VOA慢速英语2018 全美拼字比赛落幕 14岁男孩夺冠（在线收听）

US National Spelling Bee Has a Surprise Winner

Fourteen-year-old Karthik Nemmani of Texas won the Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night. His victory was a surprise – even to him.

周四晚，德克萨斯州14岁的卡西克(Karthik Nemmani)赢得了全美拼字比赛。他的胜利让人意想不到——就连他自己也没想到。

“I didn’t really think I’d be able to do it,” he said softly. “I had confidence that I could, but I honestly didn’t realistically think it could happen.”

我真的觉得自己无缘冠军，他轻声说。我不是没有信心，但说实话，我没想过这件事真的会发生。

The competition took place in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

这次比赛在马里兰州的奥克森山上举办。

Many people had expected another student, Naysa Modi, to win. She had competed and done well in four other national spelling bees. In fact, she had beaten Nemmani earlier this year at a spelling event in Texas. But at the national championship, Modi misspelled “Bewusstseinslage,” a word from the German language.

很多人都看好另一位学生，她叫莫迪。莫迪在另外四场国家级拼字比赛中取得了不错的成绩。实际上，今年年初，在德克萨斯州举行的一个拼字比赛上，莫迪还打败了卡西克。但在本次的国家级锦标赛上，莫迪拼错了Bewusstseinslage这个单词(意识、状态)，这个词来源于德语。

So Nemmani had the final chance to win. He did – by correctly spelling the word “koinonia.”

正因如此，卡西克才有最后的机会得胜。他借助这个机会得胜——最终拼对了单词koinonia(联合作用)。

The two competitors did not appear to have any hard feelings, however. “We weren’t against each other. We were against the dictionary,” Nemmani said.

不过，这两位参赛选手并没有厌恶彼此的情绪。我们不跟对方较劲，只跟字典较劲，卡西克如是说道。

By winning, he will take home more than $42,000 worth of prizes.

赢了这次比赛之后，卡西克带回家的奖金就超过4.2万美元了。

And Modi, who is only 12, will have one more chance to win the national championship next year. After she finishes the 8th grade, she will be too old to complete.

而年仅12岁的莫迪明年还将有一次机会赢得全国锦标赛冠军。但是读完8年级之后，她的年龄就不够参赛资格了。

An unusual year

In addition to the surprise winner, the 2018 National Spelling Bee was unusual in other ways, too. It was the biggest in the 93-year history of the spelling bee. More than 500 children, ages 8 to 15, participated. That is over 200 more than in any other year.

除了这两个让人意想不到的赢家之外，2018年的全美拼字比赛在其他一些方面也尽显与众不同。这次比赛是93年历程里规模最大的一次。有500多名8-15岁的儿童参加了比赛。比任何一年都多了200多人。

For the first time, the national bee also included new ways for participants to qualify. Most, like second-place winner Naysa Modi, earned their positions by winning several smaller competitions. As a result, Modi’s region paid for her transportation to and from Oxon Hill, hotel and other costs.

But first-place winner Karthik Nemmani, used a new “wild card” program and paid his own way.

The wild card program enables students who did not win their region to participate at the national spelling bee. The program is designed to include more of the country’s best spellers in the national event, especially if they come from a competitive region.

Modi, Nemmani, and the third-place winner, Abhijay Kodali, are from such an area. They all live near Dallas, Texas, a place where many national spelling bee finalists and winners come from. Nemmani’s family even moved there so he could go to a school that takes part in the program.

Nemmani’s victory also shows the power of a new industry of spelling coaches. Nemmani thanked his, a former competitor who is only 16 years old herself.

But there is at least one way in which Nemmani is not unusual. He is the 14th spelling bee champion from an Indian family in each of the past 14 years.

Words in This Story

spelling bee - n. a contest in which contestants spell words aloud and are removed from the contest when they spell a word wrong

confidence - n. a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something

dictionary - n. a reference book that contains words listed in alphabetical order

participate - v. to be involved with others in doing something : to take part in an activity or event with others

qualify - v. to have the right to do, have, or be a part of something

region - n. a part of a country

wild card - n. a player or team chosen to fill a place in a competition after the regularly qualified players or teams have all been decided

coach - n. a person who teaches and trains an athlete or performer