With over 40 million competitive players and millions more playing recreationally, table tennis is the world's largest "participation" sport. Also known as ping-pong because of the noise heard when the ball hits the paddle and then the table, table tennis was originally played with balls made of either cork or rubber and with rackets made of cardboard. Today, the balls are celluloid and the rackets are generally wood with only the finest rubbers and glues. Without getting too much into the science behind it all, in effect the spin on the ball puts a force on the ball which is at right angles to the direction it is moving. This force will affect the flight of the ball. Since the sport's 1988 Olympic debut, China has dominated the sport of table tennis.

擁有超過4000萬名出色的球員及數(shù)以百萬的愛好者,乒乓球是世界上最多的“參與”的運(yùn)動(dòng)。乒乓球的名字源于當(dāng)球碰到了球拍,然后彈到桌上的聲音。乒乓球最初是軟木或橡膠制成，而球拍則是用紙板制作?，F(xiàn)今,所有的球都是由明膠制作，而球拍則是木材搭配最好的橡膠和膠水。這其中沒有任何科學(xué)道理,實(shí)際上只有按照一定角度對(duì)球施加旋轉(zhuǎn)才能掌握其運(yùn)動(dòng)方向。這種力量會(huì)影響球的運(yùn)行。自從1988年奧林匹克運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)初次亮相以來,中國(guó)已統(tǒng)治了乒乓球這項(xiàng)賽事。

詞語解釋：

1. Recreational a. 娛樂的，消遣的

2. Celluloid a. 賽璐珞;明膠

3. Debut n. 初次亮相，登臺(tái)

4. Dominate v. 統(tǒng)治