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VOA名师答疑2022--What is a Wild Card?

时间:2023-01-04 07:04:40

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(单词翻译)

What is a Wild Card?

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question from Katerina in Spain. She writes,

Question:

Dear VOA,

I have a question about something my American friend usually says. It is the... expression "a wild card." What does it mean? Thank you very much for your answer!

Take care!

Katarina

Answer:

Dear Katerina,

Thank you for writing to us. This expression is like many that come to American English from card games, especially the game of poker1.

Each set of playing cards has two extra cards. These can take the place of lost or damaged cards. These cards are called "Jokers." They often have a picture of a clown-like person sometimes called a jester.

In some card games, the "Joker" card is dealt to the players along with the usual kinds of cards. It serves as a "wild card" in the game. That means2, if you have it in your hand, you can use it as any other card. Here is an example of how a player might talk about their use of a wild card in a game.

I have three kings and one joker. I'll use the wild card as a king, so now I have four kings.

But card games are not the only places you will hear the term "wild card." In sports, we use the expression for a team that is invited to compete for a championship. For example, in American football, the best teams play each other at the end of the season – in a series3 of games called "playoffs." A few teams that might not have the best records are invited to play against the top teams. It is possible, if the wildcard team is good enough, that it can win the championship.

Here is an example showing how a wild card team won the championship of American football, the Super Bowl.

In 2007, the New York Giants entered the playoffs as a wild card team, but they went on to beat the New England Patriots4 and win the Super Bowl.

And, as you can probably guess, we use "wild card" to describe people as well. If a person is unpredictable, you cannot be sure of how they will act. Then you might say:

My brother is a wild card when it comes to holidays – we never know if he is coming to our family dinners.

Finally, in the world of computers, the term "wild card" describes a symbol that programmers use. It looks like a little star and is called an asterisk5. It means anything can appear in that place. For example, if you want a computer to find all the words in a document that start with the prefix6 dis- so you can write a command: "Find dis*." The result will be a set of words like these: discover, discuss, dismiss7, and the like.

I hope this will help you to understand and even use the expression "wild card" yourself, Katerina. What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at [email protected]

And that's Ask a Teacher.

Words in This Story

asterisk – n. a small star-shaped symbol


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1 poker ilozCG     
n.扑克;vt.烙制
参考例句:
  • He was cleared out in the poker game.他打扑克牌,把钱都输光了。
  • I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it.我打扑克是老手了,可以玩些花样。
2 means 9oXzBX     
n.方法,手段,折中点,物质财富
参考例句:
  • That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
  • We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。
3 series 1zzw1     
n.连续;系列
参考例句:
  • The students have put forward a series of questions.学生们提出了一系列问题。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
4 patriots cf0387291504d78a6ac7a13147d2f229     
爱国者,爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
  • These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死,也不愿投降。
5 asterisk bv4zQ     
n.星号,星标
参考例句:
  • The asterisk refers the reader to a footnote.星号是让读者参看脚注。
  • He added an asterisk to the first page.他在第一页上加了个星号。
6 prefix 1lizVl     
n.前缀;vt.加…作为前缀;置于前面
参考例句:
  • We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
  • In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。
7 dismiss ntlx6     
v.解雇,开除;把(某人)打发走;解散
参考例句:
  • The committee has decided to dismiss him.委员会已决定辞退他。
  • Please dismiss all doubts about it. 请打消对此事的一切顾虑。

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