Chinese athletes return from London

 BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Olympic delegation¹ of the Chinese mainland returned to Beijing on Tuesday after clinching² 38 gold medals in the London Games.

State Councilor Liu Yandong welcomed the returning delegation at the Beijing Capital International Airport.

On behalf of the State Council and the Central Committee of the Community Party of China (CPC), Liu congratulated the athletes, coaches and accompanying staff and lavished³ praise on the sport delegation for their excellent performances as well as the elevated sport spirit demonstrated during the London Olympics.

The athletes achieved their best Olympic results off their home turf, winning honors for the motherland and the people and impressing the world with their strong Olympic spirit and traditional Chinese sports virtue⁴, said Liu.

Liu said the results are a precious gift presented for the upcoming 18th CPC National Congress.

Liu also encouraged sports personnel to sum up and learn from past experiences so as to constantly enhance the level of competition.

The sports delegation from the Chinese mainland took 38 gold medals, 27 silver medals and 23 bronze medals in the London 2012 Olympic Games -- a medal count second only to the United States.

1 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

2 clinching   

v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的现在分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）

参考例句：

• Joe gets clinching evidence of the brains role when he dreams. 乔做梦时得到了大脑发生作用的决定性依据。 来自辞典例句
• Clinching, wrestling, pushing, or seizing, without attempting a throw or other technique. 抱，扭摔，推或抓而没有摔或其它的技术。 来自互联网

3 lavished   

v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I lavished all the warmth of my pent-up passion. 我把憋在心里那一股热烈的情感尽量地倾吐出来。 来自辞典例句
• An enormous amount of attention has been lavished on these problems. 在这些问题上，我们已经花费了大量的注意力。 来自辞典例句

4 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。