2013托福考试备考：托福阅读必备背景资料（十六）

世界杯上，来自世界各地的顶级足球运动员们带来了一场场精彩绝伦的比赛，也让我们关注一下。而与此同时诞生在世界杯赛场上的新名词。

In 2002, the word "metatarsal" suddenly entered the mainstream, such was the focus on David Beckham's broken foot. Four years later, the wives and girlfriends' ostentatious stint in Baden-Baden, Germany, brought the nickname Wag into common parlance.

Adrian Beard, author of the Language of Sport, says certain words tend to catch on because of cultural repetition and "playfulness" with language.

"The interesting thing about metatarsal is we had a specialist medical term being applied to a highly non-medical group of people. It got to the stage where Rooney and Beckham were almost defined by the term," he says.

It's hard to predict which words will spring from the South African tournament as language reacts to, rather than sets, the agenda.

"It will probably emerge - in terms of England coverage - from key figures in the team, who they are playing and where they are playing. But sometimes we get quite a creative blend of words. Because the World Cup is in South Africa, words from Afrikaans might come into play too."

But there is a huge repertoire for play, and not just with language.

"After all, who could predict the Mexican wave in 1986 or Johan Cruyff's famous turn in 1974?"