看体育学英文 NFL 之 圣路易斯红雀队 – Terry Metcalf

The Man Who Surprised The Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals(圣路易斯红雀队*) wanted Terry Metcalf on their team. They needed him to run back kicks（负责接球回攻）. They knew he could do that well. But they thought he was too small to do much more.

Terry was just 5 feet 10 inches（约1.78米） and 185 pounds（约168斤）. But he was strong. And he was fast. He could run 40 yards（码） in 4.4 seconds.

A man from the Cardinals had seen Terry play in college.

"This is a fine player," the man said. "But he is small. I do not know how he will hold up against（对抗） a big pro defense（大块头的职业防守）."

Terry himself did not know. He joined the Cardinals. He saw a few of the big men up close. Some of them were 6 feet 6 inches（约1.98米） tall. They were 275 pounds（约239斤）.

"I wonder what I am doing here," Terry thought.

But these thoughts did not last long. Terry played in one of the early games. He got the ball for the first time. And he went 50 yards! He ran for 133 yards in that game. Now Terry knew he could play pro ball（职业比赛）.

The Cardinals knew, too. They saw what a smart runner he was. They saw how well he could catch（接球）. They saw that he could run back kicks.

Terry did well in his first year. He went over 1,000 yards on offense（进攻）. He did this by running（冲球）, catching passes（传球）, and returning kicks（回攻）. In his next year, he did even better. He made 2,058 yards. Then came 1975. It was Terry's third year. That year he ran for 816 yards. He caught passes for 378 yards. He ran back kicks for 1,245 yards. He even got 23 yards when he picked up a loose ball（自由球）. Terry made 2,462 that year. No NFL player had ever done as well.

Terry was a big surprise for the Cardinals. They thought they were just getting someone to run back kicks. Instead, they got almost a whole offense（全能进攻球员）!

Terry Metcalf职业生涯数据

SPECIAL WORD MEANINGS

college: a school that people can go to after high school, usually for four years

defense: the players on a football team who are on the field when the other team has the ball

pro: a person who gets paid for doing something (in this case, for playing football); pro is short for professional

offense: the players on a football team who are on the field when their own team has the ball

NFL: the National Football League, a group of teams that play each other in pro football

* St. Louis Cardinals于1988年迁往亚利桑那州，更名为Arizonal Cardinals，如今MLB美国职棒大联盟中有一只叫做St. Louis Cardinals的球队，不过两支球队之间并没有关系。

 

 

阅读理解

REMEMBERING DETAILS

1.  Terry Metcalf was                       tall .

1. 6 feet 2 inches
2. 5 feet 6 inches
3. 5 feet 10 inches
4. 7 feet

2. In Terry's first year he went over                       yards on offense.

a. 2,000

b. 1,000

c. 2,058

d. 500

3. The man from the Cardinals had seen Terry play                        .

a. in high school

b. for the Chicago Bears

c. in a baseball game

d. in college

USING CONTEXT CLUES TO GET WORD MEANINGS

4. "He even got 23 yards when he picked up a loose ball." In this sentence, loose ball means                       .

a. ball that fell apart

b. ball that had been dropped

c. ball that he found at home

d. ball with the players' names on it

FINDING THE MAIN IDEA

5. The main idea of this story is that                       .

a. the Cardinals made their players work hard

b. Terry Metcalf was a poor runner

c. Terry Metcalf turned out to be a fine player

d. Terry Metcalf was not strong