第一段
①If 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 late months. ②If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find this strange phenomenon to be ever more pronounced.如果你去检查2006年世界杯联赛的每一名足球运动员的出生证明，你很可能会发现一个值得注意的巧合（趣事）：优秀（精英）足球运动员更有可能出生在某年的前几个月，而不是后几个月。如果，你再检查一下为世界杯和职业联赛提供支持的欧洲国家青年队，你会发现这种奇怪的现象更加明显。
①If 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 late months.如果你去检查2006年世界杯联赛的每一名足球运动员的出生证明，你很可能会发现一个值得注意的巧合（趣事）：优秀（精英）足球运动员更有可能出生在某年的前几个月，而不是后几个月。
if部分是条件状语从句：you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006’s World Cup tournament,
certificate n. 证明；证书；合格证书；毕业证
birth certificate：出生证明；出生证
soccer n. 足球
world cup：世界杯，国际足联世界杯（FIFA World Cup）简称 “世界杯”，是全世界国家级别球队参与，象征足球界最高荣誉、并具有最大知名度和影响力的足球赛事。
tournament n. 锦标赛
主句部分：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 late months.
noteworthy adj. 值得注意的
quirk n. 怪事；趣事；怪癖
冒号后面是具体解释：elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the late months（of the year这里省略了共同的部分）.
elite adj. 精英的；n. 精英
soccer player：足球运动员
【逻辑梳理】这里是说，世界杯的精英足球运动员，都是出生在某一年的前几个月，比如：有10个精英运动员，他们都是出生在1980年的1、2、3、4这些月份，而不是出生在1980年的9、10、11、12月份。
②If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cupand professional ranks, you would find this strange phenomenon to be ever more pronounced.如果，你再检查一下为世界杯和职业联赛提供支持的欧洲国家青年队，你会发现这种奇怪的现象更加明显。
if部分是条件状语从句：If you then examined the European national youth teamsthat feed the World Cup and professional ranks,
the European national youth teams：欧洲国家青年队
that后面是定语从句，修饰teams
feed vt. 喂养；满足
professional adj. 专业的；职业的
rank vt. 排列；分级；n. 地位；等级。
主句部分：you would find this strange phenomenon to be ever more pronounced.
this strange phenomenon：指上一句说的精英运动员出生在一年的前几个月而不是后几个月这件事情——即：趣事（quirk）
strange adj. 奇怪的；陌生的
phenomenon n. 现象
pronounce vt. 发音。—— pronounced adj. 显著的；明显的。
总结：第一段是说，精英足球运动员多数都是出生在一年中的前几个月，而不是后几个月。这是件很有趣的事情。