北京奥运会上,中国乒乓球队创造了世界乒坛的一个奇迹。从团体赛到单打赛,从须眉对抗到巾帼比拼,中国选手无不胜利收场。他们包揽男女团体冠军,席卷男女单打三甲,见证了中国乒乓球的辉煌时刻又一次到来。

请看新华网的报道:

China completed a clean sweep of all four titles in the Olympic table tennis competition here Saturday, living up to the expectations of fans in the world's most populous country who view the sport as a matter of national pride.

本周六,中国队包揽了乒乓球项目的四枚金牌。乒乓球一直被视为这个人口最大国的国球,国球手们的表现没有辜负球迷们的期望。

Clean sweep 通常解释为“彻底扫除、清除”,如 to sweep the yard (把院子打扫干净);又如:When they reorganized the company, they made a clean sweep of all the holdovers.当他们重新改组公司时,撤换了所有的留用人员。

而在体育比赛中,clean sweep 可引申为“全胜、压倒性的胜利”。政界也借用 clean sweep 来表示在“压倒性的胜利”,请看例句:Now five seats belong to Democrats and three to the Republicans. Democrats hope to make a clean sweep of all eight this year. But the voters have different ideas so we'll have to wait and see.目前情况是五个席位属于民主党,三个属于共和党。民主党人盼望今年能席卷八个席位,取得全面胜利,但是选民却各有主见,所以选举前程未卜。究竟鹿死谁手还得等着瞧。