美国啦啦队趣闻发展史-英语点津

每次看美国队比赛，总有美女啦啦队在一旁呐喊助威，风头直逼场上比赛的队员。那么你知道美国啦啦队是怎么来的吗？

Just as any anything else, cheerleading has quite a history behind it. In ancient times spectators cheered for runners in races held during the first ever Olympic Games in ancient Greece. In the 1860's students in Great Britain began cheering at competitive sporting events and soon the idea spread to the United States. At Princeton in New Jersey, in 1865 the first pep club was formed and they created the first-known cheer:

和其他任何事物一样，啦啦队的背后也颇有一段历史。在古希腊第一次奥林匹克运动会所举办的赛跑比赛中，古时的观众们就曾为赛跑者欢呼喝彩。到了19世纪60年代，大不列颠帝国的学子们开始在竞技体育赛事中欢呼助威，随后不久这一形式就传到了美国。1865年，在新泽西州的普林斯顿大学，第一个(旨在创造体育比赛刺激气氛的)活力俱乐部诞生了，他们发明了已知最早的欢呼口号：

美国啦啦队趣闻发展史

"Tah rah rah

Tiger Tiger Tiger

Sis sis sis

Boom boom boom

Aaaahhhhh!

Princton! Princeton! Princeton!"

The history of organized cheerleading started in 1898. The University of Minnesota was having a pitiful football season. One fan decided to write a letter to the Ariel, The official paper of the university of Minnesota,and complain. He wrote "Everyone's been crying, 'Keep up your spirits, and we will have a winning team bye and bye.' I say give us a winning team and our spirits will take care of themselves."

有组织的啦啦队活动始于1898年。当时明尼苏达大学正经历一个令人同情的橄榄球赛季。一个球迷决定给明尼苏达大学的正式刊物《埃里厄尔》写信发发牢骚。他写道：“每个人都在呐喊：‘你们要振作精神！我们迟早会成为一支胜利之队。’而我要说，赐予我们一支胜利的队伍，那么我们的士气自然就会高涨。”

Everyone agreed that something had to be done and soon a meeting was called of all University of Minnesota students and faculty before the game with Madison Wisconsin. One of the University's professors presented a brilliant scientific thesis on fan support. He stated that the collective stimuli of several hundred students focused on sending positive energy in the team's direction would help the team win. The professor concluded with a rousing cry: "Go to Madison! Go to Madison! Apply the summation of stimuli!"

所有人一致认为需要为此采取一些措施，不久后，在与威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校比赛前夕，明尼苏达大学召开了一次由全体师生参加的大会。在会上，大学里的一位教授就球迷的支持作用做了一番极为精彩的论述，他指出集中数百名学生的激情全心为球队的奋斗目标注入积极的动力，将会帮助球队获胜。教授还归纳出一个鼓舞人心的口号：“战胜麦迪逊！战胜麦迪逊！拿出所有激情！”

The game came and went, and the Gophers got killed 28-0. The cheer didn't work. It just didn't roll off of the tongue the right way. Something different had to be done to get the Gopher fans riled up. This is where Jack Campbell, a then first-year medical student, stepped in and he became the first ever cheerleader. Someone needs to lead the yells with organized cheering, he explained. And there needed to be variety, not just "He's all right" and "They're all right." So, the next game, Campbell led the crowd in a cheer that marked history. Thus, cheerleading in the United States was born.

比赛很快就结束了，明尼苏达人以0比28的比分惨败。欢呼没起到任何作用，因为呐喊口号实在是不顺口。看来必须采用其他办法来让明尼苏达队的球迷兴奋起来。此时一位名叫杰克•坎贝尔的医学系新生加入进来，他成为有史以来第一位啦啦队长。他解释说需要有人引导大家有组织地齐声呐喊欢呼，而且口号也应该是多种多样的，而不能只是“他很棒”或“他们棒极了”这样的话。于是，在接下来的比赛中，坎贝尔带领大家进行的欢呼为啦啦队的发展写下了新的历史篇章。就这样，啦啦队在美国诞生了。

Cheerleading, believe it or not, was dominated by men in its early years. However, when large numbers of young men went off to fight in World War II, the tables turned. More than 90 percent of cheerleaders were female from that point on.

信不信由你，早期的啦啦队以男性为主。然而，随着第二次世界大战中大批青年男子奔赴战场，这一局面也随之转变了。自此以后，超过百分之九十的啦啦队员由女性担当。

The evolution of cheerleading to a sport, again led by The University of Minnesota, started in the 1920's with the inclusion of gymnastics and tumbling routines. This helped cheerleaders to become known for their athletic ability. The 1930's brought on the growth of showmanship in cheerleading, and cheerleading became more entertaining to watch. Widespread use of the megaphone started in the 1900's and the famous pom pon was introduced in the 1950's by Lawrence Herkimer.

啦啦队发展成为一项运动也是由明尼苏达大学发起的，从20世纪20年代开始，他们将体操和翻滚动作融入到欢呼呐喊当中。啦啦队员也开始因自己的运动技能而为人所知。20世纪30年代，啦啦队运动开始向表演性发展，变得越来越有娱乐观赏性。扩音器于20世纪开始被广泛使用，而著名的彩球手摇花也于20世纪50年代被劳伦斯•何其莫用到啦啦队当中。

Herkimer has done so much for cheerleading in the United States. He founded the National Cheerleading Association at Southern Methodist University after the holding of the first and second cheerleading clinics in 1946 and 1947. He also taught at the first cheerleading camp at Sam Houston College. The first year fifty two girls attended and by the next year the size of the camp had grown to 350. Herkimer had no idea that he would end up with 20,000 girls attending cheerleading camp in the summertime. Herkimer also was the inventor of a very popular cheerleading jump which was named "the herkie" after him.

何其莫为美国啦啦队的发展贡献颇多，他于1946年和1947年分别开设了第一、第二届啦啦队培训班之后，又在南卫斯理公会大学成立了国家啦啦队运动协会。他还曾经在山姆•休斯顿大学的啦啦队营中授课。第一年有52名女生参加，到了第二年人数便增加到了350人。令何其莫万万没有想到的是，到了鼎盛时期，竟然有两万名女生参加啦啦队营。同时，他还是一种非常流行的啦啦队跳跃动作的创始人，这一动作也以他的名字命名为“何其莫跳法”。

（来源：网络英语点津Danny编辑）