“New Zealand resorts keep knocking it out of the park!”

How do these resorts in New Zealand keep exceeding our expectations? Blanket Bay, that cozy little resort 40 minutes from Queenstown, is a study in well designed restraint. Stunning views from every window, a staff that discreetly anticipates every need, the feel of a private club, food that rivals the world's great restaurants, and activities that thrill - our helicopter to a glacier for a beautiful lunch on the snow was a memorable experience. Highly recommended!

My comments:

Knocking it out of the park? What’s “it”? What park?

For baseball fans, that’s an easy question. Park is the colloquialism for the playing field of the game of baseball. “It” refers the ball. Knocking “it” out of the park refers to an extremely rare home run, wherein the ball is hit so hard that it flies right out of the stands and is therefore not retrievable at all.

Home runs are the most spectacular plays in baseball, generating the most excitement. In a normal home run, the ball needs just be hit into the stands to ensure one or more easy points. When the ball is knocked out of the park? That means, yes, this particular hit is exceptionally good.

Hence, in our example, resorts in New Zealand keep exceeding our expectations because metaphorically speaking, they keep hitting the ball out of the park.

In other words, they’re good beyond measure.

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本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.