听美文故事记6级单词09-06（在线收听）

6. Time Runs out for　World Records

World records in many athletic events are peaking - and will not be broken unless athletes take drugs, say researchers.

　　The study, "Are there limits to running world records?", suggests faster times may prove elusive.

　　The current women''s 1500m record may never be broken, said Professor Alan Nevill, without fundamental changes to the genetic structure of human beings.

　　Prof Nevill says many running records are "already nearing their limits".

　　The paper, co-written by Professor Nevill at the University of Wolverhampton and Professor Greg Whyte from the English Institute of Sports, challenges previous scientific research that there was no limit to human performance and that women would eventually run as fast as men.

　　Professors Nevill and Whyte re-interpreted data of previous performances and concluded that records set to plateau (停滞期）.

　　"For the first time we have identified that there could be a limit to performance and that world records will not continue to rise," said Professor Nevill of the University of Wolverhampton.

　　"Many of the established men and women''s middle and long distance running records are already nearing their limits.

　　"The results, of course, assume that athletes in the future do not benefit from scientific engineering or drug use."

　　Professor Nevill told the BBC he did not envisage the current women''s record for the 1500m - held by Qu Yunxia of China - ever being broken.

　　This was one of the races won by Kelly Holmes at last year''s Athens Olympics in a time of 3:57.90, well below Qu Yunxia''s 3:50.46 set in Beijing in 1993.

　　But Professor Nevill stressed that the public would never lose interest in athletics, even if new records were no longer set.