奥运知识—奥运项目介绍:棒球运动

About Baseball (Olympic sport since 1992)
棒球概述（1992年成为奥运会正式比赛项目）

  

　　Baseball’s stature¹ in the history of the United States is perhaps reflected more clearly in a simple dictionary rather than in the seven-centimetre-thick baseball encyclopaedia².
　　或许一本简单的字典比7厘米厚的棒球百科全书更能反映出棒球运动在美国历史上的地位。

　　There, you can find the word Ruthian, meaning "of mammoth³ proportions", as in a home run by Babe Ruth back in the 1920s. There, you can find Lou Gehrig’s disease, as the incurable⁴ degenerative illness amyotrophic lateral⁵ sclerosis has been better known since Lou Gehrig, Ruth’s team-mate, died from it in the 1940s. In the United States, baseball and the English language are interwoven.
　　字典中“Ruthian”一词的意思是“占巨大比例的”，而该词的来源是20世纪20年代的棒球巨星贝贝·鲁斯（Babe Ruth）,他击出的本垒打占其全部击球的很大比例。还有“Lou Gehrig’s disease”，这个短语指的是”肌萎缩性侧索硬化症”,鲁斯的队友卢·格里格（Lou Gehrig）患这种导致身体器官衰退的不治之症，于20世纪40年代去世。在美国，棒球和英语是结合在一起的。

　　However, just as the game did not begin as a wholly US enterprise, it did not end the 20th century as one either. Baseball’s all-time home-run champion is a man named Sadaharu Oh, who hit 868 during a legendary⁶ career in baseball-mad Japan. The national team of Cuba overpowered the Baltimore Orioles of the US major leagues 12-6 in a 1999 exhibition game.
　　不过，就像棒球最初不完全是美国的独家运动一样，在20世纪末，美国已经不能在这项运动上称霸了。棒球历史上个人的本垒打纪录（868支）是由传奇性的华裔日籍球员王贞治（Sadaharu Oh）在日本这个极其热爱棒球的国家中创下的，而美国职业棒球大联盟的劲旅巴尔的摩金莺队（Baltimore Orioles）在1999年的一场表演赛中曾以6-12负于古巴国家队。

　　American baseball became a full medal sport in Barcelona in 1992.
　　美式棒球于1992年巴塞罗那奥运会上成为正式比赛项目。

1 stature   

n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材

参考例句：

• He is five feet five inches in stature.他身高5英尺5英寸。
• The dress models are tall of stature.时装模特儿的身材都较高。

2 encyclopaedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• An encyclopaedia contains a lot of knowledge.百科全书包含很多知识。
• This is an encyclopaedia of philosophy.这是本哲学百科全书。

3 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

4 incurable   

adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人

参考例句：

• All three babies were born with an incurable heart condition.三个婴儿都有不可治瘉的先天性心脏病。
• He has an incurable and widespread nepotism.他们有不可救药的，到处蔓延的裙带主义。

5 lateral   

adj.侧面的，旁边的

参考例句：

• An airfoil that controls lateral motion.能够控制横向飞行的机翼。
• Mr.Dawson walked into the court from a lateral door.道森先生从一个侧面的门走进法庭。

6 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。