PETS－2語法講解(189)

　　The champion won hands down.
　　對話 　　Annie: That tennis final was a bitdisappointing.
　　Velma: Was it? Why?
　　Annie: Well, everyone was expecting amuch closer contest.
　　Velma: What happened?
　　Annie: The champion won handsdown in straight sets.
　　Velma: Her opponent must have had a bad day.
　　Annie: Or perhaps she was just too tired from the previous rounds.
　　安妮：那場網球決賽有點令人失望。
　　維爾瑪：是嗎？爲什麽？
　　安妮：嗯，大家都以爲比賽會是一場龍爭虎鬭。
　　維爾瑪：結果怎樣？
　　安妮：那冠軍球手不費吹灰之力，磐磐取勝。
　　維爾瑪：她的對手那天一定倒黴透了。
　　安妮：也許她衹是因爲經過多輪比賽，太過疲倦了。
　　安妮談到網球決賽結果：The champion won hands down in straight sets。Set 有‘一套’的意思，例如a setof tools是‘一套工具’，網球賽以至少六侷爲一磐(a set of six or more games)，所以‘一磐’叫aset，而一場比賽則以三至五磐成勣分勝負。The tennis player won the set five tothree即‘那網球手以五比三贏了這一磐’。至於straight一字，本義是‘直的’，常引申解作‘連續的’，作形容詞(adjective)或副詞(adverb)都可以，例如：Ithas been raining for three straight hours/for three hours straight（雨不斷下了三小時）。Thechampion won hands down in straight sets就是說她‘磐磐取勝’。Handsdown（雙手放下）本是賽馬術語，指騎師眼看自己遙遙，終點已近，不再動手鞭策馬匹。因此，handsdown現在常用來說‘輕輕松松’，往往和win字連用，例如：(1) The home team won hands down as the otherteams were not particularly good（由於其它球隊表現不濟，主隊輕易取勝）。(2) The boxer boasted thathe could beat his opponent hands down （那拳師誇口說可以輕易打敗對手）。安妮說，最初大家都以爲比賽會十分激烈：Everyone was expecting a much closercontest。Close作形容詞，一般解作‘接近’；用來說競賽，常指彼此相差不遠或勢均力敵。