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As you watch the 2017 FIFA World Cup over the next few weeks, you'll hear a lot of people call the sport "football." 未来几周观看世界杯的时候，你会听到很多人管足球叫"football"。 If you're American, however, there's a good chance you call it "soccer." And despite what British fans may tell you, there's a good reason you call it that. They should know — soccer is a British word. 但如果你是美国人，很可能你管它叫"soccer"。不管英国球迷怎么说，你这么叫其实很有道理。那些英国球迷得要知道，"soccer"其实是个英国词。 The word "soccer" dates back to the 19th-century birth of modern football. It has a more precise meaning than the broader term "football," points out University of Michigan professor Stefan Szymanski in a new paper. "soccer"这个词可以追溯到19世纪，现代足球刚刚诞生的时候。密西根大学的教授西曼斯基在最新发布的研究中指出，"soccer"的词义更为精准，而"football"的词义更宽泛。 People have been playing football-like sports for centuries, from the ancient Chinese cuju (pictured above) to the Mayan game pok ta pok, which used a rubber ball. Yet football as it's played in the World Cup was born more recently in Britain. 从中国古代的蹴鞠（见上图）到玛雅的橡胶足球“波塔波”，人们玩类似足球的运动已经有几个世纪的历史了。然而在世界杯上踢的足球却是英国人在近代发明的。 | 
