例130　If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006's World Cup tournament, you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk: elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months.

【结构分析】这是个虚拟条件句，前半句是条件句If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006's World Cup tournament，后面是主干you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk，冒号后面表示补充说明，而且是个more than引导的比较级，也就是elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months。

【亮点回放】此句话的亮点在于虚拟条件句里面套上比较级，这个比较级很精彩，很值得学习。

【核心词汇】

the birth certificates　出生证明

2006's World Cup tournament　2006年世界杯联赛

a noteworthy quirk　一个值得注意的怪现象

elite soccer players　精英足球运动员

【参考译文】仔细探究2006年世界杯联赛每个足球运动员的出生证明，我们很可能会发现一个值得注意的怪现象：精英足球运动员大都出生在上半年，而不是在下半年。