18.Beckham Quits as England Captain

18. 大卫·贝克汉姆辞去英格兰国家队队长的演说

On November 15th, 2000, Peter Taylor gave me the greatest honor of my career in making me captain of England and fulfilling my childhood dream.

2000年的11月15日，泰勒给了我职业生涯中最大的荣誉——让我担任英格兰国家队的队长一职，帮我完成了儿时的梦想。

Now almost six years later, having been captain for 58 of my 95 caps,

如今六年转眼即逝，在我为国家队效力的95场比赛里，有58场我是以队长身份出场的。

I feel the time is right to pass on the armband as we enter into a new era under Steve McClaren.

现在，英格兰国家队已经进入麦克拉伦时代，我也觉得是时候把队长袖标传给别人了。

It has been an honor and a privilege to have captained the country and I want to stress that I wish to continue to play for England

能带领我的国家出战对我来说是一种荣誉；我想强调的是，我希望能继续为英格兰国家队效力，

and look forward to helping both the new captain and Steve McClaren in any way I can.

也期望能以自己的方式尽力去协助麦克拉伦和下任队长。

I came to this decision some time ago, but I had hoped to announce it on the back of a successful World Cup. Sadly, that wasn't meant, that wasn't to be.

我做这个决定并非心血来潮，我原本打算在一次成功的世界杯后再宣布这个决定。但令人伤心的是，这未能如愿。

This decision has been, has been the most difficult of my career to date.

到目前为止，这是我职业生涯里最难做出的一个决定。

But after discussing it with my family and the closest to me, I feel that the time is right.

但在和我的家人和密友商量过后，我觉得现在是时候这么做了。