A Wealth of Sports | 2010 年大英国协运动会

by Jeremy Beacock

New Delhi hosts the 19th Commonwealth Games in 2010.

印度新德里举办 2010 年第十九届大英国协运动会。

On October 29, 2009, a baton carrying a message from the Queen of England set off from Buckingham Palace in London. This baton has traveled through Europe, Africa, Canada, Australia, and Southeast Asia _(1)_ then. It reached its final _(2)_ in India in June 2010 after going through more than 50 countries. The message this baton carries is the Queen's _(3)_ to all the athletes of the 19th Commonwealth Games, which are being held in New Delhi, India this October.

The Commonwealth Games are the third largest sporting event in the world. They _(4)_ in 1930 as a competition among the countries of the British Empire. Now that the British Empire is long gone, the competition _(5)_ belongs to the 54 member countries of the Commonwealth. These include the four countries in the UK, Australia, Canada, India, and a host of smaller nations. In total, 71 teams will _(6)_ the Games.

Thousands of athletes will _(7)_ in a wide range of disciplines, including track-and-field events and also some unusual sports drawn from the competitors' common cultural heritage. Rugby sevens, a smaller _(8)_ of the rough-and-tumble sport popular in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, will be featured. Likewise, the gently competitive lawn bowling, where players _(9)_ heavy balls down a field in order to get close to a smaller ball, will be played.

Above all, though, the games are a celebration of an organization that began as a meeting of rulers and the ruled but has _(10)_ into a competition between an association of friends. And what do friends like to do? As the 19th Commonwealth Games' mascot Shera the tiger says, they like to "come out and play!"

(A) greetings   (B) roll    (C) compete (D) since   (E) currently

(F) version (G) evolved (H) started off (I) destination (J) take part in

2009 年 10月 29 日，一根接力棒带着英国女王的讯息从伦敦的白金汉宫出发。从那时起，这根接力棒从欧洲一路旅行到非洲、加拿大、澳洲和东南亚，在行经 50 几个国家后，终于在 2010 年 6 月抵达最后的目的地――印度。这根接力棒所带来的讯息是女王对第十九届大英国协运动会所有运动员的问候，该运动会将在这个 10 月于印度的新德里举行。

　　大英国协运动会是全球第三大的运动赛事，该运动会从 1930年开始举行，做为大英帝国成员国之间的比赛。由于大英帝国早已不复存在，这项赛事如今是大英国协 54个会员国之间的比赛。其中包括大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国中的 4 个国家（编者按：即英格兰、苏格兰、韦尔斯和北爱尔兰 4 国）、澳洲、加拿大、印度以及许多小国家。共计有 71 支队伍参与大英国协运动会。

　　数千名运动员将在众多运动项目中一较高下，其中包括田径赛、以及一些与会国家具文化传统的特殊项目。传统的英式橄榄球赛打起来混乱且激烈，而 7 人制的英式橄榄球赛则是它的缩小版，盛行于英国、澳洲和纽西兰，是本次大会的比赛焦点之一。同样地，温和竞争的草地滚球（运动员在场地上要把很重的球尽量滚到一个较小的球旁边）也会举行。

　　最重要的是，这项赛事原本是为了安排统治者和被统治者会晤的组织所举行的庆祝活动，如今演变成友邦间的竞赛。那么朋友在一起喜欢做些什么事呢？诚如第十九届大英国协运动会的吉祥物 Shera 虎所说的，他们喜欢『参赛并大显身手』。

答案：  1. (D)  2. (I)  3. (A)  4. (H)  5. (E)  
6. (J)  7. (C)  8. (F)  9. (B)  10. (G)

For Your Information

7 人制橄榄球（rugby sevens）是橄榄球运动的一种新兴玩法，场地、规则与传统 15 人制橄榄球大致相同，但因人数少，比赛节奏较快而且平均得分较高，普遍受到欢迎，现为世界运动会（The World Games）的正式竞技项目。2016年夏季奥运（2016 Summer Olympics）将设此为正式比赛项目。（数据源：维基百科）