China's Ding to face Day at snooker worlds first round

 　　LONDON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China's top snooker player Ding Junhui will take on Ryan Day in the opening round of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible¹ Theatre in Sheffield next week.

　　Ding, who entered the semifinals last year but was knockout by the later runner-up Judd Trump², will start the 2012 campaign on April 24 and try to go further this time for his first world title.

　　The 25-year-old Ding has so far collected the titles of Masters and UK championship, which were tipped as the "big three" events of a snooker season along with world championship.

　　The championship runs from April 21 to May 7. The random³ draw took place on Monday with the top 16 seeds pitted against the 16 qualifiers.

　　Ding Junhui will not feel alone in the 1.1-million-pound tournament as his teammate Liang Wenbo, Cao Yupeng and Liu Chuang also has booked berths⁴ as well as Marco Fu of Hong Kong, China, which was a record number at the Crucible.

　　On the opening day, defending champion John Higgins will take on Liang Wenbo, a former Shanghai Masters finalist who is currently ranked 38th in the world.

　　In another eye-catching first-round clash, Ronnie O'Sullivan will face Peter Ebdon.

　　The three-time world champion will have a tough task against in- form Ebdon, who won the China Open earlier this month and thrashed Alfie Burden 10-0 in his qualifying match for Sheffield yesterday.

　　Belgian prodigy⁵ Luca Brecel, age 17 years and one month, will become the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible when he faces Stephen Maguire.

　　Two more debutants, Welshman Jamie Jones and China's Cao Yupeng, were drawn⁷ out against Shaun Murphy and Mark Allen respectively.

　　Seven time champion Stephen Hendry came through the qualifiers and has been handed a tie with Stuart Bingham, who beat Hendry in the first round on his Crucible debut⁶ in 2000.

　　Last year's runner-up Judd Trump will meet Dominic Dale, while the only two non-British former champions in the field, Neil Robertson and Ken⁸ Doherty, will go head to head in the opening round.

　　Following is the full draw:

　　John Higgins v Liang Wenbo

　　Stuart Bingham v Stephen Hendry

　　Graeme Dott v Joe Perry

　　Stephen Maguire v Luca Brecel

　　Shaun Murphy v Jamie Jones

　　Stephen Lee v Andrew Higginson

　　Ali Carter v Mark Davis

　　Judd Trump v Dominic Dale

　　Mark Williams v Liu Chuang

　　Ronnie O'Sullivan v Peter Ebdon

　　Martin Gould v David Gilbert

　　Neil Robertson v Ken Doherty

　　Ding Junhui v Ryan Day

　　Mark Allen v Cao Yupeng

　　Matthew Stevens v Marco Fu

　　Mark Selby v Barry Hawkins

1 crucible   

n.坩锅，严酷的考验

参考例句：

• The alliance had been forged in the crucible of war.这个联盟经受了战争的严峻考验。
• Put the required amount of metal into the crucible.把适量的金属放入坩埚。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

4 berths   

n.（船、列车等的）卧铺( berth的名词复数 )；（船舶的）停泊位或锚位；差事；船台vt.v.停泊( berth的第三人称单数 )；占铺位

参考例句：

• Berths on steamships can be booked a long while in advance. 轮船上的床位可以提前多日预订。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Have you got your berths on the ship yet? 你们在船上有舱位了吗？ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

6 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.