《中英對照讀新聞》Adidas best placed in World Cup quarter finals 愛迪達在世界盃足球賽前八強的名次最好

◎張沛元

German sports goods firm Adidas-Salomon AG is ahead of rivals as sponsor of successful nations at the soccer World Cup after the second round, giving a boost to sales prospects of replica shirts and other goods.

隨著世界盃足球賽結束第二輪比賽，德國體育用品公司愛迪達在贊助晉級八強複賽的國家代表隊（的數量）上，領先競爭對手，可望幫助該公司生產的複製運動T恤與其他商品熱賣。

Adidas sponsors top teams Argentina,Germany and France qualifying for the quarter finals, whereas rivals Nike Inc and Puma AG sponsor two teams and one team respectively.

愛迪達贊助的頂尖國家代表隊包括阿根廷、德國與法國，皆已取得進入前八強複賽的資格，至於對手耐吉與Puma所贊助的隊伍，分別有兩隊與一隊打入前八強。

The stakes are high in the competition with sports goods firms spending millions of euros sponsoring teams to bolster their brand and lift sales of products such as jerseys and footwear.

對這些花費數百萬歐元贊助參賽隊伍，以提升品牌知名度並提高像是運動衫與球鞋等產品銷售業績的體育用品公司而言，（比賽的輸贏）影響極大。

The longer a team stays in the tournament, the more fans see company logos and may be tempted to buy replica merchandise.

一支隊伍在世界盃比賽中挺得愈久，就會有更多的球迷看到贊助廠商的商標，也就越可能被吸引去購買該公司的複製商品。

新聞辭典

place：本文中作動詞，指排名；得名次。例句：She did not place in the Olympic Games.（她在奧運比賽中沒有拿下名次。）

ahead of：片語，領先；在…之前。例句：China has opened its travel agency market to foreign investors years ahead of the schedule it agreed with the World Trade Organization.（中國提前對外資開放其旅行社市場，比與世界貿易組織所協議的時間表提前了好幾年。）

giving a boost to︰提升；助益。

the more…，the more…：愈…，愈…。例句：The busier he is, the happier he feels.（他愈忙愈高興。）