奧運會項目Q&A：射箭

來源：查字典奧運會網  發布時間： 2016-07-05

  Archery? Whats that?

  A sport. You use a bow, an shoot and arrow. You try to hit the target with the arrow.

  Didnt people do that 10,000 years ago?

  Yes. People had bows and arrows then in Japan, the Middle East and many other parts of the world. But it wasnt a sport. Soldiers used them in wars, and hunters used them to shoot animals for food.

  Then what happened?

  In the 12th century people started making guns, which were much better than bows and arrows. So archery almost disappeared.

  Almost? What do you mean almost?

  In the 1700s in England, medieval things became fashionable. Archery became popular again.

  Is this when archery became a sport?

  Thats right. Archery competitions were a great social network then. Men and women used them to meet, flirt and fall in love.

  So if someone wanted to get married, it was a good idea to take up archery?

  Exactly. Apparently some people thought that women looked very beautiful when they were holding a bow!

  How exciting! So I suppose it was a very popular Olympic sport then?

  Not really. In the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, only three countries sent archers. And they were all men. And then there were no Olympic archery competitions for many years.

  Oh dear. So did archery go out of fashion again?

  Well, the real problem was that every country had its own rules about archery. Archery couldnt be an Olympic sport without international rules.

  And are there international rules now?

  Yes, there are. Archery became an Olympic sport again in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.

  So who are the best archers in the world nowadays?

  The South Koreans have dominated the sport for several years now. The current Olympic Mens Champion is Viktor Ruban from Ukraine.And China and Britain won several gold medals in the Paralympic archery events in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

  射箭：

  用弓把箭射出并射中預定目標，打在靶上的技藝。助弓的彈力將箭射出，在一定的距離內比賽準確性的體育運動項目，為射箭運動。

  遠在1萬年前的中石器時代，人類就發明了弓箭來狩獵捕魚。以后很長時間，弓箭又是用于戰爭的武器之一，現在弓箭作為人們喜歡的體育運動項目得以存在下來。現代射箭運動于14世紀起源于英國，它由武士的軍事需要演變成娛樂運動。

  [key words]

  bow 弓

  bowstring 弓弦

  arrow 箭

  target 靶子

  fletching 上翎

  nock 箭尾端搭弦處

  shooting an arrow 射箭