VOA标准英语2012--London Olympic Park Gets Major Test

London Olympic Park Gets Major Test

London’s Olympic Park got its first major test last week when nearly 150,000 fans came out to see competitions in several sports. They were part of the final stages of preparations for the Games, now fewer than 80 days away.

The Olympic Stadium was opened with a flight of balloons, flashes of light and the cheers of its first large crowd.

Crowds of enthusiastic sports fans streamed into the park for a series of events in the stadium and other venues¹. They were treated to top level competition in several sports, ranging from water polo to field hockey.

But even as the events were going on, workers continued to put the finishing touches on the main stadium and other buildings in the Olympic Park.

One worker from Romania, who identified himself only as Vlad, says working on the Olympic Stadium is different from any other construction job he has had.

“The feeling is different. I don’t know. It’s something which I can’t explain. The feeling is great, especially now before the test event. Everyone is training. It can be like a one-time opportunity, once in a lifetime,” he said.

In a few months, athletes from Vlad’s home country and from all over the world will be competing in the stadium, but for this “test” event there were only British university athletes. 

Still, some hope to make the Olympic team, including runner David Bishop². "That was the whole reason why I came. I just wanted to get a feel of what it was like to run in here (to) give me the help and motivation for a couple more months to push on so I can get my time down and nail this trial," Bishop said.

For the London Organizing Committee Chairman and four-time British Olympic medalist Sebastian Coe, the “test” events were a chance to mingle³ with young athletes and to show off the fruits of seven years of work.

“We’re making sure that no stone is left unturned. And that testing is across everything from security, through to our venues, tickets, spectator flows, mobility⁴, our ability to test some of our Park-wide operations, workforce⁵, logistics, pretty important. So a big moment for us,” Coe said.

Saturday’s friendly competition and celebrations were marred⁶ somewhat on Sunday, when a tabloid⁷ newspaper revealed it had helped a construction worker smuggle⁸ a fake bomb into the Olympic Park. That provided evidence there is still work to be done, as officials hope to keep the focus during the Games on images like a military wives choir⁹, which helped get the stadium’s opening ceremony going. 

1 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

2 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

3 mingle   

vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往

参考例句：

• If we mingle with the crowd,we should not be noticed.如果我们混在人群中，就不会被注意到。
• Oil will not mingle with water.油和水不相融。

4 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

5 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

6 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

7 tabloid   

adj.轰动性的，庸俗的；n.小报，文摘

参考例句：

• He launched into a verbal assault on tabloid journalism.他口头对小报新闻进行了抨击。
• He believes that the tabloid press has behaved disgracefully.他认为小报媒体的行为不太光彩。

8 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

9 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。