[ti:College Basketball Tournaments Lift Student Spirit] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The American college basketball tournaments [00:03.48]known as “March Madness” [00:05.44]look a little different than they used to. [00:09.48]There are very few fans watching the games in person. [00:15.12]The players stay in safe areas called “bubbles” [00:19.60]in the states of Texas and Indiana. [00:24.56]But at least the games are happening. [00:27.52]Last year, the tournaments were just about to start [00:32.60]when the United States closed all public events [00:36.68]to stop the spread of COVID-19. [00:41.32]The college tournaments include over 60 teams [00:44.56]made up of college students. [00:47.76]There is a tournament for men and a tournament for women. [00:52.76]In U.S. cities with large colleges and universities, [00:57.96]people would go out to eat, drink [01:01.08]and watch the games on television. [01:05.12]When the tournaments were canceled last year, [01:07.48]students were also sent home. [01:11.00]Some students have yet to return to campus. [01:14.72]Others came back to a very different college life in autumn. [01:20.92]They needed to stay apart from each other. [01:24.52]They took classes by video call. [01:27.96]They could not spend time with friends or eat in large dining rooms. [01:34.84]Colleges, like the rest of the country, [01:38.16]were trying to stop the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. [01:44.76]Group activities are a big part of the college experience. [01:51.20]And students whose universities had good basketball teams [01:55.40]in 2020 lost out on one of those experiences: [02:00.84]cheering for their schoolmates in the tournaments. [02:06.08]Shane Hoffmann saw this at the University of Oregon. [02:11.64]He is a sports writer for The Daily Emerald, the student newspaper. [02:18.24]He said last year, the Oregon women’s basketball team [02:23.92]might have won the tournament. [02:26.84]Three Oregon players were among the first eight players [02:31.64]chosen by the professional teams of the WNBA, [02:36.40]including Sabrina Ionescu, the first pick. [02:42.88]Hoffmann called it “a huge bummer” [02:46.60]to see the college basketball tournaments canceled. [02:51.40]“It did seem very, very gloomy. [02:54.96]I think people realized that was the last time [02:57.80]they were able to see that phenomenal, phenomenal Oregon team, [03:01.60]which is probably going to go down as one of the best ever.” [03:05.56]This spring, things are a little less gloomy for Max Witty, [03:13.08]a student at Syracuse University in central New York. [03:18.60]Witty said watching the games on television [03:22.72]was a fun activity for students and others. [03:28.28]“It gives us a sense of maybe we are getting back to normal, [03:32.92]maybe one day we can have that big game, [03:37.52]maybe one day we’ll be able to sit and watch it [03:42.16]with a huge crowd in The Dome, who knows?” [03:46.28]“The Dome” is the large building at Syracuse [03:50.72]where 30,000 fans can watch the games and cheer for the team. [03:56.76]Watching games there was one of the reasons [04:00.12]Witty chose to go to Syracuse. [04:03.52]Syracuse recently lost to the University of Houston [04:08.40]to end its season. [04:10.56]But for a couple of weeks, Witty said [04:14.84]being able to watch the games with a small group of friends [04:20.12]was a “pick-me-up” after a difficult year. [04:25.16]Thomas Kollie is in his second year at the University of Alabama. [04:31.32]The school, in the city of Tuscaloosa, [04:35.08]is known for its winning football team [04:38.92]and the 100,000 fans at the games. [04:44.32]Kollie said he missed attending football games last year. [04:49.08]With COVID-19 restrictions, very few [04:54.20]were permitted at the games and he could not get in. [04:59.84]This year, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams [05:05.12]were in the college tournaments before losing in late March. [05:10.72]Life in Tuscaloosa has also been different compared to 2020. [05:17.04]Streets in the city have been filled with fans watching games [05:21.88]as the state removed gathering limits. [05:26.36]In his fraternity house, Kollie has been watching sports events [05:31.60]with as many as 25 friends. [05:36.44]“Now, like, actually being able to gather and watch [05:40.32]the basketball games without fear of how many rules we're breaking, [05:45.08]that's really cool. Because you're not sitting in constant fear about [05:49.08]the cops coming and kicking everyone out in the [05:51.60]middle of a game, or something like that.” [05:55.24]Hoffmann went to Indianapolis, Indiana to write about the Oregon games. [06:01.72]He said seeing the whole sports world shut down last year was “depressing.” [06:08.08]But now, he is excited to see fans [06:11.68]from all over the U.S. coming to see the games. [06:16.92]He said seeing families out in the city, [06:20.20]wearing the colors of their favorite teams, [06:23.96]made it seem like the U.S. is taking “a step [06:27.36]in the right direction to … normalcy again.” [06:32.16]The final games of the college basketball tournaments [06:35.80]are played on April 4 and 5. [06:39.48]I’m Dan Friedell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM