A vuvuzela is a brightly-coloured plastic trumpet, usually about a metre long, which is commonly blown by fans at football matches in South Africa. Playing the vuvuzela requires a practiced combination of lip and lung action to produce an extremely loud, monotonous sound, a bit like a foghorn.

Vuvuzela(嗚嗚祖拉)是一種顏色鮮艷的塑料喇叭，大約有一米長，是南非球迷在足球比賽時經(jīng)常會用到的一個裝備。吹vuvuzela時需要嘴唇和肺部運動協(xié)調(diào)配合，這樣才能吹出音量極高、音調(diào)單一的那種聲音，跟霧笛的聲音有些類似。

The vuvuzela is said to be based on the Kudu horn, a tribal instrument used to summon villagers to meetings. Originally made of tin, the vuvuzela rose to popularity in South Africa at football matches in the late 1990s. Its fate was sealed in 2001, when South-African-based company Masincedane Sport began to mass-produce a plastic version, thereby making it essential kit for football supporters across the country.

據(jù)說，vuvuzela的原形來自于庫杜號角，是土著部落用來召集村民開會的器具。最早的vuvuzela是用錫做的，上世紀90年代后期在南非的足球賽中逐漸流行起來。2001年，南非一家體育用品公司Masincedane Sport開始大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)塑料的vuvuzela，由此，vuvuzela便成了南非球迷裝備中的必備品。

The origin of the word vuvuzela is uncertain. Some argue that it originates from the Zulu for ’making a loud noise’. Others maintain it relates to township slang for the word ’shower’, because it ’showers people with music’.

Vuvuzela這個詞的來源說法不一。有人說是來源于祖魯語中“制造噪音”的說法。也有人說是跟當(dāng)?shù)刭嫡Z“噴灑”的意思接近，因為vuvuzela是“將音樂灑向人群”。