He’’s the most famous man Americans don’’t know: one of the world’’s highest-paid athletes, a fashion pacemaker married to a glamorous pop star, an idol of teens and mothers alike.
It has taken a movie in which he doesn’’t even appear (except in archive footage) for English soccer star David Beckham to score in the USA. While Bend It Like Beckham might now be filling theaters across the country, before it was released there was talk of changing the title for fear filmgoers wouldn’’t understand it.
If David Beckham is relatively unknown in the USA, he is indisputably among the most recognized sports figures elsewhere in the world, where soccer is the real king of sports.
In a way no other athlete has, Beckham, combines sport, celebrity, entertainment and style to achieve a global span of popularity, says Ellis Cashmore, professor of culture, media and sport at Staffordshire University.
"Tiger Woods Michael Jordan They redefined their sport, and they are respected. But Beckham is more than that. He is worshiped. His fan base goes far beyond sports; many of them don’’t even care about football." Cashmore says.
For most Americans, Bend It Like Beckham is their first introduction to him. In the movie, Jess, a high school girl, dreams of playing football like Beckham. Beckham, however, was "delighted" by the movie’’s support for women’’s soccer — a growing but still nascent sport in Britain, and approved of the use of his name in the title, agent Tony Stephens says.
Beckham is known for his brilliant free kicks and precision crossing. For his unique ability, Manchester United, Britain’’s premier soccer club, has paid Beckham some ￡ 15 million (more than $22 million) to wear its red shirt for three years.
But Beckham’’s contract is peanuts compared to what he rakes in from advertisements. It is estimated that Beckham takes home as much as ￡ 12 million ($18 million) a year from his contracts with Adidas and Pepsi, among others.
The Times of London put him on its 2003 "Rich List" and declared him worth ￡ 50 million ($80 million). He makes more money than the queen does. But other athletes still do better than Beckham does. According to a July 2002 issue of Forbes magazine, Woods had made $69 million in golf prize money and contracts during the previous 12 months, and auto racer Michael Schumacher $67 million.
Which of the following statements concerning Beckham is true
A．He is the leading actor in the film now released in the USA. B．What he earned from advertisements contributes a lot to his wealth. C．He’’s a good goal keeper which makes him so popular. D．He is the idol of many young people, but is unpopular among their parents.