Take Away English-The Snooker World Championship 世界台球锦标赛

The World Snooker Championship takes place in Sheffield every year

Snooker aficionados¹ in the UK have descended² upon Sheffield, a city in the north of England, for the 2006 Snooker World Championship.

From April the 15th until the final on May the 1st, the world’s finest snooker players are slugging it out to win the most important – and richest – snooker tournament.

The snooker World Championship first took place in 1927 and was an immediate³ success. In 1976 it was broadcast on television for the first time and has been held at The Crucible⁴ theatre in Sheffield ever since.

In this competition the stakes are high. The winner will walk away from the table with a prize in excess of £250,000.

There is also a cash prize for the first player to score a 147 break. This means that in one turn, or break, at the table, a player scores the maximum of 147 points. Last year Mark Williams won more than £160,000 from a single break.

Interestingly, the 147 break has only been achieved by four players since 1976. Ronnie O’Sullivan, the current world number one, is the only player to have managed the feat⁶ twice.

Nobody has won more times than the current world number two, Stephen Hendry, with seven titles. He also holds the record for the youngest winner, when he won for the first time in 1990 aged⁵ only 21.

One player hoping to break that record is 18 year-old Liang Wenbo. He recently stunned⁷ the snooker world by thrashing Nigel Bond 5-0 in the Welsh Open Championship, another important British event. He is currently ranked 86th in the world, but he is the world under-21 champion and is sure to make an impression in this year’s matches.

Another Chinese competitor to watch is Ding Junhui. He is currently number 31 in the world. He became world under-21 champion at the age of 15, and recently won the China Open, beating Hendry 9-5. He is definitely one of the most exciting young players in world snooker today, and is one to watch in April.

Despite his success, Ding remains⁸ modest. Away from snooker, his hobbies are watching Jackie Chan films and supporting Liverpool Football Club.

GLOSSARY9 词汇表
aficionados -狂热追随者, (台球)迷 slugging it out 一决胜负 stakes are high 奖金丰厚 break 开球破局 titles 夺冠 stunned 目瞪口呆；瞠目结舌 ranked 排行 competitor 竞争对手 supporting 支持	descended upon 大批抵达；蜂拥而至 broadcast 转播, 广播 in excess of 超过 feat 技艺, 功绩 holds the record (世界)记录保持者 thrashing 痛打,击败 make an impression 给与印象,使...感动 ... modest 谦虚

 

1 aficionados   

n.酷爱…者，…迷( aficionado的名词复数 )； 爱看斗牛的人

参考例句：

• West Coast aficionados of postwar coffee-shop architecture(Karal Ann Marling) 西海岸战后咖啡店式建筑的狂热追随者（卡拉尔安马林） 来自互联网
• Clay developed a radical style which appalled boxing aficionados. 克莱发展出一种震惊拳击迷的全新风格。 来自互联网

2 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 crucible   

n.坩锅，严酷的考验

参考例句：

• The alliance had been forged in the crucible of war.这个联盟经受了战争的严峻考验。
• Put the required amount of metal into the crucible.把适量的金属放入坩埚。

5 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

6 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

7 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。