Fencing an Olympic sport? But isn’t that what I have in my garden to keep out the dogs?

Ha! The sport of fencing involves fighting with different types of swords. But actually the two meanings have the same origin – from the old French defens, meaning “defence”.

Oh, yes, of course. People have been fighting with swords for a long time, haven’t they?

Yes, indeed. They discovered some carvings in Egypt showing sword fighting that date from about 1190 BC.

Really? And when did it become a sport?

In the 14th or 15th century. Both the Italians and the Germans say they invented fencing.

For some reason I thought it was the French.

That’s not surprising because French has been the language of fencing since 1573. A man called Henri de Saint-Didier wrote a document that included most of the terms still used today.

Such as?

Well, touché, for example. It’s French for ‘touched’, and it’s what a fencer says when he’s been hit by his opponent’s sword.

I’ve heard people say that in English, but they weren’t talking about fencing.

Yes, you can say it if someone makes a good point against you in an argument or discussion.

Speaking of arguments, didn’t people use to decide arguments by having sword fights?

Yes, and they were called duels. They were quite common. People sometimes even got killed.

Oh! Maybe better to just do it as a sport, then.

I agree. Fencing is one of the few sports to feature at every modern Olympic Games.

And who’s won the most medals?

The French have won one more medal than the Italians in total but the Italians have won more gold medals. So there’s no way of knowing who’s the best.

Yes there is. They could have a duel!

Touché!

擊劍：

擊劍是從古代劍術(shù)決斗中發(fā)展起來的一項體育項目，它結(jié)合優(yōu)雅的動作和靈活的戰(zhàn)術(shù)，要求運動員神的高度集中和身體的良好協(xié)調(diào)性，體現(xiàn)出運動員良好的動作和敏捷的反應(yīng)。早期的擊劍由于缺乏良好的護(hù)具，容易對運動員的身體造成創(chuàng)傷，引起流血，重傷，甚至死亡。自從現(xiàn)代擊劍中引入了完善的保護(hù)衣具，并采用鈍的劍尖，已經(jīng)消除了這項運動的危險性，也極大的促進(jìn)了這項運動在全世界范圍內(nèi)的傳播?，F(xiàn)代擊劍運動是奧運會的傳統(tǒng)項目，擊劍比賽項目男子有花劍、重劍、佩劍，女子有花劍、重劍。

法國、意大利、俄羅斯、德國、匈牙利在不同時期，都是擊劍強國。引領(lǐng)著世界擊劍運動發(fā)展的潮流，并各自代表一個古典的擊劍流派，其基本技術(shù)動作和戰(zhàn)術(shù)打法風(fēng)格都有明顯的差異。

[key words]

bodywire 電子裁判器
blade 刃
hilt 劍柄
handle 手柄
en garde 防守
lunge 刺
parry 避開
engage 交鋒
piste, strip 擊劍場
epee 重劍
sabre 佩劍
foil 花劍