书城旅游和老外聊文化中国(升级版)
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第24章 中国传统棋牌Traditional Chinese Chess Games(2)

⑤If a stone of the opposite color is placed on the last liberty of a stone or group, that stone or group is captured and removed from board.

⑥Stones may not be placed on points where there is no liberty, unless placing a stone there would capture one or more stones, thus creating a liberty.

⑦An“eye”is a blank space (or a group of blank spaces) inside a group of stones. An opponent cannot place a stone within a single-spaced eye unless it is the final liberty of a group. In this case he kills the group. A group that has two separate eyes or more is impossible to kill.

⑧The game is over when both players pass, having no more profitable moves to make.

⑨All“dead”stones (stones not part of“living”groups) are then removed.

⑩Scoring: Each player’s score is calculated by the number of points under the color’s control. Captured stones are placed within the territory of the player who lost them, thus reducing his territory.“Dames”are neutral points, or points between boundary lines that belong to neither player. They are not counted.

The winner is the player with the higher score.

There are a small number of subtle variations for these rules. These variations affect scoring, but do not much change the character of the game.

Notes:1)essential必要的;2)opponent对手;3)diagonal对角线;4)liberty自由;5)blank空白的;6)profitable有利的;7)neutral中立的;8)subtle精巧的;9)affect对…发生作用;10)score分数

5.什么是象棋?

What is xiangqi?

Xiangqi is the classic Chinese popular board game, usually known as Chinese Chess or Elephant Chess. It is played on a board nine lines in width by ten lines in length. The pieces, marked with an identifying character, are placed on the points of line intersections as in weiqi. There are two opposing sides— red, which moves first, and black. The central row of squares is called the“river.”Each side has a palace that is three lines by three lines (i-e., nine positions) in the center of that side against the back edge of the board. Each side has 16 pieces, red or black. Each side has one general (将/帅), two guards (士/仕), two ministers or elephants (象/相), two horses (马), two chariots (车), two cannons (炮) and five soldiers (卒/兵). The battle may take place simultaneously all over the board, and give-and-take between offensive and defensive play are more obvious in xiangqi, thus having more of a general mass appeal.

Notes:1)minister部长;2)chariot车;3)simultaneously同时发生地;4)offensive进攻的;5)defensive防御用的

6.你对象棋的历史知道多少?

What is the history of xiangqi?

Xiangqi is evolved from an ancient Chinese game called liubo (六博), which was invented some 3,500 years ago. It is said that it was invented by King Zhou of the Zhou Dynasty. In early times, xiangqi was also called“xiangxi”(象戏, the Elephant Games).There are two possible reasons. First of all, the game pieces of general and soldiers in liubo were made of ivory and so called xiangqi, xiang meaning“elephant.”Secondly, Chinese were known to incorporate elephants in military battles. The legendary Huang Di of 4,000 years ago allegedly had a fleet of elephants in his army, and it is recorded that elephants were used in combats during the Han Dynasty.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a king called Wudi (武帝) of the Northern Zhou State was good at xiangqi, and he wrote a book entitled Way to Play Elephant Game (《象经》). During the Tang Dynasty, xiangqi evolved into a game of generals, horses, chariots and soldiers that was more complicated than previous games. In the Song Dynasty, xiangqi developed rapidly, and the modern game began to take shape. New pieces, such as the cannons, the guards and the elephants were added. Between the Ming and Qing dynasties, the red and black sides each had its own typical pieces, marked with identifying characteristics. For example, one side had the general, and the other side the king; one side had the elephant, and the other side the minister.

Notes:1)combat战斗;2)complicated复杂的;3)previous以前的

7.象棋的基本规则是什么?

What are the basic rules of xiangqi?

Like international chess, Chinese chess is easy to learn, but difficult to play. The basic movements are as follows:

老将守深宫 : The general only moves one point horizontally or vertically. It cannot move diagonally, and it cannot leave the palace. The king and the general cannot face each other on an open file.