中文原文：

当这位前卫在带球过防守队员时，把球丢了。

错误译文：

When the midfielder was dribbling past the defender, he missed the ball.

正确译文：

When the midfielder was dribbling past the defender, he lost the ball.

翻译加油站：

to miss的意思是“想得到而未得到”。to lose的意思是“把得到的丢失了”。to miss the ball的意思是“未能接住球”。to lose the ball的意思是“把球丢了”。试比较：

1. 他没能接住队友传来的球。He missed the ball passed from his teammate

2. 这位守门员跑去接球，但是未能接住。The goalkeeper ran to catch the ball but missed it.

3. 这位守门员差一点就挡住球了。The goalkeeper just missed stopping the ball

4. 一个球员在铲球、或正在跑动或接传球时，常常会丢掉向前滚动的球。Very often a player will lose the ball forward during a tackle or just while running and receiving a pass

但是由于ball还有“舞会”的意思，to miss the ball具有歧义，即“未能赶上舞会。”例如：

5. 由于她坐错了公共汽车，她没能赶上舞会。As she took a wrong bus, she missed the ball.

to miss 的第一个意思是to fail to hit, catch, find, meet, touch, hear, see, do, go somewhere，etc.，即“未能击中，抓住，找到，遇到，摸到，听见，看见，做或去到某处等”。例如：

6. 踢任意球时，许多球员未能射入球门。In free kick, a lot of players miss the goal.

7. 在本赛季里，这位球员有多少球未能射中？How many goals has the player missed this season?

8. 他射门，但是未射中。He shot at the goal but missed

9. 他射门，差一点就踢中。He shot at the goal and only narrowly missed

10. 到现在为止，这位球迷看2006年世界杯比赛一场也不落。So far the football fan hasn't missed a game of the FIFA World Cup 2006.

to miss 的第二个意思是to avoid sth bad or unpleasant，即“避开不好的或不愉快的事情”。just missed, narrowly missed是强调“刚好避开”，即“差一点”或“险些”的意思。例如：11.这个前锋险些撞上守门员。The forward narrowly missed hitting the goalkeeper.