Mon, Jul 03, 2006 page14

• Hitting the bull's-eye 正中紅心

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  Have you ever wondered why a dartboard looks the way it does?

  A long time ago, people used to use stumps of trees as their dartboards. When you cut down a tree and look at the stump, you can see that the wood has lots of dark rings in it. Long ago, the wood dried out and people kept throwing darts at the stump, the wood started to crack from the center to the sides. That is why modern dartboards have rings and lines.

  The very center of a dartboard has a small red dot. This dot is called the bull's-eye. When you play darts, you want to hit the bull's-eye because you get a lot of points. You can also say that you "hit the bull's-eye" whenever you make the best choice or do something exactly right. For example, if you buy your mom exactly what she wanted for her birthday, you could say that you "hit the bull's-eye." (Marc Langer, staff writer)

  

  A man competes at a dart-throwing competition in England. 英國一名男子參加射飛鏢大賽。 (照片：美聯社)

  PHOTO : AP

  你可曾想過為何標靶長這樣？

  很久以前，人們曾用樹樁當標靶。當你把一棵樹砍倒後，看看樹樁，就可以看到為數眾多的深色圓環，當時木頭乾掉，人們持續朝樹樁射飛鏢，木頭就會從中間向旁邊裂開，這就是為何現代標靶有圓環和線條。

  標靶的正中心有個小紅點，這個點叫做「bull's-eye」，射飛鏢時要射中紅心才能得很多分。當你做出最佳選擇或是把一件事做到完全正確時，也能說「hit the bull's-eye」，例如，假如你買給母親的生日禮物正是她想要的東西，也能說「hit the bull's-eye」。 （翻譯：鄭湘儀）

  For your information

  Today's Words 今天單字

  1. stump n. 樹樁 (shu4 zhuan1) 例：Somebody cut down one of the trees in the park, so all that is left is a stump. （有人砍倒公園裡一棵樹，所以只剩樹樁的部分。） 2. ring n. 環狀物 (huan2 zhuan4 wu4) 例：Some planets, like Saturn, have lots of rings around them. （有些行星，例如土星，周圍有很多環狀物。） 3. modern adj. 現代的 (xian4 dai4 de5) 例：Early cars didn't have seat belts, but now all modern cars have them. （早期的汽車沒有安全帶，但現代車款均配有安全帶。）

  For your information

  Quick Quiz 複習測驗

  1. What do you have to do to see a tree's rings? a. Throw darts at it. b. Let it dry out. c. Plant it. d. Cut it down. 2. What happens when you hit the bull's-eye when you're playing darts? a. You lose. b. You get a lot of points. c. The dartboard cracks. d. You cut down a tree.
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