【一起听英语】马拉松比赛

 马拉松是一场长跑运动....全民参与，积极性高....

Dan: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Dan

Walker Smith and in today’s programme I’m joined by Nuala O’Sullivan.

Nuala: Hi Dan.

Dan: Now in today’s programme Nuala and I are talking about marathons. These

are the very long runs covering 26 miles or around 42 kilometres. Now Nuala

you’re a very experienced runner, so how many marathons have you run?

Nuala: Well I’ve actually run four Dan. I’ve run them in The Netherlands, Ireland,

Germany and France.

Dan: OK, which was the best out of the four you did?

Nuala: Oh definitely France. I was running through the vineyards and you got little

drinks of wine all the way along and there was steak and oysters¹ to eat as well.

I mean it was just…it was a gourmet² marathon; it was just fabulous³.

Dan: That’s quite different from the normal marathons. You’re not going for a

certain time; you’re going for an enjoyable experience.

Nuala: Well I would say I was going for a good time because I wanted to enjoy

myself, not a good time as in getting a fast time.

Dan: Ah very good, very good indeed. OK well I’m running my first ever marathon

in just under a month’s time. I’m running the Brighton marathon on the south 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010

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coast of England, so maybe you can give me some advice on that. But right

now, I have this week’s question for you:

Marathons recreate a legendary⁴ ancient run from Marathon to Athens in

Greece. But which country hosted the first modern marathon in 1896? Was it:

a) Greece

b) Britain

c) France

Nuala: I’m going for France.

Dan: OK, well we’ll see if you’re right at the end of the programme.

Now before we play a clip, Nuala, I want to talk to you about nutrition and

hydration. Everyone tells me that these are really important for long-distance

running, so could you tell me a bit about them?

Nuala: Sure. Well nutrition is a technical word for the process of absorbing food. If

food is nutritious⁵, it’s good for your health.

Dan: OK, and what about hydration?

Nuala: Well, to hydrate something means to add water to it. So when you’re running,

you have to consider hydration or how much water you’re taking in, because

you’re going to lose a lot through sweat. So if you’re doing a lot of exercise,

you can become dehydrated; that means becoming ill from not having enough

water.

Dan: OK, well let’s have a listen to the British novelist and marathon runner

Bidisha. Here she is comparing the repetitive movement of running to a kind of

meditation⁶. Could you explain what meditation means here Nuala? 

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Nuala: Well meditation can mean either deep thought or a period of calm relaxation⁷

on an almost religious level, which is quite different to what you imagine

running to be.

Dan: Yeah very much so, that’s not my experience of running. Well, let’s listen to

Bidisha talking about running. What religion does she compare it to?

Extract 1

You see those athletes in the park, and you think ‘my God they must be in pain’, but

actually what they’re doing is a sort of Zen exercise of relaxing into the movement.

Dan: Well she describes their running as a sort of Zen exercise. Zen is a form of

Buddhism⁸ that focuses on meditation. But I think she was closer to my

experience when she says ‘my God they must be in pain’, because I’ve been

training since Christmas more or less, about four months now, and I’m

definitely getting some pains when I’m doing my long runs.

Nuala: Oh what sort of pains do you get Dan, blisters⁹? Blisters are the painful

pockets of fluid on your skin. They’re usually caused from rubbing or if you

burn yourself. They’re very common in runners because your shoe might be

rubbing against your foot and then that way you’d get a blister¹⁰.

Dan: No it’s not really blisters I suffer from; it’s more a muscular pain.

Nuala: Ah OK, muscular means involving or affecting the muscles. So you probably

need to stretch your legs more.

Dan: Well there are some of the physical problems for runners. But Nuala, how

important is your mental attitude for running marathons? 

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Nuala: Oh I think it’s really important. And I think if you’re doing yours in a big city

like Brighton, there’ll be lots of people out encouraging you. It’s always nice

to have a big crowd; it makes it a kind of party atmosphere. But the other thing

to bear in mind is that 26 miles is a very long distance, so you might want to

break it down into bite-sized pieces.

Bite-sized literally¹¹ means something that’s small enough to be eaten in one

bite. But usually when people say something is in bite-sized pieces, they mean

it is in small pieces that are easy to manage or understand. So my advice would

be: don’t think about running the whole 26 miles, just think of the next three

miles in front of you.

Dan: OK well that sounds like great advice to me. But we’re almost out of time

now, so let’s go over some of the vocabulary we’ve come across today.

marathon

nutrition

nutritious

to hydrate

dehydrated

meditation

Zen

blisters

muscular

bite-sized pieces

Dan: And let's go back to today's question. I asked you Nuala in which country the

first modern was marathon run?

Nuala: And I guessed France. Was I right? 

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Dan: No you weren’t. It was actually in Greece. It was in 1896 and they created the

modern marathon to essentially¹² recreate the ancient run. There were only 17

runners, so very different from today’s marathons when we have thousands of

runners. And of the 17, nine of them were Greek, and only nine people actually

finished the race.

But from all of us here at BBC Learning English, thanks so much indeed for

listening, and goodbye!

Nuala: Goodbye! 

1 oysters   

牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We don't have oysters tonight, but the crayfish are very good. 我们今晚没有牡蛎供应。但小龙虾是非常好。
• She carried a piping hot grill of oysters and bacon. 她端出一盘滚烫的烤牡蛎和咸肉。

2 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

3 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

4 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

5 nutritious   

adj.有营养的，营养价值高的

参考例句：

• Fresh vegetables are very nutritious.新鲜蔬菜富于营养。
• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。

6 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

7 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

8 Buddhism   

n.佛教（教义）

参考例句：

• Buddhism was introduced into China about 67 AD.佛教是在公元67年左右传入中国的。
• Many people willingly converted to Buddhism.很多人情愿皈依佛教。

9 blisters   

n.水疱( blister的名词复数 )；水肿；气泡

参考例句：

• My new shoes have made blisters on my heels. 我的新鞋把我的脚跟磨起泡了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His new shoes raised blisters on his feet. 他的新鞋把他的脚磨起了水疱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 blister   

n.水疱；(油漆等的)气泡；v.(使)起泡

参考例句：

• I got a huge blister on my foot and I couldn't run any farther.我脚上长了一个大水泡，没办法继续跑。
• I have a blister on my heel because my shoe is too tight.鞋子太紧了，我脚后跟起了个泡。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。