Take Away English-London Marathon 2008 2008伦敦马拉松

Could you run 26 miles?

The London Marathon is an annual event and of the thousands of runners who take part, many of them have a story to tell as to why they are running the 26.2 mile (42.2 km) course around London.

This year the pressure was on for many of the athletes in the elite¹ race. With the Beijing Olympics just around the corner, they wanted to ensure their places as Olympic marathon hopefuls for their countries. If they perform well in the marathon, they have a very good chance of being in the Olympic marathon event and doing well in it.

The men's race was won by Kenyan, Martin Lel, who finished the race in just two hours and five minutes, a personal best time for him. Irina Mikitenko was the winner of the women's race and this was astonishingly only her second race at marathon distance!

There was also a group of 24 runners who have competed in every single one of the 28 London marathons. Jeff Aston is one of them and at 60 years old, he finished in just over three and a half hours.

A lot of the non-competitive runners take part in the marathon to raise money for charity. Jeff estimates² he has raised about £25,000 (350,000 RMB) over the 28 years he has been running.

Jane Tomlinson is a well-known name in the UK. She raised millions for charity doing long cycle rides, marathons and triathlons whilst³ battling terminal⁴ cancer, a battle she sadly lost last year.

As a tribute⁵ to Jane, her husband and daughter took part in the marathon. They managed to raise £20,000 (280,000 RMB) for a charity set up in Jane's name.

Another astonishing feat⁶ was blind runner Dave Heeley completing the marathon. As if that wasn't enough, this was his seventh marathon in seven days, as he took part in a special challenge which took him to seven countries.

Well done to all the inspirational runners on the challenges they met and the money they raised.

GLOSSARY 词汇表 

 

annual 年度的，每年一次的 athletes 运动员 just around the corner 近在眼前，很近 hopefuls 种子选手 astonishingly 令人惊讶的 to raise money 募捐 estimates 估计 battling terminal cancer 和晚期癌症做斗争 set up in Jane's name 以简 (Jane) 命名的 blind 盲人，失明的

course 路线 the elite race 精英赛 to ensure 确保 personal best 个人最好成绩 non-competitive 非竞争的 （不是为了赢比赛） charity 慈善机构 triathlons 三项全能运动 a tribute （表示敬意的）礼物 feat 壮举 inspirational 鼓舞或激励人的

 

1 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

2 estimates   

估计

参考例句：

• Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 whilst   

conj.一边...一边，当...的时候，同时，时时

参考例句：

• She sang whilst she worked.她边干活边唱歌。
• There was dead silence in the court,whilst the white rabbit read out these verses.当白兔子念诗的时候，法庭上鸦雀无声。

4 terminal   

n.终端机，终点，末端；adj.终点的，按期的，致死的

参考例句：

• The car has reached its terminal speed and can run faster no longer.这辆车的速度已达到了极限，不能再跑更快了。
• There's a taxi stand outside the terminal.在终点站的外面有出租车。

5 tribute   

n.颂词，称赞，(表示敬意的)礼物；贡品

参考例句：

• She accepted their tribute graciously.她慈祥地接受了他们的致意。
• Many conquered nations had to pay tribute to the rulers of ancient Rome.许多被征服的国家必须向古罗马的统治者朝贡。

6 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。