英语听力精选进阶版 15375

Paralympic workshop

Summary

6 September 2012

One of the busiest places at the Paralympics is the workshop which repairs broken wheelchairs and prosthetic blades. More than 1,700 anxious athletes have passed through its doors, seeking emergency help. And with the wheelchair rugby competition about to start, there is no easing off.

Reporter:

Alex Capstick

Report

Just outside the athletes' village, a room which is a hive of activity. Paralympians need reliable equipment. This is where they come when a vital piece of apparatus¹ breaks during competition. A quick fix can mean the difference between success and failure. Technicians are busy welding wheelchairs and filing running blades. The most common repair is for punctured² tyres. And nobody, no matter how complex the problem, is turned away. 

Russell Pizzey manages the workload³. Wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby present his biggest challenges. Those sports involve lots of contact, and in rugby especially the players try to smash each other to bits.

Russell Pizzey, from Ottobock:

They definitely come in on quite a number of visits. Not just one visit only, and again it's depending on the game, the amount of impacts they take during that game. So again we can see big repairs to wheels, let alone the frames.

London is the 12th Paralympics for Ottobock, the company which runs the workshop. The athletes don't pay a thing, and so far at these Games those representing more than 120 countries have sought its help.

They've been frantically⁴ busy ever since they opened their doors at the Olympic Park, and they say the figure of nearly 2,200 repairs, which were carried out in Beijing, is set to be surpassed.

1 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

2 punctured   

v.在（某物）上穿孔( puncture的过去式和过去分词 )；刺穿（某物）；削弱（某人的傲气、信心等）；泄某人的气

参考例句：

• Some glass on the road punctured my new tyre. 路上的玻璃刺破了我的新轮胎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A nail on the road punctured the tyre. 路上的钉子把车胎戳穿了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 workload   

n.作业量，工作量

参考例句：

• An assistant one day a week would ease my workload.每周有一天配一个助手就会减轻我的工作负担。
• He's always grousing about the workload.他总是抱怨工作量大。

4 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。