Even though the Mayday call is widely used, the origin of this word is not well known. Some people may also wonder why Mayday is used instead of other words like “help” or “emergency.” So, how did the word Mayday come to be used in emergencies? Before the use of radios on ships and planes, people relied on telegraph to send the letters SOS when they faced danger. In Morse Code, SOS is written as three dots, three dashes, and then three dots again.
雖然 Mayday 這個求救訊號被廣泛使用，但這個字的由來卻不為人熟知。有些人也會好奇，為什麼不用其他像是 help（救命）或 emergency（緊急情況）之類的字，而是選擇了 Mayday？那麼 Mayday 這個字是怎麼成為緊急訊號的呢？在船隻和飛機尚未使用無線電的時代，人們面臨危險時，會依靠電報傳送 SOS 三個字母來求救。在摩斯密碼中，SOS 是以三個點、三條長劃、再三個點表示。
生活必備字詞：
wonder vt. 想知道，納悶
instead of... 而不是……
rely on... 依靠∕依賴……
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本文節錄自《常春藤生活英語》雜誌，完整內容請見十月號。
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