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：

"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。

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