英闻天下——511 China's Ma Qinghua Returns to F1 Action

 　　A significant focus at this year's F1 event in Shanghai is being directed at Chinese driver Ma Qinghua, the first-ever Chinese-born driver on the F1 circuit.

 

　　Ma completed his home debut¹ at the bottom of the first practice session this afternoon.

 

　　CRI's Chen Xi has more.

 

　　Ma Qinghua returns to the formula one action this Friday after taking part in a practice session with Formula One team Caterham.

 

　　But things haven't been easy for the 25-year-old over the past few months.

 

　　Ma became Caterham's back-up driver only after his previous team, Spanish-based HRT was disbanded late last year.

 

　　"My career will not stop with any team change. I will continue my career, whatever is the team I will be driving for."

 

　　Ma has admitted that seeing his first F1 team fail was a setback², but he is now focused on building on his previous experience with Caterham.

 

　　"This year we've been signed with Caterham and they gave me a lot of help, they gave me a good opportunity to do testing, to be racing³ GP2, and also there are a couple of chances to race in the Friday practice one."

 

　　Today's session will be Ma's fifth practice outing.

 

　　Last year, he was driving for the now-defunct HRT team in Italy, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and USA.

 

　　Ma is obviously excited to follow these up with his debut in Shanghai, which now sits firmly on the F1 map since 2004.

 

　　But just as the significance of the occasion suggests, it also telling of how far China still has to go before the country has its drivers off the starting grid⁴.

 

　　"The motor sport is still a new sport in China. 15 years, around 15 years as the motor sport being developing in China. The people still don't really understand the sport, especially the Formula One."

 

　　Although Ma is relatively⁵ old to be starting out a career in F1, he believes China's F1 is young and promising⁶, as younger Chinese drivers in the wings await their chances.

 

　　"We are growing up very fast. In this (past) ten years, we saw a huge change from zero to now we have formula one we have a lot of international racing in China. And we have been building a lot of our local championships as in the go-cart, in the formula, in the touring car. So it's already been developing a lot of things in a short time."

 

　　Ma's confidence may not be just good wishes.

 

　　As another Shanghai native, former Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming has shown, the world's biggest marketplace is no alien land to booming sports industries.

 

　　The key is to finding the right way to unlock it.

 

　　For CRI, this is Chen Xi.

1 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

2 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

3 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

4 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。