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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 (椭圆形的) sphere and has a lengthwise circumference(周线) 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]根据题干中的success查找到第1个小标题Ground Rules部分的首段第2句。

　　解析：原文中的based on...表明判断一个队伍成功与否的标准是什么，因此based on后的介词宾语为本题答案。其他三个选项在该段均未提及。

　　2.[C][定位]根据题干中的overtime查找到第1个小标题Ground Rules部分的第3段末句。

　　解析：选项C是对原文该句的同义改写，为本题答案。其他选项与overtime period的内容无关，且在该段也未提及。

　　3.[B][定位]根据题干中的timeouts查找到第1个小标题Ground Rules部分的第4段第2句。

　　解析：原文该句句末的非限制性定语从句表明本题应选B。其他选项均无原文依据。

　　4.[D][定位]根据题干中的NFL roster查找到第2个小标题Who's Who部分的首段。

　　解析：在四个选项中，只有选项B没有原文依据，其他三个选项均可在原文找到部分或全部词语。其中，选项A不正确，因为一个橄榄球队的全体队员可能超过53人，但根据该段首句，roster里只能包括最多53个球员的名字，由此可见，选项A与原文不符;选项C中的only显然过于绝对，与该段首句不符;原文该段第3句暗示不论roster里面有多少成员名字，肯定得包括the offense，the defense and special teams，由此可见，选项D为本题答案。本题也可通过对比选项和原文，看看哪个选项与原文重合度最高，由此也可确定选项D为本题答案。

　　5.[B][定位]根据题干中的on-the-field leader查找到第2个小标题Who's Who部分的次标题Offense下第2段末句。

　　解析：只要根据题眼定位原文，不难发现选项B为本题答案。

　　6.[C][定位]根据题干中的offensive linemen查找到第2个小标题Who's Who部分的次标题Offense下第3段。

　　解析：原文该段逐一介绍了各个offensive linemen的位置，以及每个位置人员的分配情况，只要将里面提到的数字简单相加：1个center+2个guards+2个tackles=5个，即可得出本题答案为选项C。

　　7.[D][定位]根据题干中的deepest查找到第2个小标题Who's Who部分的次标题Defense下末段首句。

　　解析：根据题干中的defense一词可将搜索范围限定于第2个小标题下，然后逐一在各个段落寻找与deep有关的信息，不难发现题干中的the deepest defensive position与原文deep behind the rest of the defense同义，因此本题应选D。

　　8.[placekickers]

　　[定位]根据题干中的Kicking等词查找到第2个小标题Who's Who部分的次标题Special Teams下第2段。

　　解析：空白此应为名词(词组)。题干中的kick和goalposts只能同时在第2个小标题Who's Who部分的次标题Special Teams下第2段有关placekickers的段落找到，因此可以确定placekickers为本题答案。

　　9.[a coin toss]

　　[定位]根据题干中的opening kickoff查找到第3个小标题Moving the Ball and Finding the End Zone部分的首段首句。

　　解析：空白处应为名词(词组)或现在分词(词组)。原文该句中的with a coin toss to decide...表明开球权由a coin toss决定，因此，本题答案为a coin toss。

　　10.[four downs]

　　[定位]根据题干中的possession等词查找到倒数第2段。

　　解析：空白处应为名词(词组)，作in的宾语。题干中的lose possession of the ball与原文该段中的surrender the ball to the other team同义，由此可见，该句介绍了在什么情况下进攻的队伍将失去控球权，这正是本题要求查找的内容，因此原文中in后的介词宾语four downs为本题答案。

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