VOA慢速英语--拼写大赛以历史性的八人平局结束

Spelling Bee Ends with Historic¹ Eight-Way Tie

Eight young “super-spellers” beat the dictionary to share victory at the 92nd Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The final part of the historic bee began on Thursday night with sixteen spellers remaining. After almost four hours and 17 rounds of spelling, eight competitors still remained. In most years, a single competitor wins much earlier in the night.

There were so many strong spellers still remaining that bee officials began worrying that they did not have enough difficult words left to ask them.

So, at the end of round 17, longtime bee pronouncer Jacques Bailly announced, “Champion spellers, we are now in uncharted territory….We do have plenty of words remaining on our list. But we will soon run out of words that will possibly challenge you, the most phenomenal collection of super-spellers in the history of this competition.”

Bailly then explained that all spellers still standing² after the 20th round would be named co-champions.

By the end of round 20, all eight still remained. The happy group created their own word for their joint³ success: “octochamps.”

Each will receive a $50,000 prize.The competition started on Tuesday with 562 spellers from across the nation, U.S. territories and six other countries: the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.

Officials say that while there have been co-winners in the past, there has never been as many as eight.

The crowd reacted wildly as each competitor stepped forward and successfully spelled their word in the final round.

The winners are six boys and two girls, all between the ages of 12 and 14.

Rishik Gandhasri is 13 years old and from California. His final word, Auslaut, a German-based word that means the “final sound in a word or syllable⁴.” He held his hands up and smiled after spelling it correctly. He was the first speller to become a champion.

Next was Erin Howard, who is 14 and from Alabama. She did not hide the fact that she knew exactly how to spell her very last word, “erysipelas.” She put her hands to her mouth, took a deep breath, and then easily spelled the Greek-based word. She started to cry as her family cheered her on.

Thirteen-year-old Saketh Sundar, from Maryland, stayed calm as he correctly spelled “bougainvillea” to become the third winner of the night.

As the crowd cheered and shouted, the final spellers stayed serious. Thirteen-year-old Shruthika Padhy of New Jersey⁵ asked Bailly to pronounce her final word “aiguillette” several times before being confirmed winner number four.

Texan Sohum Sukhatankar, also 13, pumped one hand in the air after easily spelling “pendeloque.”

Winner number six was 12-year-old Abhijay Kodali, the youngest of the octochamps. He spelled “palama” correctly before returning to his seat and nearly collapsing⁶ from happiness. He became Texas’ second champion of the night.

Seventh was 13-year-old Christopher Serrao of New Jersey, with the word “cernuous.”

The eighth and final speller of the extremely long night was Rohan Raja. The 13-year-old -- also from Texas -- moved his body from side to side as he waited for Bailly to announce his word: odylic.

“Odylic,” Raja repeated. “Okay.” The crowd reacted to his quiet trust and belief in himself.

Not surprisingly, Raha became the eighth and final winner of the historic night. The seven other champions gave him high fives and hugs.

On Friday morning, the octochamps appeared together on the American morning news program “The Today Show.”

A reporter asked the group if anyone would have wanted to continue the competition in order to have one clear winner.

Christopher Serrao answered for the group: “I think we were all sleepy, and also, we all wanted to win together,” he said.

“We were competing together and we were really happy when one person spelled their word correctly.”

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Caty Weaver⁷.

That's C-A-T-Y W-E-A-V-E-R.

That is correct!

Words in This Story

dictionary - n. reference⁸ book that contains words listed in alphabetical⁹ order and that gives information about the words' meanings, forms, pronunciations, etc.

champion - n. someone or something (such as a team or an animal) that has won a contest or competition especially in sports

uncharted - adj. not recorded or located on a map, chart, or plan

phenomenal - adj. very good or great : unusual in a way that is very impressive¹⁰

challenge - v. to test the ability, skill, or strength of (someone or something) :to be difficult enough to be interesting to (someone)

hug - n. the act of putting your arms around someone or something as a way of showing love or friendship

1 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

5 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

6 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

7 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

8 reference   

n.提到，说到，暗示，查看，查阅

参考例句：

• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。
• I like to have my reference books within my reach.我喜欢把参考书放到伸手可取的地方。

9 alphabetical   

adj.字母（表）的，依字母顺序的

参考例句：

• Please arrange these books in alphabetical order.请把这些书按字母顺序整理一下。
• There is no need to maintain a strict alphabetical sequence.不必保持严格的字顺。

10 impressive   

adj.给人深刻印象的，感人的

参考例句：

• This cinema is so impressive that we can't help crying.这影片如此感人以至我们禁不住流下泪来。
• The suit made him look especially impressive.他穿上这套衣服真精神。