Neil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

Georgie
And I’m Georgie. Whether it’s Cinderella, David and Goliath, or the Rocky movies, we all love an underdog story. The underdog in a situation is the person who seems least likely to win. Nevertheless, with some luck and plenty of hard work, the underdog sometimes ends up the winner.

Neil
Sport is full of underdog stories, minor teams and sportspeople who play with courage and end up beating the superstars and multi-million pound clubs. But if you were given a choice between your team being the favourite to win or being the underdog, it’s pretty obvious you’d want to be the favourite, right?

Georgie
Well yes, being the favourite gives a team confidence. But maybe the fact that no-one expects the underdog to win is actually an advantage which could help them to a surprise victory. In this programme, we’ll be hearing about an underdog football club doing just that, and, as usual, we’ll be learning some useful new vocabulary too.

Neil
Great. But first I have a question for you, Georgie. One of the biggest underdog stories in sports history happened in the 2015-16 English football season when a little known club beat top clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool, overcoming odds of 5000-1 to win the Premier League. But which club? Was it? 
a)    Charlton Athletic?
b)    Leicester City? or,
c)    Crystal Palace?

Georgie
I’ll guess it was Crystal Palace.

Neil
OK, Georgie, I’ll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme. The English football Premier League is a good place to find underdogs. Each season the three best clubs in the second league are promoted up, while the three weakest Premier clubs are relegated down. One club that knows all about relegation is Luton Town FC.

Georgie
In 2009, Luton Town were relegated entirely from the English League. Slowly their fortunes improved however, and they've now become the first English team to progress from non-league to the Premier League. Here’s Luton fan, Alex, talking about his team’s chances to BBC Radio programme, Mental Muscle:

Alex
…But some of these elite Premier League clubs will look down their nose at us and just think we shouldn't be there, and we are there on merit and we’ve just gotta prove it this season. So we are the underdog, certainly financially, but on the pitch I don't think we will be.

Neil
Alex thinks some of the rich Premier League clubs look down their noses at Luton. If you look down your nose at someone, you think you’re better than them. But underdogs, Luton, have done better than expected, even beating some of the big clubs like Newcastle United.

Georgie
The question is how? Is there something about being the underdog that improves a team’s chances of winning? To answer that, sports psychologist, Gillian Cook, spoke to BBC Radio programme, Mental Muscle:

Gillian Cook
So, you can find that when the newly promoted team comes up they've got high confidence 'cause they just come from a season of winning - so they've got the belief that they can do it. But on the flip side it's just as important to look at the top dog’s performance who… everyone expects them to win, they’re playing the newly promoted team. So we might think of Man City who might be about to come up against Luton Town… So what we can see from that is what in psychology literature is known as choking, and that's when pressure gets to an individual or a team and they underperform.

Neil
Clubs newly promoted to the Premier League are used to winning and start the season confidently. On the flip side, they have to play much stronger teams than before. The phrase, on the flip side, is used to show the opposite, less positive side of something.

Georgie
Of course it’s not just the underdog playing, there are also top dogs, the most successful or powerful person or team. No-one expects underdogs to win and this gives them freedom to relax and play naturally. Top dogs, on the other hand, experience a lot of expectation, and this sometimes leads to choking, a sports term which describes the failure of a player to perform their best because of psychological pressure or social expectation.

Neil
Choking causes teams and players to underperform, to perform worse than expected. It’s also true that neutral fans - people watching a match when their team isn’t playing - tend to support the underdog as well. In football, it’s tough at the top!

Georgie
I think it’s time you reveal the answer to your question, Neil. You asked me about the famous Premier League winning underdogs of the 2015-16 football season, and I guessed it was Crystal Palace…

Neil
Which was… the wrong answer, I’m afraid, Georgie. In fact it was Leicester City, nicknamed the Foxes, who became the unexpected champions of the Premier League. OK, let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learned from this programme about the underdog, the person in a competition or situation who seems least likely to win.

Georgie
If you look down your nose at someone, you think you are superior to them.

Neil
The phrase, on the flip side, is used to show the opposite, less positive, or less popular side of something.

Georgie
The top dog is an informal way of saying the most successful or powerful person in a group.

Neil
In sports, choking happens when a player or team fail to perform their best because of psychological pressure or social expectation.

Georgie
And finally, the verb to underperform means to perform worse than expected. Once again, our six minutes are up! Remember to join us again next time for more topical discussion and useful vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!

Neil
Bye!

尼爾
您好。這裡是 BBC 學習英語的六分鐘英語。我是尼爾。

喬治
我是喬治 無論是《灰姑娘》、《大衛與歌利亞》 還是《洛基》電影，我們都喜歡居下風者的故事。在某種情況下，居弱勢者就是看起來最不可能獲勝的人。然而，如果運氣好，再加上勤奮努力，弱勢者有時會成為贏家。

尼爾
體育運動中充滿了弱勢者的故事，小球隊和運動員勇敢拚搏，最終擊敗了超級巨星和身價百萬的俱樂部。但是，如果讓你在你的球隊是奪冠熱門還是弱旅之間做出選擇，很明顯你會希望成為奪冠熱門，對嗎？

喬治
是的，奪冠熱門會給球隊帶來信心。但是，也許沒有人預料到處於劣勢的一方會獲勝，這其實也是一種優勢，可以幫助他們出奇制勝。在這個節目中，我們將聽到一個處於劣勢的足球俱樂部的故事，和往常一樣，我們還將學到一些有用的新詞彙。

尼爾
太好了。但首先我要問你一個問題，喬治。體育史上最大的弱旅故事之一發生在 2015-16 英格蘭足球賽季，當時一家鮮為人知的俱樂部擊敗了曼城和利物浦等頂級俱樂部，以 5000-1 的賠率贏得了英超聯賽冠軍。但究竟是哪家俱樂部呢？
a) 查爾頓競技？
b) 萊斯特城？
c) 水晶宮？

喬治
我猜是水晶宮。

尼爾
好的，喬治，我會在節目最後揭曉正確答案。英格蘭足球超級聯賽是尋找弱旅的好地方。每個賽季，第二級別聯賽中最好的三家俱樂部升級，而最弱的三家英超俱樂部降級。盧頓鎮俱樂部就是一家深諳降級之道的俱樂部。

喬治
2009 年，盧頓徹底從英格蘭聯賽降級。不過，他們的命運逐漸好轉，現在他們已成為第一支從非聯賽升入英超的英格蘭球隊。以下是盧頓球迷亞歷克斯（Alex）在 BBC 電台節目《心理肌肉》（Mental Muscle）中談論他的球隊的機會：

亞歷克斯
……但有些英超精英俱樂部會看不起我們，認為我們不應該在那裡，而我們是憑實力在那裡的，我們必須在本賽季證明這一點。所以我們是弱勢者，當然是在經濟上，但在球場上，我不認為我們會是弱勢者。

尼爾
阿萊克斯認為一些富有的英超俱樂部看不起盧頓。如果你看不起別人，你就會認為自己比他們強。但處於劣勢的盧頓表現比預期的要好，甚至擊敗了紐卡斯爾聯隊等一些大俱樂部。

喬治
問題是怎麼做到的？處於劣勢的球隊是否能提高獲勝的機會？為了回答這個問題，運動心理學家吉莉安．庫克（Gillian Cook）接受了 BBC 廣播節目《心理肌肉》（Mental Muscle）的採訪：

吉莉安．庫克
你會發現，當升班馬上場時，他們信心十足，因為他們剛剛經歷了一個賽季的勝利，所以他們堅信自己能做到。但反過來，看看強隊的表現也同樣重要，因為……每個人都希望他們贏，因為他們的對手是升班馬。所以我們可能會想到曼城，他們可能會對陣盧頓……所以我們可以從中看到心理學文獻中所說的「窒息」，這是指個人或團隊受到壓力而表現不佳。

尼爾
新升入英超的俱樂部習慣於贏球，在賽季開始時信心十足。反過來，他們必須與比以前強大得多的球隊交手。On the flip side（反面）一詞用於表示事物相反的、不那麼積極的一面。

喬治
當然，不只是弱勢者在比賽，還有強者，即最成功或最強大的個人或團隊。沒有人期待弱勢者獲勝，這就給了他們放鬆和自然發揮的自由。另一方面，頂尖高手則會經歷很多期望，這有時會導致窒息。「窒息」是一個體育術語，指球員因心理壓力或社會期望而未能發揮出最佳水平。

尼爾
窒息會導致球隊和球員表現不佳，表現不如預期。同樣，中立球迷--在自己的球隊沒有比賽時觀看比賽的人--也傾向於支持弱勢者。在足球界，處在巔峰是很艱難的！

喬治
我想是時候揭曉你問題的答案了，尼爾。你問我 2015-16 賽季英超聯賽中著名的獲勝弱旅，我猜是水晶宮隊……

尼爾
這恐怕是……錯誤的答案，喬治。事實上，綽號「狐狸」的萊斯特城隊出人意料地成為了英超聯賽的冠軍。好了，讓我們來回顧一下從這個節目中學到的關於「弱勢者」的詞彙。「弱勢者」是指在比賽中或在某種情況下看起來最不可能獲勝的人。

喬治
如果你看不起別人，你就會認為自己比別人優越。

尼爾
On the flip side（反面）這個短語用來表示事物的反面、不那麼積極或不那麼受歡迎的一面。

喬治
頂尖者是一種非正式的說法，指一個團體中最成功或最有權勢的人。

尼爾
在體育運動中，當運動員或團隊由於心理壓力或社會期望而未能發揮出最佳水平時，就會出現「窒息」現象。

喬治
最後，「表現不佳」這個動詞的意思是表現得比預期的差。我們的六分鐘時間又到了！記得下次再來《六分鐘英語》與我們一起討論更多熱門話題和有用詞彙。再見！

尼爾
再見！