【英語多益通】我們的主場!臺灣「clock the record」是什麼意思?
▲ 世大運男子標槍金牌鄭兆村(左)、銀牌霍夫曼。(圖/記者黃克翔攝)
文/Buffy Kao
2017臺北世大運賽事已來到倒數階段,自開賽以來臺灣選手屢屢傳來捷報,中華代表團表現搶眼可說是有目共睹。其中,臺灣在標槍、田徑、舉重等項目打破全國、亞洲,甚至世界紀錄,讓全國人民無不爲之瘋狂。
此時正是讓外國友人見證臺灣軟實力的時候!我們不妨趁機學賽事相關英文,讓你能用英文暢談中華隊的表現。另外,這些詞彙也經常出現在多益測驗中,學會以下英文用語,無論面對外國人或考試都沒煩惱!
1. set a record 創下紀錄 在本屆世大運中,有好幾位臺灣選手創下紀錄,來看看這個片語如何應用。
Cheng Chao-Tsun(鄭兆村)yesterday added another gold medal to Taiwan’s tally at the Taipei Summer Universiade and set a Universiade javelin record of 91.36m.(鄭兆村昨日在2017臺北世大運又幫臺灣贏得一金入袋,並且以91.36公尺創下了世大運標槍的紀錄。)
set a record是談到運動賽事必會出現的片語,只是上文中加入一些其他訊息表達詳細資訊,順序由大到小,賽事到項目。(1) 先說明關於什麼賽事的紀錄:the Taipei Summer Universiade 臺北世大運(2) 接着說何種比賽的項目:Universiade javelin 世大運標槍項目
另外句中用了tally這個單字,英文解釋爲a current score or amount(目前的得分或數量),也就是中華隊目前累積獎牌數的意思,而鄭兆村的成績讓臺灣獎牌數更上層樓。
2. clock 取得、設下紀錄clock這個字令你感到匪夷所思嗎?請看以下例句:
Irishman Shane Ryan was already knocking on the door of a breakthrough swim when clocking a new national record last night in the men’s 50m backstroke, but the 23-year-old made history in Taipei tonight.(愛爾蘭選手Shane Ryany在昨晚的男子50公尺仰式項目早已取得國內新紀錄,敲開游泳項目突破的大門,而今晚這名年僅23歲的選手則是創造了歷史。)
用clock來表達「取得、設下紀錄」的動詞,乍看之下似乎很難懂,不過若是想想選手比賽時都是用時鐘計時來決定成績高低,就不難想像這個用法。裁判按下碼錶的那刻決定了選手的命運,這也正是他們創造紀錄的時刻。
3. break the record打破紀錄除了創紀錄之外,在談論運動比賽經常說的「打破紀錄」該如何表達呢?
Kopron broke a record of 75.83 set by Germany’s Betty Heidler in 2009.(Kopron則是打破了由德國好手Betty Heidler在2009年所創下75.83的紀錄。)
從例句可見,動詞break能用來表示「打破紀錄」。文中broke a record of 後面接由誰設下的紀錄,數字75.83是該選手當初設下的紀錄,所以本句的意思爲「Kopron打破由Betty Heidler設下的75.83紀錄」。
Cheng’s throw broke the previous Universiade record set by Italy’s Marius Corbett in 1997. (鄭兆村這一擲打破了前一屆世大運義大利選手Marius Corbett在1997年所設下的紀錄。)
上文則是與前述創紀錄採用同樣的表達法,在中間加上特定訊息,增加句子豐富度,previous(之前的)在此指的是上一屆的世大運。另外,以上兩例句都用了set by表達設下先前紀錄的人是誰,正是前面set a record中的設立一詞。
4. a personal best of 個人最佳成績~討論運動比賽怎能忽略選手的「個人最佳成績」?來看看如何用英文表達吧!
In the women’s 200m final, Italy’s Irene Siragusa won gold with a personal best of 22.96 seconds, followed by Latvia’s Gunta Latiseva Cudare, who took silver with a personal best of 23.15 seconds, and Italy’s Anna Bongiorni won bronze with 23.47 seconds.(在女子兩百公尺決賽中,義大利的Irene Siragusa則是以個人最佳成績22.96秒贏得金牌,而拉脫維亞的Gunta Latiseva Cudare則是以個人最佳成績23.15秒贏得銀牌,最後義大利的Anna Bongiorni以23.47秒贏得銅牌。)
文中提到兩位選手都破了個人紀錄,因此作者用了兩次a personal best of 來表達他們個人最佳成績,介係詞 of 後面也是加上此紀錄內容,用數字表達。
在說明獲得銀牌的選手時所使用的followed by是「接着爲~」。原句的意思是 Italy’s Irene Siragusa was followed by Latvia’s Gunta Latiseva Cudare. 用被動態表達了後者的紀錄跟着前者,也就是「緊接着」,所以followed by後面都要加上第二名或第二位。
多益模擬試題
To: Hank Martin
Hi Hank, I am forwarding the press release about the Solar Trophy that I mentioned to you this morning.
I met Bill Bradley, the race coordinator, at the solar energy conference in Manila where he was giving a presentation about the event. I understand from him that the first race was a huge success and generated enormous media coverage both in traditional media and on the Internet.
For the next edition of the race he is expecting applications from as many as twenty yachts from seven different countries, including Japan. He suggested that we might like to sponsor one of the crews especially as we are already supplying marine versions of our solar panels to a number of boatyards in Europe and Asia. He particularly recommended that we contact Sven Hadrada of SailYard boats as they are apparently considering entering the race.
We've both worked with SailYard on several occasions. Do you think you could contact them as soon as possible and set up a meeting to explore ways of working together on this?
Best regards
Anna
1. What is the Solar Trophy?(A) A competition for road vehicles(B) A solar energy research award(C) A boat race(D) A shipping company2. Which type of craft can enter the Solar Trophy?(A) Ocean liners(B) Inflatable boats(C) Sailboats(D) Solar-powered yachts
3. How many times has the Solar Trophy been held?(A) Once(B) Twice(C) Three Times(D) Ten Times
1. 正確答案(C)。題目問Solar Trophy是什麼?信中屢屢提到race這個單字,如I met Bill Bradley, the race coordinator緊接着在作者提到solar trophy後面,還有the first race也提到首次的比賽,都顯示作者正在談論一個比賽。因此只有選項(C)船賽符合文意,(A)車賽、(B)太陽能獎項、(D)船運公司都不合理。
2. 正確答案(D)。題目問什麼樣的作品可以進入太陽獎盃比賽?首先作者提到Bill Bradley在the solar energy conference in Manila(馬尼拉的太陽能會議)中was giving a presentation about the event(上臺介紹這個活動),由此可見這場賽事應該跟太陽能有關。後面也提到要這間公司sponsor one of the crews(贊助其中一間參賽隊伍),理由是這間公司already supplying marine versions of our solar panels to a number of boatyards in Europe and Asia(早就提供歐洲和亞洲許多船塢海上版的太陽能板),更可以看出來這場賽事應該是跟太陽能相關的比賽,纔會希望早在這領域耕耘的公司認養贊助。,因此答案爲(D)太陽能傳動的遊艇。
3. 正確答案(A)。題目問這比賽已經舉辦幾次?文中提到the first race was a huge success(第一次的比賽大成功),而後面提到for the next edition of the race he is expecting …(下一次的比賽他預期~)這個語法代表的是未來式,代表下一次的賽事還未舉辦,只是在籌辦過程中,因此答案爲(A)一次。