英语博客(A cup of English):Alberto Contador

Beginners.

 The color yellow is very 'in' at the moment, mainly because of the Tour de France. It is a spectacular event that my husband and I follow every year. Infact, now that it is over, we are in mourning. "What are we going to do now, Babe?" I asked my husband this morning as we turned on the taped version (we are about eight hours behind France where we live). "I really don't know..." he answered, sadly. Happily for us, though, we have a DVR, so we have the whole tour recorded, and we can skip through all of the commercials in just a few seconds. What a relief! I can't imagine having to watch hours of the same commercials just in order to see the bicycle race. Anyway, we sort of celebrated¹ Alberto Contador's win today, and Mark Cavendish's successful entrance into Paris, by going on a bicycle ride around one of the local parks. My husband is a serious cyclist, but I am just a beginner. I suppose I'm not particularly competitive; I don't really care about racing². When I ride my bike, I like to only push myself a little bit. All the straining and pain, I think, are overrated. I like to look at the trees and birds and enjoy the wind in my face. I would make a terrible professional cyclist. First of all, no one would sponsor me because I would lose all the time. Secondly³, I just don't have the build for sprinting⁴ or climbing.

Grammar notes.

Related vocabulary: spectacular, to mourn, commercial, to strain.

Exs:

The firework display was spectacular!

We are mourning the loss of our grandmother.

Some commercials are downright irritating.

The weight lifter strained his leg. He was too concerned about winning.

Advanced.

Alberto Contador was quite incredible to watch this year. It is amazing what you learn about these competitive athletes by listening to the commentators⁵ over the course of three weeks. We have all heard about Lance Armstrong, the amazing physical animal that he is, overcoming horrendous⁶ cancer, and winning seven times. But did you know that young Contador also had quite a scare. Apparently⁷, during a race, he collapsed⁸. It was found that he had a brain haemorrage. He was immediately operated on, and had a titanium plate put in his head. It sounds awful doesn't it? Well, he is obviously fine now. Infact, he is so fine, that he has won three major tours this year: Il Giro D'Italia, The Tour Down Under, and the Tour de France. Three in seven months is really quite incredible. "This is like watching a James Bond movie," says my husband every time we sit down to watch the Tour. You have the incredible athletes with thighs⁹ like tree truncks, flying up steep mountains at a rate that makes me feel dizzy. Then, you have the spectacular views of France, and all the historic information of buildings and towns. All that is lacking is a good gun fight and perhaps an explosion or two. But James Bond or no James Bond, I'm celebrating Contador's win. I am a half Spaniard, after all. My loyalties¹⁰ lie in that part of the world. I know the Spanish culture well, and I can guarantee that there will be huge celebrations all over the country. So, I will join the party from my little corner of the planet, lift a glass of Rioja, and say, "Well done, Alberto!"

Grammar notes.

 Related vocabulary: horrendous, commentators, dizzy, loyalty¹¹.

Exs:

This cheese is horrendous. It stinks¹² and tastes awful!

The commentators of this soccer match are very biased¹³ towards their own country's team.

The ride at the fairground spun¹⁴ us around so much that we all got dizzy.

My dog has the greatest loyalty towards our family.

 

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

3 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

4 sprinting   

v.短距离疾跑( sprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Stride length and frequency are the most important elements of sprinting. 步长和步频是短跑最重要的因素。 来自互联网
• Xiaoming won the gold medal for sprinting in the school sports meeting. 小明在学校运动会上夺得了短跑金牌。 来自互联网

5 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 horrendous   

adj.可怕的，令人惊惧的

参考例句：

• He described it as the most horrendous experience of his life.他形容这是自己一生中最可怕的经历。
• The mining industry in China has a horrendous safety record.中国的煤矿工业具有令人不安的安全记录。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

9 thighs   

n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿

参考例句：

• He's gone to London for skin grafts on his thighs. 他去伦敦做大腿植皮手术了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The water came up to the fisherman's thighs. 水没到了渔夫的大腿。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 loyalties   

n.忠诚( loyalty的名词复数 )；忠心；忠于…感情；要忠于…的强烈感情

参考例句：

• an intricate network of loyalties and relationships 忠诚与义气构成的盘根错节的网络
• Rows with one's in-laws often create divided loyalties. 与姻亲之间的矛盾常常让人两面为难。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

12 stinks   

v.散发出恶臭( stink的第三人称单数 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• The whole scheme stinks to high heaven—don't get involved in it. 整件事十分卑鄙龌龊——可别陷了进去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soup stinks of garlic. 这汤有大蒜气味。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

14 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。