英语博客：Shooting skeet.

　　Have you heard of skeet shooting, or perhaps clay pigeon shooting? Well, we are beginning to do it. Having  been inspired by his grandfather in Scotland, my son Cass caught the bug¹. Doing it once when we went to stay with my father last summer just wasn't enough for him. When we returned to Wenatchee, he brought with him two of 'Grandad's' shooting magazines. I, at first, tried not to think about guns; I don't know much about them, and quite frankly², they scare me. However, my dad has been a hunter all of his life, and is an example of using guns responsibly, and only for hunting or clay pigeon shooting. My husband decided³ to try skeet shooting recently. He bought a couple of shot guns, ammunition⁴, and a skeet thrower. So we are set. We have everything that we need. It just so happens that guns are very popular in this part of the country. Many men hunt deer, wild turkey, or even bear and cougar⁵. A lot of them are very skilled, and even become bow hunters. There are several gun shops in town, gun sections in major stores, and all sorts of clubs to join. Having seen my father shoot birds while I was young, I feel that that would be a reasonable kind of hunting. You can eat the birds as well. Bringing down a larger animal, however, doesn't appeal to me at all. I'm certainly not an expert, nor do I intend to be. I'll leave that to the people who know what they're doing. For now, starting out skeet shooting, learning all about safety issues, the equipment, and how to aim, are enough for me. We went to a shooting range at the weekend. It is a simple place, a couple of miles from our house, up towards the mountains. You have to have a club key to unlock⁶ the gate and get in, and then you drive to either a pistol⁷ range, a rifle range, or a shotgun range. The place was empty when we went. It is still very cold outside, so I'm sure a lot of the regular shooters were staying at home. And yes, I actually had a go. It was funny though. Looking back now, I realise that I was standing⁸ in the wrong position, my head was uncomfortably leaning on the gun, and I barely⁹ knew which eye to close in order to look down the barrel. I must have looked ridiculous! However, my husband and my son gave me all the advice I needed to stand and aim properly, and that made a difference. I didn't manage to hit any skeets, but at least I feel that I'm a step closer to aiming and firing.
Grammar notes.
Related vocabulary: to catch the bug, ammunition, issue.
1. After travelling to Australia, he caught the travel bug.
2. They found some old World War II ammunition in their back yard.
3. We have to play the game fairly, so it doesn't become an issue.

1 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

2 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

5 cougar   

n.美洲狮；美洲豹

参考例句：

• I saw a cougar slinking toward its prey.我看到一只美洲狮正在潜随猎物。
• I have never seen a cougar.我从未见过美洲豹。

6 unlock   

v.启示，揭示，开...的锁

参考例句：

• The border police required the traveler to unlock his luggage.边防警察要求旅客打开行李。
• We heard somebody unlock the door.我们听见有人开门锁。

7 pistol   

n.手枪

参考例句：

• He drew his pistol and aimed at the enemy soldier.他拔出枪对准敌兵。
• The escaped criminal fell at the sound of a pistol.手枪一响，逃犯应声倒下。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。