The Diabolo空竹

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（又名扯铃）有一个轴，由玩家用一段绳子连接两根杆子，双手各持一根杆子来控制。

抖空竹的技巧是通过移动杆子来移动空竹。人们通过将空竹抛向空中，接住它，使其在绳子上保持平衡，以及用绳子打结和环来创造各种技巧。

然而，也可以同时使用更多的空竹，这是空竹玩家最有改进余地之处。

1906 年，法国工程師古斯塔夫·菲利帕尔首次发明了现代空竹，用废金属制作了空竹轴。

在法国空竹博物馆可以看到这一件空竹，以及其他许多历史上的空竹。然而，这并不是空竹最初的起源。

很难准确地知道空竹是何时出现的。不过，据说它是从中国的空竹演变而来的。

中国的空竹本身有一个又长又细的轴，带有圆盘状的轮子，而西方化的则更倾向于锥形。

一些人认为空竹是在公元前4，000年至公元前3，000 年之间的中国发明的，这使其成为历史上最古老的游戏。

那时，空竹本身是由木头或竹子而不是橡胶和金属制成的，并被赋予了许多名字，如“空竹”和“空钟”，意思是“使空心的竹棍发出尖啸声”。

在中国，现在仍然有竹制的空竹，其侧面有开口，在旋转时会发出哨声。

自从被引入法国以来，这项运动就被法国上流社会广泛接受， 并立即受到了他们的喜爱———有些人甚至认为这项运动比网球更好。它被视为法国上流社会的时尚之物，自1810 年起，空竹俱乐部和比赛如野火般在巴黎迅速流行开来。

在菲利帕尔发明了“现代”

空竹之后，它的流行渗透到了法国其他地区，并跨越海峡传到了英国。

如今，它仍是世界上一项流行的运动。

Notes

1. diabolo 空竹；扯铃

2. consist 由……组成、构成

3. spool  线轴；绕线轮

4. string  线；细绳

5. attach  系上

6. knot  用绳索等打的结

7. loop 环形

8. axle  轮轴

9. scrap 废弃的；报废的

10. cone-shaped 锥形的

11. rubber 橡胶

12. hollow 空的；空心的

13. fashionable  流行的

14. seep  渗透；渐渐散开

15. channel   海峡