陳蕙雅思閱讀短文 - 一起去英格蘭參加彈球世界盃

彈球可以說是80後童年時的寶貝，彈球這項“運動”就好在方便攜帶，兜裡有個球得哪兒都能玩！那會兒要是彈球技藝高超，隨時都能拿出十個八個不同樣兒的彈球出來，都會引來周圍小朋友們羡慕的目光。

如果你覺得現在依然彈球技藝嫺熟，可以大殺四方的話，那麼親！去參加“彈球世界盃”吧！從上個世紀三十年代開始在英格蘭一個名叫Greyhound 的酒吧裡，就開始句型這個享譽全球的“彈球世界盃”！不過今年恐怕是來不及了，因為比賽就在今天也就是3月29日舉行！就算現在上飛機，從國內到英國也要10個小時左右，真不能趕上了！

老師說英語：在英文中經常會有像Marble這樣一詞多意的單詞，比如說最開始接觸的時候大家會以為這是“萬寶路”香煙的名字，隨著對英文的深入學習可能你會瞭解到它還有大理石的意思，但是在這裡Marble是“彈球，玻璃球”的意思。在聽或者閱讀英文的時候大家請切記不要望文生義，一定要根據上下文去推測詞義。在文中給出了諸如marbles players，以及彈球的尺寸等可以推測出詞義的關鍵字。

Former American National Marbles Champion Debra Stanley-Lapic plays a shot at the 2010 World Marbles Championship in Tinsley Green. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty)

To "knuckle down" is a way of life in southeast England, where the game of marbles has been played for more than 200 years.

Referring to how the hand is positioned when playing the game – with the thumb behind the index finger on the ground – knuckling down properly is just one of the many rules enforced during the World Marble Championships, held in Tinsley Green, an area within the town of Crawley, every year since 1932. Played in front of the Greyhound Pub (Radford Road; 01-293-884-220‎) on Good Friday (29 March this year), the championship brings together marbles players from around the world to play a version of the game known as "Ring Taw" or "Ringers".

The game is played with 49 glass or ceramic marbles grouped together on a 2m-diameter concrete cylinder raised 7cm off the ground and covered in sand. Two teams of six players take turns "shooting" the grouping using a slightly larger glass sphere (about half a centimetre larger than the 1.25cm marbles), known as a "tolley", in hopes of knocking as many marbles as possible off the ring. The first team to remove 25 marbles wins the match and moves on to the next bracket. The champion is determined in tournament-style elimination.

People of any age and nationality are allowed to play. In 2000, Team USA won with a group of players aging from 14 to 35. For the past 10 years, Swiss and German teams have ended up in the championship final, with the German team 1st MC Erzgebirge taking home the title last year. The captain of the one of the UK teams, the Handcross Rebels, played his first tournament in 1952 and received special acknowledgement for his continued play during last year's event.

"What other sport could boast of a tournament incorporating a team who have played for over 50 years, playing alongside new teams entered for the first time, and players including men, women and children, aged from 8 to 80, all on a level playing field?" said Sam McCarthy-Fox, the secretary of the British Marbles Board of Control that runs the event.

While pre-registration is recommended, visitors can still enter to play on the day of the tournament for the individual or team competition, but arrive before 10 am for the best chance of scoring a spot on the schedule. The games start at 10:30 am and run until 5:30 pm, and spectators are welcome.