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Moneyball
简体
Moneyball
点球成金

Adverbs

Date: Nov 09 2011

Themes: Sports

Grammar: Adverbs

Intro

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Life isn’t fair. But that doesn’t mean professional sports can’t be. Right?

Brad Pitt’s new movie Moneyball exposes the unfairness in Major League Baseball. It is about the manager of the Oakland A’s, Billy Beane, who wants to help his team win the World Series. But the odds are against him. His team has a much lower budget than big city teams like the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, which are able to pay huge sums to get the best players in the world.

The situation portrayed in Moneyball isn’t unique to baseball. Money is a big part of all professional sports. The richest teams can buy the best players. Of course, underdog teams are still sometimes able to win. But it isn’t easy. That’s why it is so exciting when they do.

Amy recently saw Moneyball. Hear her and Marni talk about the film.

生活不公平。但这并不意味着职业体育也是如此。是吗?
布拉德·皮特的新片《点球成金》揭露了美国职业棒球大联盟中的不公平现象。影片讲述了奥克兰运动家队经理比利·比恩 (Billy Beane) 的故事。他希望帮助自己的球队赢得职业棒球赛的冠军。但是命运处处与他做对。与纽约扬基和波士顿红袜这样可以支付巨资购买全球最优秀球员的球队相比,他的球队预算少得可怜。
《点球成金》所描述的现象不仅针对棒球。金钱是职业体育的一个重要部分。最有钱的球队可以购买最优秀的球员。当然,处于劣势的球队有时也能获胜。但这并不容易。所以他们才会在赢球时如此兴奋。
艾米最近看了《点球成金》。请听她和玛尼如何谈论此片。

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Amy

Amy

Marni

Marni

Amy:  I love a good sports underdog story, I have to say.

Marni:  You know, I think there’s something really intriguing about sports films that deal with the underdog. Are you by chance talking about that film Moneyball?

Amy:  I am, yeah. I just saw it, and I really liked it.

Marni:  It sounded like a really interesting concept, so tell me what you thought about the film.

Amy:  Well, I thought it was great. First of all, I’m excited that Brad Pitt has turned out to be a serious actor. But also, it was really interesting because it sort of brought up the point that professional sports are sort of unfair in a way.

Marni:  Absolutely.

Amy:  Because it’s all…you know, the odds are stacked in the favor of the teams that have the most money and can afford the best players. And I’m not a huge baseball fan, this movie’s about baseball, but I’m a basketball fan, and I’ve often felt that way about basketball, that it’s just not fair. So this movie is about this general manager of a baseball team who tries to find a way around that.

Marni:  Well, yeah, I think that’s so interesting, and I think it’s true of all sports, but you see that specifically in baseball, teams like the Yankees and the Red Sox, those teams that have all the money, they tend to constantly do well. I think it’s kinda interesting that they finally are really shedding light on that, and I’m hoping this film makes people more aware of that.

 

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Discussion

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Amy recently saw Moneyball starring Brad Pitt. She thought Brad Pitt did a great job and enjoyed seeing him in a more serious role. She also enjoyed the plot of the movie, which is about how the manager of the Oakland A’s tried to help his team win the World Series despite the fact that they had far less money to spend on players than other teams.

Marni thinks the concept of the film sounds very intriguing. She says that baseball teams like the New York Yankees are richer than other teams, which means that they can afford the best players. Because of that, these teams often win. Marni and Amy agree that money plays too big a role in professional sports. They hope this will change in the future.

Do you think that professional sports are unfair? What are your favorite sports teams?

 

Comments

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sara1998

sara1998

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i think it’s unfair cause teams which have rich sponsers can have the best players and that makes the situation very hard for poor team however those teams can have one of the most talented athlete in their team so he/she can’t show him/her self to the world


actuly i am a badminton player and i enjoy playing badminton but my favoriet team is iran’s volleyball team :)

04:23 PM Dec 02 2013 |

anggadwinka

Indonesia

money determine how the team is great a richest team would be winner in match because they have several best player . real madrid is rich team because they have good players .

01:18 AM Nov 18 2011 |

CatcheR

CatcheR

Iceland

Well I haven’t watched the movie yet and if it’s happen I am sure I would like because I am kinda like this actor.
I don’t have any favorite sport, oh yeah I like Motor GP and my idol was dead not long ago, It was Marco Simmoncelli from Italy. :( 

02:20 PM Nov 14 2011 |

Maria del Alba

Spain

I think the professional sports are unfair attending to the teams because richer teams can buy richer football players.


My favourite sport team is Real Madrid and my favourte football player is Cristiano Ronaldo ;)

05:31 PM Nov 12 2011 |

1 person likes this

marwa89

marwa89

Syrian Arab Republic

i dont have a favorite sport,but i watch soccer coz my family likes it,i am supporting barcelona,but i think real madrid is betterLaughing.


i think that some sports are unfair espically soccer,it depends on luck in many situations.


i think life is fair coz the creator of life is fair although there are bad things happen to us but it still fairSmile

02:05 PM Nov 12 2011 |

1 person likes this

kukuka

kukuka

Ukraine

I do think that life isn’t fair and big sports aren’t an exception. I like Dynamo Kiev though.

02:53 PM Nov 10 2011 |

2 people like this

i love life

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

hello good evening I appreciate your words actually this is a great idea to identify about others life do you think there are a big different between life in anywhere over the world if you want to talk about what of the mean life now with this injustice globalization we cant to achieve our dreams because of the life became very difficult more than in the past ? all thing become depend on just of the money you cant live without money you cant complete study without money we cant marry without money we cant love wihtout money all thing become deface but the essence of the life dont feel defeat and try all the time to find a good way to improve your life to forward some day in the future you will reach to all thing you like i am sure god given every one in this life a chance and oppotunity if you respect your self as the same time if you have a good message in help poor people you will be the most person happier over the world frankly the main thing when you feel satisfied in your conscience from your deep heart when you know no one can be rich all the time every thing will be okay my advice to every one has a nice idea in his- her mind if you want to translation your word to an practical action the first thing you should to confess before any thing in your mind no thing coming easy with efforts and a strong determination will be winner regardless all problems finally a special thank to you baby you are always very kind with our ambition you devoted a lot of the time to us have a nice time to all

01:40 AM Nov 10 2011 |

Arminka28

Arminka28

Armenia

I like this lesson, becouse there is a truth saying that you must bay good player for win the game.


 

08:54 PM Nov 09 2011 |

selvgali

selvgaliSuper Member!

Honduras

Some years ago, a baseball team, considered as one of the small teams won the world series, I don’t remember the year but the team was Florida Marlins, wich is a prove that when they do their best effort can achive great goals. After that, many of the players were valuated more than before and became rich, wich is one of the dreams of every profesional player 

07:50 PM Nov 09 2011 |

1 person likes this

i love life

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

 i guess this is a nice topic we need to dialoge between us i reallt in my life i dont have a good opportunity to improve my financial status but i will try to find a good method untill at least achieve a few from some of them my dreams we suffer from maladministration  and we suffering from put a good plane often


i think the budget it,s not considering the most important thing in our workgroup


i agree with idea which say if you want to reach to upraise in any work you should to stimulation all workers for example salary and promotion  and insurance


unfortunately  today all thing has changed value of human become less than of the money there are a lot from maltreatment against some workers  specially in the poorest countries more than rich countries this is the truth


stander of life different  from one country to onther


end with up must to investors to known human right important more of the money i always watch many program on tv talk about financial crises over the world now all people suffering from this bad system which use government in distribution of wealth


presently if we want to say we respect ourselves must to review in all policies 


i dont know when we feel of safety  in the tranquility because we always thnik about money how we can get on more of money as the same we could.nt stay without money every thing became depend on business


i dont have specifically idea to express  about  a lot of people who suffering from injustice we should to find a practical way to make up waste this value


good luck to all

07:17 PM Nov 09 2011 |

mangojoy

mangojoy

United States

I think this is a great topic. It seems to me that the question here at least in this English lesson dialogue is about the idea of ‘fairness’, what is fair and what is unfair. I became a huge baseball fan when I was in high school. I also became active in playing baseball during my summers. I loved it so much. I followed my favorite team (The Chicago Cubs). I also read the statistics in the newspaper daily about how my team and the individual players performed. The game of baseball has evolved and changed in many different ways over the years. Professional baseball is a business. That is the reality. People pay to go and see the players at their best. The players get paid a lot. How can ‘fairness’ co-exist with business mentality? If the owner’s goal is to make top dollar, why would he(or she) consider the aspect of fairness?

06:47 PM Nov 09 2011 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

Talking about unfairness, i remember Tonya Harding been banned for life  from figure skating for an attempt to break her rival´s  leg.  dirty trick !!!  

02:09 PM Nov 09 2011 |

Di_Noskova

Di_Noskova

Georgia

what I think about professional sports… Of course it’s unfair! and it’s a very difficult bissnes!

09:31 AM Nov 09 2011 |

1 person likes this

Murun

Mongolia

Oh yeah, if just one or two big teams win all the time, and other underdogs aren`t having chance to win many times, it is kind of boring and not interesting at all. Well, I hope that this fact will change in near future and more and more teams that doesn`t win all the time are can find a way around soon. I don`t interested in baseball or basketball, but I like  ice skating.


 

06:43 AM Nov 09 2011 |

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