英语阅读大练兵：Barcelona wins Championship

(Words: about 300; Time: 3.5 minutes )

History was made on May 17 in France when Barcelona, whose only previous Champions title came in 1992, won their first European Soccer Championship in 14 years. Barcelona defeated Arsenal 2 1 in the UEFA Champions League final.

Barcelona played with a man-advantage after the referee (裁判) ejecting the Arsenal goalkeeper early on in the game. Jens Lehmann was given a red card in the 18th minute of play for tripping Barcelona striker, Samuel Etoo. Lehmann became the first player in the Champions League history to be sent out of a final championship game.

Referee Terje Hauge is not 100% behind his decision here. ESPN.com reporters wrote that he (Hauge) may have acted too quickly (on the subject of the red card during the game). Hauge told a Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, The match started well, then obviously there was the incident with the sending off (被罚出场). At this point I would have liked to have taken a few more seconds before I made my decision.

Despite all of this, Arsenal played with ten for the remaining 72 minutes of the game. They were even able to score the first goal in the 37th minute.

Etoo struck again and the two teams tied in the 76th minute. Then Juliano Belletti of Barcelona scored the game winning goal with just 10 minutes left to play.

There are not enough words to describe how I feel, Etoo said. But you cant say it was my night it was Barcelonas night.

Etoo, a Cameroon star who has won Africas player of the year award for three straight years, said Barcelona remembered how Liverpool overcame a three-goal deficit (落后) to win last years final against AC Milan. Having seen what Liverpool did, we adopted the Liverpool spirit. We know you cant accept anything until the final whistle has blown, he said.

Help:

eject v. to force somebody to leave a place 驱逐

tie v. to have the same number of points打成平局

adopt v. to start to deal with or think about something in a particular way采纳

True (T) or False (F):

1. Barcelona defeated Arsenal and won their first European Soccer Championship in history.

2. Jens Lehmann triped Samuel Eto because he was not 100% behind his decision then.

3. Etoo has won Africas player of the year award for three straight years when he served Liverpool.

Key:1-3 FFF