutiny than at a big club. There, he helped to enact a quiet revolution. In 2014, he was instrumental in an ambitious initiative by the Football Association, the national governing body for the sport, to transform the fortunes of the England team.
ADJ Someone or something that is instrumental in a process or event helps to make it happen.
英足总制定了“英格兰DNA”计划，训练青年队按照成年队伍的传球和先进方式来踢球。所有年龄段的球员都获得基于一套共同原则的指导。The FA instituted the “England DNA” programme, training its youth teams to play the passing and progressive style of football expected of the senior of all ages were to be coached on a set of shared principles.
N-COUNT A squad is a group of players from which a sports team will be chosen.
英足总负责球队教练发展的马特•克罗克(Matt Crocker)表示，其中一项就是“抬起头，向前冲”。“我们的球队有种简单的一致性，球员们面对成年球员时更有信心了。我真的觉得我们的球队比以往任何时候更能相互配合。”One of these is “look up, play forward,” says Matt Crocker, the FA’s head of development team coaching. “There is a simple consistency across our teams and the players have more confidence when they step up to the seniors. I really think we have more connected squads（观点） than ever before.”
该计划是对英格兰在重大赛事上不断失利给出的对策。其他国家，如西班牙和德国，利用其国内青训系统培养出了富有个人风格和技术天赋的球员，让他们成长为世界冠军。但当英足总首次被要求将理论付诸实践时，该机构犹豫了。2016年欧洲杯上，英格兰竟然输给冰岛，跌至历史最低点，之后萨姆•阿勒代斯(Sam Allardyce)被任命为英格兰队主教练；索斯盖特没有被赋予重任。The approach was a response to England’s repeated failures at major tournaments. Other nations, such as Spain and Germany, have used their national youth systems to develop stylish and technically-gifted footballers who graduated into world champions. But the FA blinked when first asked to put the theory into practice. After the 2016 European Championships, when the England team plummeted to a historic low, losing to Iceland, Southgate was overlooked in favour of Sam Allardyce for the position of England manager.
V-I If an amount, rate, or price plummets, it decreases quickly by a large amount.
阿勒代斯是一位经验丰富的俱乐部教练，当时人们认为他久经沙场，是一个更安全的选择。然而他只执教了一场比赛，就落入一家报纸的圈套，他似乎在告诉卧底记者如何与英足总的转会规则打擦边球。阿勒代斯否认有不当行为，但依然辞去了教练职务，索斯盖特随即被提拔为教练。人们对这支队伍的获胜期望从未如此之低。极度失望的广大球迷对这支球队已心灰意冷。Allardyce, an experienced club coach, was considered a safer, battle-hardened（词汇） choice. He lasted just one match in charge, before being caught in a newspaper sting, in which he appeared to advise undercover journalists（词汇） on ways to circumvent the FA’s transfer rules. Allardyce denied wrongdoing, but resigned and Southgate was promoted to the top job. Expectations for success had never been lower. A bitterly disappointed football public had fallen out of love with（词汇）the team.
V-T/V-I If a plant, animal, or insect stings you, a sharp part of it, usually covered with poison, is pushed into your skin so that you feel a sharp pain.
索斯盖特默默地继续着他的革命。在本届世界杯上，他挑选了一支自2000年以来经验最少的球队，但这支球队里满是他在指导英格兰青年队期间相互配合过的球员。索斯盖特正在改变英格兰足球的DNA，采用流畅而复杂的3-5-2阵型，抛弃了几十年来依赖的简单却僵硬的4-4-2阵型。他鼓励在进攻时多作短距离斜传，而不是大脚长传然后依赖彪悍的防守。Quietly, Southgate continued the revolution. For this World Cup, he picked the least experienced squad since 2000, but one stacked with players who had played together in England’s youth ranks once under his guidance. He is transforming the English footballing DNA, enacting a fluid and complex 3-5-2 formation, and casting aside the decades-old reliance on simple but rigid 4-4-2. He encourages attacking play based around short, diagonal passes, rather than hoofing long balls forward and relying on bulldog spirit（词汇） in defence.
N-COUNT The hooves of an animal such as a horse are the hard lower parts of its feet.
他还打破了其他教条。过去英格兰队在大赛前不会系统化地练习点球，认为真正大赛中点球大战的压力是无法复制的。而从今年3月开始，索斯盖特就让球员模拟从中线独自走到点球点。他让球员们放慢速度，坚信自己能够发挥好一项之前已练习过数百次的技能。He has also broken with other dogmas. Past England teams have not systematically practised penalties before tournaments, believing it impossible to replicate the pressure of a shootout in a real match. Since March, the manager has had players simulating the lonely walk from the halfway line before a spot kick. Players have been advised to slow down and have faith they can execute a skill practised hundreds of times before.
N-VAR If you refer to a belief or a system of beliefs as a dogma, you disapprove of it because people are expected to accept that it is true, without questioning it.
上周二晚，中场球员埃里克•迪尔(Eric Dier)捡起球，将球放在点球点，然后退后。当裁判吹响哨子，他等了片刻，稳住自己，然后将球低射向球门左侧。哥伦比亚守门员大卫•奥斯皮纳(David Ospina)的手指已经蹭到了球，可皮球还是飞入球网。英格兰队在世界杯上首次赢得了点球大战。在场边，索斯盖特激动地大喊起来，他个人乃至英格兰的一个魔咒都消失在了这个莫斯科之夜。On Tuesday night, midfielder Eric Dier gathered the ball, placed it on the spot and backed away. As the referee blew his whistle, he waited a moment, steadied himself, then shot low and to the left（和开头那一脚呼应上了）. Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina brushed the ball with his fingers as it flew into the net. England had won its first ever shootout at a World Cup. On the sidelines, Southgate screamed with delight, as a personal and national hoodoo（词汇）vanished into the Moscow night.