BBC 6 Minute English 是 BBC Learning English 出品的英语学习节目。每周一期，每期约6分钟，两位主播围绕某个话题展开对话，非常适合英音爱好者模仿学习。来源：BBC，仅用于语言学习分享


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Hello. This is six minute English from BBC.

Learning English. I'm Neil, and I'm Beth.

Every four years, the best players in the world gather for one month in the summer to take part in the biggest event in football, the World Cup.

But this year, for the 1st time ever, the competition is taking place in winter.

Why? Because the 2022 World Cup is happening in Qatar.

Over a million fans from all over the world are expected to visit Qatar for the World Cup, which starts on 20 november.

Because temperatures in Qatar exceed 45 degrees in the summer, the competition was moved to the winter.

But the decision to hold the World Cup in the tiny, oil rich Gulf state has been controversial.

One of the richest countries in the world, qatar has no tradition of playing football.

And some have criticized the focus on money instead of sport.

And there are other criticisms too, about human rights and the treatment of the migrant construction workers who built them, football stadiums, roads, transport systems and hotels, without which the World Cup could not happen.

In this program, will be asking, is it right for Qatar to host the World Cup?

And of course, will be learning some new and useful vocabulary as well.

But before that, I have a question for you.

Bet Which country has won the World Cup the most?

Is it a Italy, b Brazil or c Germany?

I think it must be Brazil.

Okay, I'll reveal the answer at the end of the program.

Advertising for the Qatar World Cup shows football fans staying in new hotels and watching matches in air conditioned stadiums.

But hidden behind this the lives of the migrant workers.

Nepal, india and other South Asian countries reveal a very different story.

The population of Qatar is tiny, and 95% of the total workforce are foreigners, working in extreme heat, housed in poor quality accommodation and often underpaid.

Rottner Begham, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, explained their situation to BBC World Service program Business Daily.

We're still recording and documenting migrant workers facing abuse and exploitation in Qatar.

They include workers reporting having paid exorbitant and illegal recruitment fees to secure what brought on two year contracts, and then finding out they're coming on three month visas, which means that they are not able to make up or recruit the price that they pay takes to get this job, and may well be sent home in debt.

On top of everything else, migrant workers face exploitation.

Exploitation means treating someone unfairly to get some advantage for yourself.

Many of the world cup workers were exploited by being paid less than agreed, being paid late or not being paid at all.

The construction jobs seemed a good opportunity for migrant workers to save money to send home to their families.

Many paid exorbitant fees, fees which were much bigger than they should be, just to get a job in guitar.

But despite being given two year job contracts, some workers were only allowed to stay three months because they couldn't make enough money.

Many returned home in debt, owing money to someone that they will have to pay back.

What's worse, many have died building the football stadiums in accidents or due to overwork and heat stress.

So with all this criticism added to the billions of dollars Qatar spent preparing for the competition, was it worth it?

James Dorcy is an expert on the politics of football in the Middle East.

Here, he explains to BBC World Services Business Daily that for Qatar, hosting the World Cup is more about improving its international reputation than economics.

But this is not about economics for Gadadada is a small state.

It is sandwiched between two regional behemathas, saudi Arabia and Iran.

And so it's all policy is geared towards soft power, whether that sports, whether that's the airport and the airline.

Qatar may be rich thanks to its oil, but its not a large country.

Unlike neighboring Saudi Arabia and Iran countries, which James Dorsey called Behimos, something which is extremely large and powerful, qtar is sandwiched between these larger countries.

If you're sandwiched between two things, you're in a narrow, tight space between them.

Because qtar isn't as powerful as its bigger neighbors.

It uses soft power the way a country uses its economic and cultural influence to persuade other countries.

Instead of using military power, hosting an important international event like the World Cup is a part of qatar's soft power strategy to be considered an important country on the world stage.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the debate, this will be the 1st Arab nation to host the World Cup, although it's unlikely that the Qatari team will actually win, unlike a more famous footballing nation, italy, who won their 1st World Cup, they hosted in 1934.

And speaking of World Cup winners, what was the answer to your Questionnail, which country has won the most World cups?

I guess it was Brazil. Which was the correct answer, of course.

With five title winds, brazil is the most successful World Cup team, followed closely by Italy and the Germany, with four titles each.

OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned, starting with exploitation. Treating someone unfairly in order to benefit yourself.

If the price of something is exorbitant, it's much higher than it should be.

Debt is an amount of money that you owe to someone else.

A behemus refers to something which is extremely large and powerful.

And if you are a sandwich between two things, you're in a tight, narrow space between them.

And finally, soft power describes strategies used by a country to increase its power through economic and cultural influences, instead of fighting wars.

Once again, our 6 min are up.

Goodbye for now. Bye.

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