新西兰英语 41 New Zealand Olympic Team

　　It’s exactly a month today until the Olympic Games begin. From August 8th till the 24th, over 10,000 athletes will compete in 28 sports, mostly in Beijing.
For New Zealand, it will be 100 years since we first sent athletes to an Olympic Games. Three New Zealand men competed in the London Games in 1908. New Zealand will be sending 182 athletes to compete this year. Like all countries, we hope for gold medals but we also know that we are a small country. To take part in the Olympic Games is a wonderful experience and for athletes from small countries, it gives them the opportunity to compete amongst¹ the best in the world. This is something that is hard to do at home, especially in a country that is so far away from most of the world. So New Zealand selects athletes who have a good chance of getting in the top 16 places in their sport.
However, we have a proud history of gold medal winners beginning in 1912 when a New Zealand swimmer competed as part of an Australasian relay² team. In the past 100 years, we have won 34 gold medals in 21 Olympics. We missed out in only two Olympics. Our first runner to win a gold medal was Jack³ Lovelock in the 1500 metres in 1936, and the first woman was Yvette Williams in the long jump in 1952. In the last Olympics in Athens, New Zealand won three gold medals: Sarah Ulmer in track cycling, Hamish Carter in triathlon, and the Evers-Swindell twins in rowing.
This year our biggest teams are the men’s and women’s football and hockey. We have 16 very strong rowers including the Evers-Swindell sisters and 17 cyclists. Our triathlon, sailing, canoeing⁴ and swimming competitors have great hopes of winning medals. In athletics⁵, Valerie Vili, is currently⁶ number one in the world in the shot put. We also have excellent equestrians⁷ (horse riders) including Mark Todd who has already won two gold medals in past Olympics. As usual, there will be disappointments and surprises.

1 amongst   

prep.在…之中，在...之间(=among)

参考例句：

• He was sitting amongst a group of children,telling them a story.他正坐在一群孩子中间讲故事。
• You must settle the matter amongst yourselves.你们必须彼此商量，自行解决这些问题。

2 relay   

n.接力赛，中继转播（设备）；vt.转述，转播

参考例句：

• They will relay your message.他们会转达你的口信。
• This metal tower is used to relay television signals to distant villages.这个金属塔是用于向遥远的村子转播电视讯号的。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 canoeing   

n.划独木舟，玩独木舟；皮划艇运动

参考例句：

• We were canoeing in the lake. 我们在湖中划独木舟。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• You can take part in activities from canoeing to bird watching. 你可以参与从划独木舟到观鸟等各种活动。 来自辞典例句

5 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。

6 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

7 equestrians   

n.骑手（equestrian的复数形式）

参考例句：