英语畅谈世界文化100主题

100 Topics On World Culture

Argentina 阿根廷
1.Maradona
马拉多纳
S: Student      FS:Foreign student                                      
S:   Hi,what are you looking at?         
FS: It's a football website. I'm doing some research about famous players.
S:   You should look up Maradona. Diego Maradona. He was a very famous  player in the 1980s, played for Argentina .Have you heard of "The Hand of God"?
FS: Yes... there's something about it here. In the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Maradona scored a goal against England using his hand. The referee didn't spot it and awarded Argentina have the goal.
S:   And later, when he was shown the illegal goal, Maradona said,"Even if there was a hand, it must have been the hand of god." That's how it got its name.   
FS: I see. Let's look at his early career... it says here that he was born in the slums of Villa Fiorito near Buenos Aires and was part of a very big family. Maradona entered professional football at the astonishing age of 15!
S:  Very young! When he was 16, he played for the national squad of Argentina. Regardless of his talent, he was considered too young by the coach, who left him out of his selection for the 1978 World Cup.
FS: He must have been really disappointed, but I guess he made up for it later.
S:   That's for sure. In the following four years, he dominated his country's domestic league and was eventually added to the Argentine squal for Spain 1982.      
S: Although Argentina was unsuccessful, the brilliance of Maradona did not go unnoticed and after the World Cup, he was transferred to Spanish giants Barecelona.
FS:   He went to the Italian club Napoli after that, in 1984.
S:     What is he doing now? He must have retired, because he's pretty old.
FS:   In 1991, he tested positive for doping and was banned from football for 15 months. That stared the end of his international career.
S:    It says here that in 1994 he tested positive for drugs again, that really must have been the end.
FS:  It's a pity that drugs affected his career so much. He may not be a good man, but he was certainly an excellent footballer.
S:    Yes, although I'm not sure about that "Hand of God"!