《中英對照讀新聞》Blair swaps politics for soccer punditry 布雷爾大談足球經避開政治話題

◎俞智敏

Prime Minister Tony Blair swapped his political cares for sporting hopes when he took time out from running the country to join soccer pundits on a live television sports show.

英國首相布雷爾日前暫時拋下政治的操煩，換成對運動的希望，從治國的空檔抽身，跟足球球評家一起參加一場足球賽的現場轉播。

Blair told BBC TVs Football Focus programme he liked to relax by watching soccer matches on television but said it was years since he had attended a live game.

布雷爾在英國廣播公司電視台的「足球焦點」節目中表示，他喜歡看電視轉播的足球賽來放鬆心情，不過已經很多年沒到現場看球賽了。

"Whenever I go to a game I'm usually sat in the directors' box and someone is talking to me about politics, and I really want to watch the match," he said.

「每次我去看球賽，通常都坐在老板的包廂裡，旁邊有人一直跟我談政治，但我真的很想專心看比賽，」他說。

Blair, a keen Newcastle United fan, talked up England's prospects for soccer's World Cup next year. "There's no doubt they can win it, they are capable of it. I think we've got a very strong team and they've got to have confidence."

身為紐卡索聯隊死忠球迷的布雷爾看好英格蘭明年進軍世界杯的前景。「他們毫無疑問會贏球，他們有這個能力。我認為我們有一支實力堅強的球隊，他們自己一定要有信心。」

新聞辭典

swap：動詞，交換，以…為交換，如He had to swap his jeans and T-shirt for a suit to work in a bank.（他得把牛仔褲和圓領衫換成西裝才能在銀行上班。）swap亦可做名詞，如Let's do a swap.（我們交換吧。）

pundit：博學（或自稱為博學）者、權威者、專家。punditry則為博學者的總稱，或指權威的意見、言行等。

take time out：抽空、休息，time-out則為名詞，指暫停或休息時間、比賽中的暫停等。

talk up：很感興趣地談論某事；給予正面評價，如talked up the new product（對新產品給予好評）。They were talking up their candidate all over the state.（他們在全州替他們的候選人大說好話。）