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　　American Football

　　American football is a unique sport-it is a game about gaining territory as much as it is about scoring points. When two teams step onto a football field,each is battling for every inch it can take from the other.Each team wants to defend the field that is behind it and invade the field in front of it. Ultimately,they want to gain enough ground to score a touchdown or field goal.

　　Ground Rules

　　Football is a game of inches played on a field measured in yards-English measurements are used to track movements on the field.Teams succeed based on how many yards they accumulate or allow. An official NFL (National Football League) football field is a rectangle that is 120 yards(110 m) long and 53 yards. I foot (49m) wide. Most fields are covered in grass and set in an outdoor (open-air} stadium. Some fields are made of artificial turf, which you'll find in many of the indoor stadiums.

　　The most essential piece of equipment in a football game is the ball.Official NFL footballs are handmade by Wilson Sporting Goods Co. The football is an oblong (橢圓形的) sphere and has a lengthwise circumference(周線) and a width-wise circumference in the middle of the ball.

　　With the equipment identified and the field set, we can now play a game.An NFL game is divided into four quarters with an extended halftime break between quarters two and three. Each quarter is 15 minutes long. lf the teams are tied after four quarters of play,they play an additional overtime period of 15 minutes. Inthe overtime, the first team to score wins.

　　While the game time adds up to one hour, it usually takes three to four hours to play a game. Teams can stop the clock by running out of bounds,throwing an incomplete pass, or calling a time-out, of which they have three per half. Time also stops for each of the two-minute warnings, observed two minutes prior to the end of the second and fourth quarters.

　　Who's Who

　　An NFL roster allows for no more than 53 players on a team. At any one time, only 11 players per team are allowed on the field. To understand an NFL roster, you have to identify the three teams within a team: theoffense. the defense and special teams. Each of these groups has specialized positions with a specific setof skills.

　　Offense

　　A team's offense is responsible for taking the ball down the field toward its opponent's end zone. To do this. the offense throws the ball from one player to another or holds the ball and runs forward. Here are the basic offensive positions.

　　Quarterback (QB)-This player throws the ball to receivers or hands it off to running backs. The quarterback is also known as the "field general,"because he's the on-the-field leader.

　　Offensive linemen-These players provide blocking for the quarterback and running backs. Individual linemanpositions include:

　　Center (C)-The center is located in the middle of the line. This player hikes the ball to the quarterback by bringing the ball up between his legs.

　　Guards (LG/RG)-These two players flank the center.

　　Tackles (LT/RT)-The tackles are positioned on the outside of each guard;teams have two tackles.

　　Receivers-Receivers run down the field and catch balls thrown by the quarterback. Receivers are either wide receivers (WR) or tight ends (LTE/RTE).depending on where they are positioned on the field.

　　Running backs-Running backs take the ball from the quarterback and run up the field. Depending on the fomation (arrangement of the offensive players, a running back might be called a tailback (TB), halfback (HB) or fullback (FB).

　　Defense

　　When a team does not have possession of the ball, it is on defense and uses various methods to prevent theother team's offense from scoring. These players must tackle the offensive player who has the ball to stopthe offense from advancing.Defense will also try to take the ball away from the offense.

　　Here are the basic defensive positions:

　　Defensive linemen-The linemen put pressure on the quarterback by trying to tackle him before he releases the ball. They also try to stop running backs.There are typically three or four defensive linemen.

　　Linebackers-When there are four linemen, there is a middle linebacker(MLB) and two outside linebackers (OLB). When there are three linemen. there are two inside linebackers (ILB) and two outside linebackers. Their job is to back up the linemen. as well as contain runners and cover receivers on some plays.

　　Cornerbacks (CB)-The cornerbacks prevent the wide receivers from catching the ball by breaking up passes from the quarterback.

　　Safeties-The safeties play deep behind the rest of the defense to prevent a long pass or run. A strong safety (SS) lines up on the side of the field where there are more offensive players. The free safety (FS) plays a deep, middle position.

　　Special Teams

　　If a team has to kick the ball, it uses its special-teams unit. This unit includes the team's kickers, theoffensive line, and players who run down the field to tackle a returner(see below).

　　Placekicker-The placekicker kicks the ball through the goalposts to score points and kicks the ball to theother team to start the game and after each scoring possession.

　　Punter-The punter free-kicks the ball if his team cannot advance the ball down the field.

　　Returner-During a kickoff or punt, the returner tries to catch the ball and return it as far as he can. A player can score a touchdown on a rcturn.

　　Moving the Ball and Finding the End Zone

　　A football game begins with a coin toss to decide which team will receive the opening kickoff. From the opening kickoff, the two teams battle to take possession of the ball. Possession means that a team's offensive unit has the ball.

　　A team can take possession of the ball in several ways:

　　Receiving a kickoff-A team receives a kickoff at the beginning of each half and after the other team scores.

　　Turnover-A team recovers a ball dropped by the other team (fumble)or picks off a ball thrown by the other team's quarterback (interception).

　　Safety-A player is tackled in his own end zone, meaning the end zone his team is defending, so the other team gets the ball though a free kick.

　　Punt-The defensive team stops the offensive team from getting 10 yards in three downs, and the offensive team free-kicks, or punts, the ball to the other team on third down.

　　Turnover on downs-The offensive team fails to advance the ball lO yands in four downs and has to surrenderthe ball to the other team.

　　For those new to the sport the last two scenarios on this list may not make sense. One of the most confusing concepts of American-style football is the down-and-distance system. Every time a team takes possessionof the ball, it is given a set of four downs, or attempts, to move the ball l0 yards. If the team can movethe ball lO yards or more Within four downs, the team gets another set of four downs to go another l0 yards, and so on. For instance, if a team advances 3 yards on first down, the next play is second down with 7 yards to go (second and 7); if the team then advances 5 yards on second down, the next play is third and 2; if the team then advances 2 or more yards on third down, the next play is back to first and lO, wich a whole new set of four downs during which to advance the ball.

　　1.The success of a team is measured by means of_______________________.

　　A) the yards it gains

　　B) the field goals it scores

　　C) the strategy it uses

　　D) the touchdowns it scores

　　2.When the teams need to play the overtime period,the team that__________________wins.

　　A) gains more ground

　　B) gets more touchdowns

　　C) scores before the other

　　D) gets the first penalty kick

　　3.How many timeouts are the teams allowed to have?

　　A) Two for each quarter.

　　B) Three for each half.

　　C) Three for each quarter.

　　D) Two for each half.

　　4.What is included in an NFL roster?

　　A) All the players on the team.

　　B) The substitute players and coaches.

　　C) Only the players allowed on the field.

　　D) The offense,the defense and special teams.

　　5.The role of the on-the-field leader is played by ______________________.

　　A) a receiver

　　B) a quarterback

　　C) a running back

　　D) an offensive lineman

　　6.Usually, offensive linemen consist of at least_______________players.

　　A) three

　　B) four

　　C) five

　　D) six

　　7.In the defense team, the deepest defensive position is played by_________________.

　　A) defensive linemen

　　B) linebackers

　　C) cornerbacks

　　D) safeties

　　8.Kicking a ball through the goalposts to gain points is the responsibility of____________________.

　　9.The right of a team's opening kickoff is usually determined by___________________.

　　lO.The offensive team will lose possession of the ball if it fails to gain lO yards in__________________.

　　答案：

　　1.[定位]根據(jù)題干中的success查找到第1個小標題Ground Rules部分的首段第2句。

　　解析：原文中的based on...表明判斷一個隊伍成功與否的標準是什么，因此based on后的介詞賓語為本題答案。其他三個選項在該段均未提及。

　　2.[C][定位]根據(jù)題干中的overtime查找到第1個小標題Ground Rules部分的第3段末句。

　　解析：選項C是對原文該句的同義改寫，為本題答案。其他選項與overtime period的內(nèi)容無關(guān)，且在該段也未提及。

　　3.[B][定位]根據(jù)題干中的timeouts查找到第1個小標題Ground Rules部分的第4段第2句。

　　解析：原文該句句末的非限制性定語從句表明本題應選B。其他選項均無原文依據(jù)。

　　4.[D][定位]根據(jù)題干中的NFL roster查找到第2個小標題Who's Who部分的首段。

　　解析：在四個選項中，只有選項B沒有原文依據(jù)，其他三個選項均可在原文找到部分或全部詞語。其中，選項A不正確，因為一個橄欖球隊的全體隊員可能超過53人，但根據(jù)該段首句，roster里只能包括最多53個球員的名字，由此可見，選項A與原文不符;選項C中的only顯然過于絕對，與該段首句不符;原文該段第3句暗示不論roster里面有多少成員名字，肯定得包括the offense，the defense and special teams，由此可見，選項D為本題答案。本題也可通過對比選項和原文，看看哪個選項與原文重合度最高，由此也可確定選項D為本題答案。

　　5.[B][定位]根據(jù)題干中的on-the-field leader查找到第2個小標題Who's Who部分的次標題Offense下第2段末句。

　　解析：只要根據(jù)題眼定位原文，不難發(fā)現(xiàn)選項B為本題答案。

　　6.[C][定位]根據(jù)題干中的offensive linemen查找到第2個小標題Who's Who部分的次標題Offense下第3段。

　　解析：原文該段逐一介紹了各個offensive linemen的位置，以及每個位置人員的分配情況，只要將里面提到的數(shù)字簡單相加：1個center+2個guards+2個tackles=5個，即可得出本題答案為選項C。

　　7.[D][定位]根據(jù)題干中的deepest查找到第2個小標題Who's Who部分的次標題Defense下末段首句。

　　解析：根據(jù)題干中的defense一詞可將搜索范圍限定于第2個小標題下，然后逐一在各個段落尋找與deep有關(guān)的信息，不難發(fā)現(xiàn)題干中的the deepest defensive position與原文deep behind the rest of the defense同義，因此本題應選D。

　　8.[placekickers]

　　[定位]根據(jù)題干中的Kicking等詞查找到第2個小標題Who's Who部分的次標題Special Teams下第2段。

　　解析：空白此應為名詞(詞組)。題干中的kick和goalposts只能同時在第2個小標題Who's Who部分的次標題Special Teams下第2段有關(guān)placekickers的段落找到，因此可以確定placekickers為本題答案。

　　9.[a coin toss]

　　[定位]根據(jù)題干中的opening kickoff查找到第3個小標題Moving the Ball and Finding the End Zone部分的首段首句。

　　解析：空白處應為名詞(詞組)或現(xiàn)在分詞(詞組)。原文該句中的with a coin toss to decide...表明開球權(quán)由a coin toss決定，因此，本題答案為a coin toss。

　　10.[four downs]

　　[定位]根據(jù)題干中的possession等詞查找到倒數(shù)第2段。

　　解析：空白處應為名詞(詞組)，作in的賓語。題干中的lose possession of the ball與原文該段中的surrender the ball to the other team同義，由此可見，該句介紹了在什么情況下進攻的隊伍將失去控球權(quán)，這正是本題要求查找的內(nèi)容，因此原文中in后的介詞賓語four downs為本題答案。

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