One of the most popular board games in the United States is now becoming very popular across parts of Asia. Young people from countries such as Malaysia, Thailand,Sri Lanka and Pakistan have taken up the game and are winning Scrabble tournaments.

美国最受欢迎的桌面游戏之一现已在亚洲部分地区变得非常流行。来自马来西亚，泰国，斯里兰卡和巴基斯坦等国家的年轻人参加了比赛并且赢得了比赛。

Tengku Ariff Shah is a teenager who can spell more English words than most native English speakers. He says he may not know what every word means, but that is not important. "It's a puzzle. It stimulates my mind, "he told the Reuters news agency recently. Ariff says he loves unusual words. In a recent tournament, he played the word “S-E-N-V-Y”, an old word for mustard plants or seeds. He says one day he would love to get the letters to play "C-W-T-C-H-I-N-G" -- a Welsh word for cuddling.

Tengku Ariff Shah 是一名青少年，他能拼出的英语单词比大多数英语母语者还多。他说他可能不知道每个单词的含义，但这并不重要。“它刺激我的头脑。” 他最近告诉路透社记者。Ariff 说他喜欢特殊的单词。在最近的一次比赛中，在最近的一次比赛中，他拼出了 “ S-E-N-V-Y” 一词， 这个词是芥末植物或种子的旧词。他说有一天他很想遇到可以拼出 "C-W-T-C-H-I-N-G'' 的字母。 - 威尔士语是拥抱的意思。

Scrabble is a board game played with small, square pieces called tiles. Every tile has a letter on it. Players get seven tiles to start with and then take turns making words. Each tile is worth a certain number of points. When all the tiles are placed on the board, the players add up their points. The player with the most points wins.

拼字游戏是一种桌面游戏，由称为字母牌一片片小方块的组成。 每个字母牌上面都有一个字母。玩家先获得七个字母牌，然后轮流拼制单词。每个字母牌都有固定的分数值。当所有字母牌都放在拼板上时，玩家所有得分将累加。 得分最多的选手获胜。

The building designer Alfred M. Butts is said to have invented the game in the 1930s. At the time, he called it Criss Cross Words. Later, the game was redesigned and renamed Scrabble and its popularity grew. Scrabble tournaments have been held in the United States since at least the 1970s. However, the last three youth Scrabble champions have come from Asia. The last three adult champions have come from New Zealand, Australia and Britain.

据说建筑设计师阿尔弗雷德・M・巴茨于 20 世纪 30 年代发明了这款游戏。当时，他把这款游戏称呼为 Criss Cross Words。后来，游戏经过重新设计，并改名为 Scrabble，受欢迎程度不断提高。至少从 20 世纪 70 年代开始，美国就举办了拼字游戏 Scrabble 比赛。然而，最近一场 Scrabble 比赛的三个未成年冠军来自亚洲。该场 Scrabble 比赛三位成年冠军分别来自新西兰，澳大利亚和英国。

The popularity of Scrabble in Asia has not gone unnoticed by governments. Many officials in Asian countries support after-school Scrabble clubs for young people to build English language skills. Many parents see it as a fun way for kids to learn. Malaysia's Ganesh Asirvatham is currently the top-ranked adult player. He says Scrabble is becoming "a development tool in Asia, a continent of more than 2,000 languages." He told reporters that "Asian players are conquering the Scrabble world."

这款拼字游戏在亚洲的受欢迎程度并没有被政府忽视。许多亚洲国家的官员们都支持放学后的拼字游戏俱乐部，让年轻人学习英语技能。许多家长认为这是孩子们学习的一种有趣的方式。马来西亚的 Ganesh Asirvatham 目前是排名第一的成年选手。他说，在拥有 2000 多种语言的亚洲大陆，Scrabble 正在成为一种发展工具。他对记者说：“亚洲玩家正在征服 Scrabble 游戏。”

Some say Scrabble became more popular in Asia after a world-famous player moved there 20 years ago. New Zealander Nigel Richards is a five-time world Scrabble champion. He is widely considered the game's greatest player. In 2015 and 2018, Richards even won Scrabble's French tournament although he cannot speak French. He studied the French dictionary for nine weeks.

据说，20 年前一位世界著名的选手搬到亚洲后，拼字游戏在亚洲越来越受欢迎。新西兰的选手奈杰尔・理查兹是五届世界拼字比赛冠军。大家广泛认为他是这场比赛中最伟大的选手。在 2015 年和 2018 年，理查兹赢得了 Scrabble 的法国锦标赛，即使他不会说法语。他学了九个星期的法语词典。

The winner of this year's Scrabble youth tournament --Thailand's Tarin Pairor -- calls Richards one of his Scrabble heroes. The teen once beat Richards during a tournament in India. Tarin told Reuters, "Everyone wants to be world champion at least once." "Even if I get world champion," he said, "I don't think I would ever stop playing."

今年 Scrabble 青年组锦标赛的冠军 -- 泰国的塔林・派洛 - 称理查兹是他的拼字偶像之一。他曾经在一次印度的锦标赛中击败了理查兹。塔林接受路透社采访时说：“每个人都梦想至少成为一次世界冠军”“即使我获得世界冠军，” 他说，“我认为我也不会停止玩这个游戏。”

For Voice of America Learning English, I'm Anna Matteo.

美国之音学习英语，我是安娜・马泰奥。