新西兰英语 568 Blind athlete in the Coast-to-Coast

 　　First, listen to Coast-to-Coast Race to hear more about this race.

　　Neelusha Memon, aged¹ 27, was always keen on sports. In the year 2000, at the age of 16, she fell ill with a serious disease and was in a coma² for four months. When she woke from the coma, she suffered a brain injury which left her with only 30% sight and poor balance. She had to learn to walk, talk and eat again.

　　She also wanted to take part in sport again, but now she needed the support of other people. She climbed Mt Aspiring³ with friends to help her. She skied down the Tasman Glacier⁴, and she took part in the tandem⁵ Paracycling World Championships in Bordeaux, France.

　　Last weekend, she took part in the two-day Coast-to-Coast race. It took her just under 12 hours to complete the first day and on Saturday, she proudly crossed the finish line in 21 hours, 1 minute and 56 seconds. She said the hardest part was running over Goat Pass as it was rocky and uneven⁶. She needed a support person on both her left and right because of her poor balance. Another support person guided the two-person kayak, and another friend guided the tandem bicycle.

　　She believes a blind person can achieve anything with support.

　　Type ‘Paralympics’ in the search box to hear about other disabled athletes.

　　Vocabulary

　　keen on – really like something or someone

　　tandem – a two-person bicycle

　　kayak – canoe

　　achieve – do something with success

　　took:

　　?to take part in – to participate

　　?to take (her) x hours. This is a useful structure e.g. it takes me x hours to walk home; it took me x hours to read this book / to do this assignment / to …

　　Questions

　　?She had many people to support her, in her training and on the two race days. What kind of person volunteers to support a disabled athlete?

　　?She said physical progress gives her mental gain. What does this mean?

1 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

2 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

3 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

4 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

5 tandem   

n.同时发生；配合；adv.一个跟着一个地；纵排地；adj.（两匹马）前后纵列的

参考例句：

• Malcolm's contract will run in tandem with his existing one.马尔科姆的合同将与他手头的合同同时生效。
• He is working in tandem with officials of the Serious Fraud Office.他正配合欺诈重案办公室的官员工作。

6 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。