Sport: Cricket 体育: 板球
[audio]http://file.24en.com/bbc/tae/assets_1409033/bbc_tae_227_cricket_au_bb.mp3[/audio][font=Verdana, 宋体, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][p=21, 2, left]When you hear the word ‘cricket’, what do you think of first?[/p][p=21, 2, left]A small, [b]chirping insect[/b]? Or a summer sport between players in white trousers and [b]woollen jerseys[/b] who stop for a 20-minute [b]tea break[/b] in the afternoon?[/p]
[p=21, 2, left][b]The chances are[/b], if you’re in England, India or Australia, you’ll be thinking of the [b]latter[/b], where the sport is watched, played and adored by millions.[/p][p=21, 2, left]English cricket fans are currently [b]rejoicing[/b] in their national side’s victory over Australia in a [b]fiercely-contested[/b] competition called The Ashes last week.[/p][p=21, 2, left]But in many other parts of the world the sport is [b]virtually unknown[/b]. Many outsiders are [b]put off[/b] by its complicated laws, [b]unintelligible[/b] terms (any idea what a googly or a grubber is?), and [b]mind-boggling statistics[/b].[/p][p=21, 2, left]With games that last for days or even weeks and scores that look more like [b]share prices [/b]than sports results, how do we begin to understand this game?[/p][color=#3f3f3f][size=12px][float=right][img=226,170]http://www.24en.com/d/file/bbc/bbc2/2009-08-27/e1e0ad49a2f96b880ff80367d3c7e20b.jpg[/img][p=30, 2, left]How many runs is that?[/p][/float]
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[p=21, 2, left]Well in its most basic form cricket is a bat and ball game, not unlike baseball in that it involves two teams of players: one batting and the other [b]bowling[/b] and [b]fielding[/b]. Like football, both teams have 11 players.[/p][p=21, 2, left]When bowling, the aim is to hit the[b]wicket[/b], while the batsman tries to defend it and hit the ball far away to win ‘[b]runs[/b]’. If the bowler hits the wicket then the batsman is ‘out’, and the next one from the 11 in the batting team takes his place.[/p][p=21, 2, left]When they are ‘all out’ the batting side’s total runs are [b]added up[/b] and the teams swap sides until the second side is also ‘all out’. Whoever has the most runs at the end wins.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Simple? Well, that’s just a [b]taster[/b]. If you’re interested there’s a whole world of cricket out there, with its leg-before-wickets, silly mid-ons and doosras.[/p][p=21, 2, left]And if learning the [b]finer points[/b] of cricket sounds like hungry work, you can always [b]take comfort[/b] from the fact it’s the only sport where lunch and tea are formally included in the order of play[/p][/font]
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