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With the World Cup soccer ___1___ underway in South Africa, a couple of things for the science-interested audience to watch for. First, the games will feature a new ball, called the Jabulani, the Zulu word for “celebrate.” And some players think something foul is ___2___. They contend that the ball doesn’t behave the way a normal soccer ball should, that it even turns the wrong way in mid-air. Adidas, which makes the ball, claims that the players complaining all have contracts with Adidas’s competitors.
The Sports Technology Research Group at England’s Loughborough University designed the ball. The sections aren’t ___3___ together anymore. Instead, the seams are glued or ___4___. The group leader, Andy Harland, told the Telegraph newspaper, “We have created a ball that is almost perfectly round, and more accurate than ever before.” Well, millions of soccer fans will ultimately decide the latter.
Also watch for the effects of altitude. Some of the games in South Africa will be played at ___5___ over a mile high, which could make catching one’s breath the primary goal.
tournament afoot stitched heat-sealed elevations
隨著南非世界杯足球錦標(biāo)賽如火如荼地展開，其中一些有趣的現(xiàn)象也將引起科學(xué)愛好者們的關(guān)注。首先，這場賽事的官方用球JABULANI（祖魯語，意為“普天同慶”）頗具特色。一些球員認(rèn)為，該球使用過程中“表現(xiàn)奇怪”。他們表示，“普天同慶”飛行路線詭異，甚至?xí)诎肟罩型蝗晦D(zhuǎn)向。對此，該球制造商阿迪達斯聲稱，提出抱怨的球員都與該公司競爭對手簽有合約。 英國拉夫堡大學(xué)體育科技研究小組擔(dān)任了“普天同慶”的設(shè)計任務(wù)。球體各部分不再采用針線縫合，而是通過膠合或熱粘合技術(shù)完成拼接?？傇O(shè)計師安迪·哈蘭告訴《每日電訊報》記者，“我們做出了一顆圓度幾乎完美的球，它的運行線路也前所未有地精準(zhǔn)?！碑?dāng)然，后半句是不是真的還得由億萬球迷說了算。 南非世界杯另一顯著的特色在于它的“高度”。其中一些賽事將在海拔一英里以上的場地舉辦，定能讓現(xiàn)場觀眾切實體驗到什么叫精彩得“令人窒息”。