VOA慢速英语听力：女子足球世界杯开幕，新西兰和澳大利亚获胜 Women’s Soccer World Cup Opens with Wins by New Zealand and Australia.
The Women's Soccer World Cup has started in Australia and New Zealand and will continue until August 20. The teams from the host countries won their first games on Thursday.
女子足球世界杯在澳大利亚和新西兰开赛，将持续到8月20日。东道国的球队在周四赢得了他们的首场比赛。
New Zealand defeated Norway, 1-0. It was the first-ever win in the tournament for New Zealand.
新西兰以1-0击败挪威。这是新西兰在比赛中有史以来的第一次胜利。
Australia is playing without Sam Kerr, one of the world's best players, but it still defeated Ireland, 1-0.
澳大利亚没有世界上最优秀的球员之一Sam Kerr参赛，但仍以1-0击败了爱尔兰。
Norway had been one of the top teams in the world when women's soccer was young, winning the 1995 World Cup. However, the team has not been as good recently, losing early in both the 2019 tournament and at the 2022 European Cup.
挪威在女子足球起步时期曾是世界顶级球队之一，赢得了1995年世界杯。然而，该队最近表现不佳，在2019年比赛和2022年欧洲杯中都提前出局。
Katie Bowen is a member of the New Zealand team. Seeing her team ahead when the game ended was "absolutely surreal," she said.
Katie Bowen是新西兰队的成员。她说，在比赛结束时看到自己的球队领先是“绝对超现实的”。
Players from New Zealand and Norway said they were not distracted by a shooting in Auckland earlier in the day. A man with a gun went into a construction site near the hotel where Norway was staying. He killed two people and later died after a shootout with New Zealand police.
来自新西兰和挪威的球员表示，他们并没有被当天早些时候在奥克兰的一起枪击事件分心。一名持枪男子闯入了挪威球队所住的酒店附近的建筑工地。他杀害了两人，并在与新西兰警方的交火后身亡。
Extra police watched over the opening game at Eden Park stadium. Over 40,000 people were there, including New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins. He thanked the team for starting the tournament with an "inspirational" performance.
比赛开始时，额外的警力在伊登公园体育场进行了监视。包括新西兰总理克里斯·希普金斯在内，超过40,000人观看了比赛。他感谢球队以“鼓舞人心”的表现开始了比赛。
For Australia, Steph Catley scored a goal on a penalty kick early in the second half and that was enough to win. Australian fans had been concerned about the news that Kerr would miss the tournament’s first two games with a leg injury.
对于澳大利亚来说，斯蒂芬·卡特利在下半场早期的点球中打进一球，这就足以取得胜利。澳大利亚球迷对Kerr因腿部受伤缺席比赛的消息感到担忧。
Over 75,000 fans watched the match in a stadium built for the 2000 Olympics. Australia had trouble scoring without Kerr, who plays in the women’s professional league in England for Chelsea.
超过75,000名球迷在为2000年奥运会建造的体育场观看了比赛。澳大利亚在没有Kerr的情况下进球遇到了困难，她在英格兰为切尔西女子职业联赛效力。
New Zealand’s next game is on July 25 against the Philippines and Australia plays Nigeria on July 27.
新西兰的下一场比赛将于7月25日对阵菲律宾，澳大利亚将于7月27日对阵尼日利亚。
The defending champion United States plays Vietnam in its first match on July 22.
卫冕冠军美国将在7月22日的首场比赛中对阵越南。
The tournament is larger than in past years, with 32 teams. Many countries are in the tournament for the first time. They include Ireland, Vietnam, Zambia and Haiti. Other first-time competitors are Morocco, Panama, Portugal and the Philippines.
本届比赛规模比过去的年份大，共有32支球队参加。许多国家是首次参加比赛。包括爱尔兰、越南、赞比亚和海地在内。其他首次参赛国家还有摩洛哥、巴拿马、葡萄牙和菲律宾。
The Americans are looking for their third-straight win, but other top teams include France, Japan, Germany, Canada, and Brazil.
美国队正在寻求连续第三次获胜，但其他强队包括法国、日本、德国、加拿大和巴西。
Canada's coach is Bev Priestman. She said more countries are putting money into developing their teams and players. She said some teams could lose in the tournament's first games, known as the group stage, but then do well at the next level, called the knockout round. "It's tighter than it's ever been," she said.
加拿大队的教练是贝夫·普里斯特曼。她说，越来越多的国家在发展球队和球员方面投入资金。她说一些球队在比赛的第一轮，也就是小组赛阶段可能会输掉比赛，但之后在淘汰赛阶段会表现出色。“比以往任何时候都要激烈，”她说。
Soccer experts pointed to a recent 3-2 win by Africa's Zambia over Germany.
足球专家们指出，最近非洲赞比亚队以3-2战胜了德国队。
"The world is catching up," said American coach Vlatko Andonovski.
美国队教练弗拉特科·安多诺夫斯基说：“世界在迎头赶上。”
I'm Caty Weaver.
我是凯蒂·韦弗。
Words in This Story
host –n. a country that holds an international event
absolutely –adv. completely
surreal –adj. very strange or dreamlike
distracted –adj. unable to pay attention
inspirational –adj. causing people to want to do something or to feel like they can do more
penalty kick –n. a chance to score a goal given to a team when a member of the opposing team breaks the rules
tournament –n. a large competition involving many teams over that takes place of days or weeks
knockout round –n. a part of a competition in which a team is out after a loss
