Wednesday 17 June 2009

Sports: Are "Ronaldos" always good at football?



Are "Ronaldos" always good at football? This is the question I have always been asking.
First, you have the famous R9, one of my favourite football players of all time, who could dribble pass the entire court of opponent players and score incredible goals.

See below:



Then came Ronaldinho, which means "small Ronaldo", who could (can?) do all sorts of magical moves and even volley the ball to hit the crossbar every time! (Many people think this is fake, but I'm quite sure it is real. There is something called the crossbar challenege ever since this video came out, and many other footballers have taken this challenge, and it is not all so special to see them hitting the crossbar often with the ball)




Then of course, came the handsome, super skillful and now-even-richer Cristiano Ronaldo, aka CR7, who got his name Ronaldo because then-US president Ronald Reagan was his father's favourite actor, "rewriting the history of football" with the record-breaking transfer fee of 80 million pounds from Manchester United to Real Madrid (record-breaking does not including the night with Paris Hilton, even though Paris's friend did say "(Paris Hilton) thinks he is sexy and exotic, and loves his body. And she loves men with accents. She says it's like an aphrodisiac.") .
Vocab time:
aphrodisiac noun[C], adj
something, usually a drug or food, which is believed to cause sexual desire in people

So, are they all so good at football because they are all named "Ronaldo"?

Maybe, maybe not, according to Wikipedia, the listed "Ronaldos" are mostly footballers with great success.

But the interesting thing is, what happens after great success? Take a look:

Ronaldo had sex with a transvestite:

Vocab time:
transvestite noun[C]
a person, especially a man, who wears the clothes of the opposite sex, often for sexual pleasure





Partying Ronaldinho:




Milan would consider Ronaldinho transfer request : quoting "Ronalinho has struggled since his move to Serie A from Barcelona in July and has only managed the bench recently".

Ronaldinho left out of Brazil squad : quoting "Off-form Ronaldinho was left out of Brazil's squad on Thursday for next month's World Cup qualifiers and the Confederations Cup."


Vocab time:
Off-form adj
oppose to On-form, meaning not to be in a good condition


All these "Ronaldos" have a common interest, PARTYING, now that CR7 is still on-form and we still manage to see world-class football skills, what will his future be? What will he become?

As a fan of his football skills, I hope he will do well. As no fan of his clubbing skills, I advise he focus on his career.

Maybe learn from Kaka, he is famous for being a Brazilian who does not party and for his model-husband role.



Question:


Why did I use "I advise he focus on his career" and not "I advise he focuses on his career"?


Picture resources:

http://www.seethecup.com/footballers/kaka-is-a-daddy-see-the-picture-of-kakas-baby/

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n50/pimpin_krystal/cristiano_ronaldo_pepe_07.jpg?t=1246103047

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e317/puma7/picture_cristiano_ronaldo_306.jpg


Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronaldo_(disambiguation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronaldinho#Biography_and_personal_life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristiano_Ronaldo#Early_life
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=654700&cc=4716
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/2476901/Ronaldo-scores-with-Paris-Hilton-in-LA-night-club.html
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=646543&sec=transfers&cc=4716
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=648373&sec=worldcup2010&cc=4716
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kak%C3%A1#Personal_life
http://www.seethecup.com/footballers/kaka-is-a-daddy-see-the-picture-of-kakas-baby/

Vocabulary: Suffix "-en"

I'm sure you all have the concept of what Prefixes and Suffixes are in English. Today I would like to stress on one particular suffix "-en" as it is not only widely used, it is also easy for us to remember and understand.


Suffix "-en" appears in many different words, one of the most widely used is in the Past participles:
seen, given, taken, bitten...


but the type I want to discuss is the type to do with the concept "make it + adj/noun". I like this one because I can easily write a formula:


Verb = adjective/noun + "en"


For example:
awaken = to cause sb to wake up
brighten = to cause sth to become brighter
broaden = to cause sth / sb's mind to become more broad
cheapen = to cause sth to become cheaper
coarsen = to cause sth to become coarser
dampen = to cause sth to become damper
darken = to cause sth to become darker
deepen = to cause sth to become deeper
fatten = to cause sth / sb to become fatter
flatten = to cause sth to become more flat
freshen = to cause sth to become more fresh
gladden = to cause sth /sb to become more glad
harden = to cause sth to become harder
hasten = to cause sth / sb to become faster
heighten = to cause sth /sb to become higher
lengthen = to cause sth to become longer
lessen = to cause sth to become lesser
lighten = to cause sth to become lesser / lighter
loosen = to cause sth to become looser
moisten = to cause sth to become more moist
neaten = to cause sth to become neater
quicken = to cause sth to become quicker
quieten = to cause sth to become quieter / calmer
ripen = to cause sth to become ripe
roughen = to cause sth to become rougher
sharpen = to cause sth to become sharper
shorten = to cause sth to become shorter
sicken = to cause sth to become sick / ill
slacken = to cause sth to become more loose and not tight
soften = to cause sth to become softer
steepen = to cause sth to become steeper
stiffen = to cause sth to become stiffer
straighten = to cause sth to become straighter
strengthen = to cause sth to become stronger
sweeten = to cause sth to become sweeter
thicken = to cause sth to become thicker
tighten = to cause sth to become tighter
toughen = to cause sth to become tougher
waken = to cause sth to become awake
weaken = to cause sth to become weaker
widen = to cause sth to become wider
worsen = to cause sth to become worse



Recources: