适读人群 ：学生,一般读者 书虫系列热销20余年，已成为了家喻户晓的英语阅读品牌，以世界优秀文学名著的英文简写本或原创文学作品而知名。“书虫百科”子系列是一套通识百科类读物，收录非虚构类文本，能够帮助学生建构更加完整、立体的知识体系，发展认知和思辨能力。
“书虫·牛津英汉双语读物（百科类）”的作者团队不仅包括了牛津大学著名的儿童文学作家，还吸纳了不同领域的专家为之创作和审稿。读物话题包括：著名国家和城市的历史文化介绍（如巴西、美国、伦敦、纽约等）；著名人物的传记（如威廉和凯特、达芬奇、史蒂芬·霍金等）；自然科学的入门简介（如天文和宇宙开发、人体奥秘、恐龙和考古学等）；以及世界文化现象（如体育赛事、节日庆典等），话题覆盖面广泛，文字生动有趣，配以高质量清晰的图片和译文，让非虚构类文本的阅读也能像读小说一样引人入胜。
What’s the most exciting word in the English language? If your answer is ‘Goal!’, then you’re already a fan of the beautiful game.
And you are not alone. There are millions of people like you all over the world – playing football, watching it, wearing the football shirts of their favourite team, travelling hundreds of kilometres to watch their club or their country play, or just kicking a football around on a beach or in the street.
So here is the story of the beautiful game – from its beginnings thousands of years ago to the international game of today. The rules, the players, the cups, the clubs, the stars, the fans – this is football, from Argentina to Zidane.
英语中最令人激动的词汇是什么？如果你的回答是“进球！”，那么你早已是这项美妙运动的爱好者了。
而且不止你一个人，世界上还有千百万人和你一样，他们也踢足球，看比赛，穿自己最爱的球队的球衣，甚至不远千里去观看自己支持的俱乐部或者国家队的比赛，不过他们也可能只是在沙滩上或者街头巷尾踢踢球。
1 The beautiful game 1
2 What kind of football? 3
3 Playing the game 7
4 The story of football 12
5 We won the cup 16
6 Women’s football 22
7 Stars of football 26
8 The business of football 32
9 The dark side of football 35
10 Football today and tomorrow 38
GLOSSARY 41
ACTIVITIES： Before Reading 44
ACTIVITIES： While Reading 45
ACTIVITIES： After Reading 49
TRANSLATION 参考译文 52
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