核心畫面

Picture a cup competition as a ladder that gets narrower at every step. A team that loses falls off; a team that wins climbs. The cup final can be thought of as the last rung, where only two teams are left and one cup is waiting on a table at the side of the field. One game, one afternoon, one winner. Almost everything the phrase carries — the full stadium, the sold-out tickets, the feeling that anything can happen — grows out of that one picture.

「cup final」可以想成一座越往上越窄的階梯。盃賽每打一輪就淘汰一半的隊伍:輸的掉下去,贏的往上爬。爬到最後一更多收起「cup final」可以想成一座越往上越窄的階梯。盃賽每打一輪就淘汰一半的隊伍:輸的掉下去,贏的往上爬。爬到最後一階時,場上只剩兩隊,場邊桌上只擺著一座獎盃。一場球、一個下午、一個贏家。它為什麼票難買、為什麼滿場、為什麼小球隊也敢做夢,都可以從「最後一階」這個畫面看出來。

One branch

盃賽的最後一場

兩個意思用的是同一個畫面,差別只在有沒有被指名:一個是任何盃賽的最後一階,一個是英國那座特定的階梯。

noun · B1

The last game of a competition in which a team that loses is out, so by the end only the two teams that have kept winning are left. The team that wins this game wins the cup. It is used most often about football, but any sport with a cup competition can have one.

盃賽決賽