Jack De Graaf

The diabolo consists2 of a spool3controlled by a player using a length ofstring4 attached5 to two sticks， one heldin each hand.

Tricks are performed by moving thesticks in order to move the diabolo and allmanner of tricks are created by throwingthe diabolo in the air， catching it， balancingit on the string， and creating knots6and loops7 with the string.

More diabolos can also be used atonce， however， this being the greatestarea of improvement for diabolo users.

French engineer Gustave Philippartfirst developed the modern diabolo in1906， making the axle8 from scrap9 metal.

This diabolo， amongst many otherdiabolos in history， can be viewed inthe French Museum of Diabolo. This isnot where the diabolo first came from，however.

It is difficult to know exactlywhen the diabolo came into being.However， it is said to have beendeveloping from the Chinese yo-yo.

The Chinese yo-yo itself has along， thin axle with disc-shaped wheelswhile the Westernized one tends to bemore cone-shaped10.

Some people believe the inventionof the diabolo somewhere between4，000 and 3，000 B.C. in China， thusmaking it the oldest game in history.

Back in these days the diaboloitself was made of wood or bamboorather than rubber11 and metal and wasgiven many names such as“Kongzhu”and“Kongzhong”—which mean“makingthe hollow12 bamboo stick whistle”.

In China， there are still diabolos madeof bamboo with openings on the side thatcreate a whistling sound when it is spinning.

Since its introduction into France， thegame was well accepted and immediatelyloved by the French upper class—somegoing as far to think it was better thanTennis. It was viewed asa fashionable13 objectof the upper Frenchclass and from 1810clubs and competitionsspread acrossParis like wildfire.

After Philipparts invention of the“modern” diabolo， its popularity seeped14through the rest of France and jumped acrossthe channel15 to Britain.

It is still a popular game all over theworld today.

空竹（又名扯鈴）有一個軸，由玩家用一段繩子連接兩根桿子，雙手各持一根桿子來控制。

抖空竹的技巧是通過移動桿子來移動空竹。人們通過將空竹拋向空中，接住它，使其在繩子上保持平衡，以及用繩子打結(jié)和環(huán)來創(chuàng)造各種技巧。

然而，也可以同時使用更多的空竹，這是空竹玩家最有改進余地之處。

1906 年，法國工程師古斯塔夫·菲利帕爾首次發(fā)明了現(xiàn)代空竹，用廢金屬制作了空竹軸。

在法國空竹博物館可以看到這一件空竹，以及其他許多歷史上的空竹。然而，這并不是空竹最初的起源。

很難準確地知道空竹是何時出現(xiàn)的。不過，據(jù)說它是從中國的空竹演變而來的。

中國的空竹本身有一個又長又細的軸，帶有圓盤狀的輪子，而西方化的則更傾向于錐形。

一些人認為空竹是在公元前4，000年至公元前3，000 年之間的中國發(fā)明的，這使其成為歷史上最古老的游戲。

那時，空竹本身是由木頭或竹子而不是橡膠和金屬制成的，并被賦予了許多名字，如“空竹”和“空鐘”，意思是“使空心的竹棍發(fā)出尖嘯聲”。

在中國，現(xiàn)在仍然有竹制的空竹，其側(cè)面有開口，在旋轉(zhuǎn)時會發(fā)出哨聲。

自從被引入法國以來，這項運動就被法國上流社會廣泛接受， 并立即受到了他們的喜愛———有些人甚至認為這項運動比網(wǎng)球更好。它被視為法國上流社會的時尚之物，自1810 年起，空竹俱樂部和比賽如野火般在巴黎迅速流行開來。

在菲利帕爾發(fā)明了“現(xiàn)代”

空竹之后，它的流行滲透到了法國其他地區(qū)，并跨越海峽傳到了英國。

如今，它仍是世界上一項流行的運動。

Notes

1. diabolo 空竹；扯鈴

2. consist 由……組成、構(gòu)成

3. spool? 線軸；繞線輪

4. string? 線；細繩

5. attach? 系上

6. knot? 用繩索等打的結(jié)

7. loop 環(huán)形

8. axle? 輪軸

9. scrap 廢棄的；報廢的

10. cone-shaped 錐形的

11. rubber 橡膠

12. hollow 空的；空心的

13. fashionable? 流行的

14. seep? 滲透；漸漸散開

15. channel? ?海峽