Skating: Chinese Pair Win First Medals at World Championship

Broadcast: Mar¹ 27,2003

 

The first medals of the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships were awarded Wednesday night here in the nation's capital. Chinese skaters Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo successfully defended their world pairs title, performing a moving and nearly ¹⁾flawless routine to a Violin Fantasy on the Opera Turandot for their long free-skate. They had the crowd here on their feet, and two of the 14 judges gave them perfect scores.

Ms. Shen performed on a bad ankle, and Mr. Zhao said it was the crowd that helped them come through. "When I saw and felt the audience so excited with our performance, we also felt so excited. And here, I want to thank the American audience for their support," and Mr. Zhao said. "I appreciate my partner's performance. I think, if we could make a difference between the two gold medals, I want to make my medal smaller than Shen's, give part of my gold medal to her."

Shen and Zhao's free skate performance was good enough to overtake the leaders after the short program, Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim² Marinin. The Russians settled for the silver medal, and Marinin believed his mistake on a triple³ toe loop jump hurt their chances to stay ahead of the ²⁾reigning world champion Chinese pairs skaters. "You know in such a kind of competition, the small mistake cost a lot," he said. "But we did all that we can, and what else can I say?"

The bronze medal went to another Russian pair, Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov. The Americans ended up with one of their worst performances in the pairs event at a world meet, with ninth, 10th and 16th-place finishes. But it is not a complete surprise, because two of the U.S. pairs were making their world meet debuts⁴.

Parke Brewer⁵ VOA news, at the city center of Washington.

1)    flawless[5flC:lis]adj.无瑕疵的, 无缺点的, 无裂缝的

2)    reigning[`reInIN]adj.统治的,占优势的, 本届的

 

1 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

2 maxim   

n.格言，箴言

参考例句：

• Please lay the maxim to your heart.请把此格言记在心里。
• "Waste not,want not" is her favourite maxim.“不浪费则不匮乏”是她喜爱的格言。

3 triple   

n.三倍之数，三个一组；adj.三倍的

参考例句：

• Twelve is the triple of four.十二是四的三倍数。
• He received triple wages for all his extra work.由于额外的工作他领取了三倍的工资。

4 debuts   

演员首次演出( debut的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He never really debuts the idea of taking money from his parents any longer. 他从此就再也没有认真起过向父母要钱的念头。
• This young soprano debuts next month at the metropolitan opera. 这位年轻的女高音歌唱家下个月将在纽约大都会歌剧院举行首演。

5 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。