Zhang wins China's first ever men's gold at swimming world

ROME, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Lin improved Grant¹ Hackett's four-year-old 800 meters freestyle world record by more than six seconds and won China's first ever men's gold at the world swimming championships.

Zhang powered home in seven minutes, 32.12 seconds on Wednesday to break Hackett's record of 7:38.65.

Tunisia's Ous Mellouli, overtaken² by Zhang at 200m mark, picked up the silver in 7:35.27 and Canadian Ryan Cochrane was third in 7:41.92.

American Michael Phelps responded to a stunning³ loss on Tuesday with a world record Wednesday.

Phelps, beaten by Germany's Paul Biedermann in the 200m freestyle final, set a world record in the 200m butterfly with a time of one minute, 51.51 seconds, shaving more than a half second off his previous mark of 1:52.03.

South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh broke the mark he set in the semifinals to win the 50m breaststroke.

Earlier, Germany's Daniela Samulski broke the women's 50m backstroke world record in the first semifinal and Russia's Anastasia Zueva bettered the minutes-old mark in the second semifinal.

Italy's Federica Pellegrini beat her own world record to win the women's 200m freestyle to complete a golden double.

The 20-year-old Olympic champion splashed⁴ away in the second half of the race to clock 1:52.98 seconds, 0.68 seconds off the previous mark she set in Tuesday's semis.

(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 grant   

vt.同意给予，授予，承认；n.拨款；补助款

参考例句：

• If you grant my request, you will earn my thanks.如果你答应我的要求，就会得到我的感谢。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

2 overtaken   

v.追上，赶上，超过( overtake的过去分词 )；（不愉快的事情）突然发生；突然降临；（在数量或重要性方面）大于

参考例句：

• Don't be overtaken by misgivings and fear. Just go full stream ahead! 不要瞻前顾后， 畏首畏尾。甩开膀子干吧！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Exports have already overtaken last year's figure. 出口量已超过了去年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

4 splashed   

v.使（液体）溅起( splash的过去式和过去分词 )；（指液体）溅落

参考例句：

• Water splashed onto the floor. 水哗的一声泼洒在地板上。
• The cowboy splashed his way across the shallow stream with his cow. 牧童牵着牛淌过浅溪。 来自《简明英汉词典》