新西兰英语 52 End of the Beijing Olympics

　　The Beijing Olympics ended on the same high note as it began. The opening and closing ceremonies were amazing, finishing with a large display of fireworks that went on and on. During the Games, everything worked well too. That included the accommodation, transport, beautiful venues¹ to hold the different sports, a huge number of volunteers, and superb² organisation³.
At the closing ceremony, the chief of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, said that the world had learned⁴ more about China, and China had learned more about the world. China surprised the world by winning more gold medals than any other country and some of the medals were in events that were not traditional for Chinese like swimming. Also interesting was that more Chinese women than men won medals.
At the end of the closing ceremony, the Olympic flag was handed to the organisers of the next Olympics in London in 2012. London had 100 organisers present at the closing ceremony. The London Olympics organiser, Sebastian Coe, said that they were like young children waking up to see snow for the first time. They could hardly believe what they were seeing.
Coe said the London Olympics would not be so big because they have a limited budget. China spent around NZ$60 billion. The main stadium in London will have 80,000 seats for the Games but 55,000 of them will be temporary, leaving a stadium for 25,000 people after the Games. Coe said that one of the important things for London was to provide long-term benefits, with transport and facilities for Londoners for many years afterwards.
The London organisers are planning new fast trains that will take people from central London to the Olympic Park in just 7 minutes. They also hope to use the river Thames to transport people to the venues.
New Zealanders should feel quite happy with the performance of our athletes at the Beijing Olympics. We gained 3 gold medals, 1 silver and 5 bronze medals. In the last four years, Sport and Recreation New Zealand – SPARC – has put $60 million into sailing, athletics⁵, triathlon, cycling and rowing to help these people to do well in the Olympics. These are the sports which won medals for New Zealand. Now SPARC has to decide whether to continue to support these sports for the next Olympics.

1 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

2 superb   

adj.高贵的，壮丽的，极好的

参考例句：

• The large bay has a superb backdrop of mountains.大海湾背靠着庄严的山脉。
• The hotel has a large dining room serving superb local cuisine.饭店有一个大餐厅供应上好的当地菜肴。

3 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

4 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

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。