2007 TEXT 1
①If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006’s World Cup tournament, you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk: elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the late months. ②If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find this strange phenomenon to be ever more pronounced.
如果你打算在2006年世界杯锦标赛上调查所有足球运动员的出生证明，那么你很有可能发现一个引人注目的巧合：优秀足球运动员更可能出生于每年的前几个月而不是后几个月。如果你接着调查世界杯和职业比赛的欧洲国家青年队的话，那么你会发现这一奇怪的现象甚至更明显。
certificate  n.证书
【巧】certif (y证明) +ic（形容词后缀）+ate（作名词后缀表“物”）＝具证明性质的东西→证书。
【例】a leaving certificate 毕业（肄业, 离职）证书; academic certificate
学历证书;I must discard riches, the certificate of slavery.我必须抛弃财富这张奴隶证书。
quirk [ kwə:k ] n. 怪癖；急转；借口
elite  n.精英（中频词）来自elect选举，选出来的
【巧】谐音：“爱理他”→“精英人士”每个人都爱理他。
1、If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006's World Cup tournament you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk: elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months.
【译文】 如果你查看一下参加2006年世界杯赛的所有足球运动员的出生证，你极有可能会发现一个引人注意的怪事：优秀的足球运动员大多是在年头出生，而不是在年尾出生。
【析句】 这是一个典型的虚拟条件句，但是主句的宾语后面跟着一个同位语从句。此句并不
难理解。
【讲词】birth certificate意为"出生证"。certificate的意思是"证书；证明书；凭证"。对于学生来说，certificate是指"结业证"，即完成了某门课程或一段时间学习的证明。相近的单词有diploma（文凭；毕业证书；证明权力、特权、荣誉等的证书或奖状）。大学毕业取得的学位，英语是用degree来表示，degree主要有三个：学士(bachelor)学位、硕士(master)学位和博士(doctor或PhD)学位。
noteworthy表示"值得注意，引人注意的"。
quirk 意为"怪癖;怪事，巧合"，在句中表示"奇怪的现象"。
elite 意为"精英，菁华；杰出人士"。
2、If you then examine the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find this strange phenomenon to be even more pronounced.
【译文】如果你再查看一下为世界杯和职业联赛输送人才的欧洲各国的国家青年队，你会发现这种奇怪的现象更加明显。
【析句】主句you ，this strange phenomenon是宾语，to be even more pronounced是宾语补足语。
【讲词】feed的基本意思是"喂；饲养"，但在本句中则表示"输送"。
pronounce通常表示"发音；宣布"，而pronounced显然是过去分词作形容词，表示"讲出来的；显著的，断然的，明确的"。分析句子，可知表示"显然的，明显的"。
rank 可以表示"等级；行列；阶级"，professional ranks表示"职业队伍"，即各级职业联赛的队伍。
③What might account for this strange phenomenon? Here are a few guesses: a) certain astrological signs confer superior soccer skills; b) winter born babies tend to have higher oxygen capacity, which increases soccer stamina; c) soccer-mad parents are more likely to conceive children in springtime, at the annual peak of soc
cer mania; d) none of the above.
什么可以解释这一奇怪的现象呢？下面是一些猜测：a）某种占星术征兆使人具备更高的足球技能；b）冬季出生的婴儿往往具有更高的供氧能力，这增加了踢足球的持久力；c）热爱足球的父母更可能在春季（每年足球狂热的鼎盛时期）怀孕；d）以上各项都不是。
astrological  adj.占星的, 占星术的
stamina  n.毅力, 持久力, 精力
【例】exhibit enough stamina to master English. 表现出掌握英语的充足的毅力;That young man lacks stamina.那个年青人缺乏毅力。
conceive  v.怀孕, 考虑, 设想
【例】conceive prejudices抱偏见；conceive a child 怀孕；Scientists first conceived the idea of atomic bomb in the 1930s. 20
世纪30年代科学家们初次设想的计划。
annual adj.每年的（中频词）
【例】annual report / income / production年度报告 / 收入 / 产量
peak  n.顶点, (记录的)最高峰
mania  n.癖好, 狂热
【例】She has a mania for ponies. 她特别喜欢小马。
3、What might account for this strange phenomenon? Here are a few guesses： a) certain astrological signs confer superior soccer skills; b) winter-born babies tend to have higher oxygen capacity which increases soccer stamina; c) soccer-mad parents are more likely to conceive children in springtime, at the annual peak of soccer mania; d) none of the above.
【译文】 怎样解释这一奇怪的现象？有几个猜想：1. 某些星相赋予超强的足球技能。2. 冬天的婴儿大多摄氧量更高，可以增加足球体能。3. 狂爱足球的父母更有可能在春天怀孕，这一段时间是足球狂热的高峰。4. 以上选项都不正确。
【析句】 冒号之后是四个选项，其中包括三个简单句和一个名词短语结构。
【讲词】account for主要表示"解释，说明"，即是explain的意思。例如：Bad weather accounted for the long delay of the flight.（航班长期的延缓是因为坏天气。）The suspect couldn’t account for his time that night.（嫌犯不能说明那天晚上他的时间安排。）
astrological sign 指星座或星相（zodiac，黄道），共有12个：水瓶座（Aquarius)，双鱼座（Pisces），白羊座（Aries)，金牛座（Taurus），双子座（Gemini），巨蟹座（Cancer)，狮子座（Leo），处女座（Virgo），天秤座（Libra)，天蝎座（Scorpio)，人马座（Sagittarius)，摩羯座（Capricorn）。
confer 意为"赠予；授予；给予"，其同义词包括：give,bestow,invest等。也可表示"协商，交换意见"，其同义词包括advise,consult,parley等。
stamina意为"毅力，持久力，精力"，即physical or moral strength。
celect是什么意思onceive 基本上有两个意思，即"构思"或"怀孕"。
Anders Ericsson, a 58-year-old psychology professor at Florida State University, says he believes strongly in “none of the above.” Ericsson grew up in Sweden, and studied nuclear engineering until he realized he would have more opportunity to conduct his own research if he switched to psychology. His first experiment, nearly 30 years ago, involved memory: training a person to hear and then repeat a random series of numbers. “With the first subject, after about 20 hours of training, his digit span had risen from 7 to 20,” Ericsson recalls. “He kept improving, and after about 200 hours of training he had risen to over 80 numbers.”

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