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Neil(尼尔)

I’m Neil.

我是尼尔。

Georgie(乔治)

And I’m Georgie. Whether it’s Cinderella, David and Goliath, or the Rocky movies, we all love an underdog story. The underdog in a situation is the person who seems least likely to win. Nevertheless, with some luck and plenty of hard work, the underdog sometimes ends up the winner.

我是乔治。无论是灰姑娘、大卫和歌利亚，还是洛基电影，我们都喜欢失败者的故事。在某种情况下，失败者是似乎最不可能获胜的人。然而，只要有一些运气和大量的努力，失败者有时会成为赢家。

Neil(尼尔)

Sport is full of underdog stories, minor teams and sportspeople who play with courage and end up beating the superstars and multi-million pound clubs. But if you were given a choice between your team being the favourite to win or being the underdog, it’s pretty obvious you’d want to be the favourite, right?

体育界充满了失败者的故事、小球队和运动员，他们勇敢地踢球，最终击败了超级巨星和价值数百万英镑的俱乐部。但是，如果你让你在你的球队成为获胜的热门或失败者之间做出选择，很明显你想成为最受欢迎的，对吧？

Georgie(乔治)

Well yes, being the favourite gives a team confidence. But maybe the fact that no- one expects the underdog to win is actually an advantage which could help them to a surprise victory. In this programme, we’ll be hearing about an underdog football club doing just that, and, as usual, we’ll be learning some useful new vocabulary too.

嗯，是的，成为最受欢迎的球队会给球队带来信心。但也许没有人期望失败者获胜这一事实实际上是一种优势，可以帮助他们取得意外的胜利。在这个节目中，我们将听到一个失败的足球俱乐部这样做，而且，像往常一样，我们也将学习一些有用的新词汇。

Neil(尼尔)

Great. But first I have a question for you, Georgie. One of the biggest underdog stories in sports history happened in the 2015-16 English football season when a little known club beat top clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool, overcoming odds of 5000-1 to win the Premier League. But which club? Was it? a) Charlton Athletic? b) Leicester City? or, c) Crystal Palace?

伟大。但首先我有一个问题要问你，乔治。体育史上最大的失败者故事之一发生在 2015-16 赛季的英格兰足球赛季，当时一家名不见经传的俱乐部击败了曼城和利物浦等顶级俱乐部，克服了 5000-1 的赔率赢得英超联赛冠军。但是哪个俱乐部呢？是吗？a） 查尔顿竞技？b） 莱斯特城？或者，c）水晶宫？

Georgie(乔治)

I’ll guess it was Crystal Palace.

我猜是水晶宫。

Neil(尼尔)

OK, Georgie, I’ll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme. The English football Premier League is a good place to find underdogs. Each season the three best clubs in the second league are promoted up, while the three weakest Premier clubs are relegated down. One club that knows all about relegation is Luton Town FC.

好的，乔治，我会在节目结束时揭晓正确答案。英超联赛是寻找弱队的好地方。每个赛季，乙级联赛中最好的三家俱乐部都会升级，而三家最弱的英超俱乐部则降级。一家对降级了如指掌的俱乐部是卢顿镇足球俱乐部。

Georgie(乔治)

In 2009, Luton Town were relegated entirely from the English League. Slowly their fortunes improved however, and they've now become the first English team to progress from non-league to the Premier League. Here’s Luton fan, Alex, talking about his team’s chances to BBC Radio programme, Mental Muscle:

2009年，卢顿镇从英格兰联赛完全降级。然而，慢慢地，他们的命运有所改善，他们现在已成为第一支从非联赛晋级到英超联赛的英格兰球队。这是卢顿球迷亚历克斯在BBC广播节目《Mental Muscle》中谈论他的球队的机会：

Alex(亚历克斯)

…But some of these elite Premier League clubs will look down their nose at us and just think we shouldn't be there, and we are there on merit and we’ve just gotta prove it this season. So we are the underdog, certainly financially, but on the pitch I don't think we will be.

...但是这些英超精英俱乐部中的一些人会嗤之以鼻，认为我们不应该在那里，我们在那里是有功绩的，我们必须在本赛季证明这一点。所以我们是弱者，当然在经济上，但在球场上，我认为我们不会。

Neil(尼尔)

Alex thinks some of the rich Premier League clubs look down their noses at Luton. If you look down your nose at someone, you think you’re better than them. But underdogs, Luton, have done better than expected, even beating some of the big clubs like Newcastle United.

亚历克斯认为一些富有的英超俱乐部对卢顿嗤之以鼻。如果你低头看某人，你会认为你比他们好。但弱旅卢顿的表现比预期的要好，甚至击败了纽卡斯尔联队等一些大俱乐部。

Georgie(乔治)

The question is how? Is there something about being the underdog that improves a team’s chances of winning? To answer that, sports psychologist, Gillian Cook, spoke to BBC Radio programme, Mental Muscle:

问题是如何？成为弱者有什么可以提高球队获胜的机会吗？为了回答这个问题，运动心理学家吉莉安·库克接受了BBC广播节目《心理肌肉》的采访：

Gillian Cook(吉莉安·库克)

So, you can find that when the newly promoted team comes up they've got high confidence 'cause they just come from a season of winning - so they've got the belief that they can do it. But on the flip side it's just as important to look at the top dog’s performance who… everyone expects them to win, they’re playing the newly promoted team. So we might think of Man City who might be about to come up against Luton Town… So what we can see from that is what in psychology literature is known as choking, and that's when pressure gets to an individual or a team and they underperform.

所以，你会发现，当新晋升的球队出现时，他们有很高的信心，因为他们刚刚经历了一个胜利的赛季，所以他们相信自己可以做到。但另一方面，看看顶级狗的表现也同样重要，他们......每个人都希望他们获胜，他们正在与新晋升的球队比赛。因此，我们可能会想到曼城，他们可能即将对阵卢顿镇......因此，我们从中可以看出，心理学文献中所说的窒息，即压力传到个人或团队，而他们表现不佳。

Neil(尼尔)

Clubs newly promoted to the Premier League are used to winning and start the season confidently. On the flip side, they have to play much stronger teams than before. The phrase, on the flip side, is used to show the opposite, less positive side of something.

新晋升到英超联赛的俱乐部习惯于获胜，并自信地开始本赛季。另一方面，他们必须与比以前更强大的球队交手。另一方面，这句话用于表示某事相反的、不那么积极的一面。

Georgie(乔治)

Of course it’s not just the underdog playing, there are also top dogs, the most successful or powerful person or team. No-one expects underdogs to win and this gives them freedom to relax and play naturally. Top dogs, on the other hand, experience a lot of expectation, and this sometimes leads to choking, a sports term which describes the failure of a player to perform their best because of psychological pressure or social expectation.

当然，不仅仅是弱者在玩，还有顶级狗，最成功或最强大的人或团队。没有人期望弱者获胜，这给了他们放松和自然比赛的自由。另一方面，顶级狗会经历很多期望，这有时会导致窒息，这是一个体育术语，描述了球员由于心理压力或社会期望而未能发挥最佳水平。

Neil(尼尔)

Choking causes teams and players to underperform, to perform worse than expected. It’s also true that neutral fans - people watching a match when their team isn’t playing - tend to support the underdog as well. In football, it’s tough at the top!

窒息会导致球队和球员表现不佳，表现比预期的要差。中立的球迷 —— 当他们的球队不比赛时观看比赛的人 —— 也倾向于支持弱者。在足球比赛中，巅峰是很艰难的！

Georgie(乔治)

I think it’s time you reveal the answer to your question, Neil. You asked me about the famous Premier League winning underdogs of the 2015-16 football season, and I guessed it was Crystal Palace…

我想是时候说出你问题的答案了，尼尔。你问我2015-16赛季著名的英超冠军冷门，我猜是水晶宫......

Neil(尼尔)

Which was… the wrong answer, I’m afraid, Georgie. In fact it was Leicester City, nicknamed the Foxes, who became the unexpected champions of the Premier League. OK, let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learned from this programme about the underdog, the person in a competition or situation who seems least likely to win.

这是...恐怕是错误的答案，乔治。事实上，绰号狐狸队的莱斯特城成为了英超联赛的意外冠军。好吧，让我们回顾一下我们从这个节目中学到的关于弱者的词汇，即在比赛或情况下似乎最不可能获胜的人。

Georgie(乔治)

If you look down your nose at someone, you think you are superior to them.

如果你低头看某人，你认为你比他们优越。

Neil(尼尔)

The phrase, on the flip side, is used to show the opposite, less positive, or less popular side of something.

另一方面，该短语用于表示某事相反、不那么积极或不太受欢迎的一面。

Georgie(乔治)

The top dog is an informal way of saying the most successful or powerful person in a group.

顶级狗是一种非正式的说法，表示群体中最成功或最有权势的人。

Neil(尼尔)

In sports, choking happens when a player or team fail to perform their best because of psychological pressure or social expectation.

在体育运动中，当球员或球队由于心理压力或社会期望而未能发挥最佳水平时，就会发生窒息。

Georgie(乔治)

And finally, the verb to underperform means to perform worse than expected. Once again, our six minutes are up! Remember to join us again next time for more topical discussion and useful vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!

最后，表现不佳的动词意味着表现比预期的要差。再一次，我们的六分钟结束了！记得下次再次加入我们，进行更多主题讨论和有用的词汇，这里是六分钟英语。再见了！

Neil(尼尔)

Bye!

再见！