英语博客：Time for track.

　　“The track meet will be postponed² until tomorrow,” said a recorded message on the phone, for the second time. The end of the school year is the time for track and field events for all elementary schools. Recently, however, the weather has not been cooperating. Though my flowers have loved the heavy showers, the organizers of this sport have not. Parents of all the contestants³ have been looking at the sky from about lunchtime onwards, to see if the clouds are moving in. There must be hundreds of phone calls needed to inform everyone about a cancellation⁴. It is a time when, hopefully, everyone involved gets the message. Especially those people who live out of town. Well, today I’m looking in the sky, and I only see a few clouds, so I assume that the event will take place. My son Cass will be sprinting⁵ and doing the long jump. He is long and thin, so he is pretty good at that. The administrators⁶ have told me that they keep an eye out for good runners during the year, and then they ask them to represent the school in the Spring. The track and field takes place on the Wenatchee High School grounds, because they have the right facilities. Each elementary school wears a different colored t-shirt, so the crowd knows who is who. It is a big, colorful mix of children of different ages, most of whom have long, insect-like legs. There are teachers and volunteers waving their hands around and yelling instructions, so kids know where they need to be. Names are called from lists, and the students line up at the ready. Parents and friends come to cheer them on. We will all go and watch, take a picnic of some kind, and I will look for photo opportunities. The other events include the eight hundred meter relay, the four hundred meter, the two hundred and the one hundred meter dash. And, as far as practices, there haven’t really been any. How do you train a child to run fast? Most of them just do. All of that goofing⁷ around in the back yard playing tag will pay off today.
Grammar notes.
Related vocabulary: to postpone¹, to cancel, at the ready, a relay.
1. The soccer match has been postponed because of rain.
2. The concert has been cancelled because the musicians have the flu.
3. The runners are at the ready. As soon as the gun goes off, they will start running.
4. The runners pass a baton⁸ to each other in the relay.

1 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

2 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

3 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

5 sprinting   

v.短距离疾跑( sprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Stride length and frequency are the most important elements of sprinting. 步长和步频是短跑最重要的因素。 来自互联网
• Xiaoming won the gold medal for sprinting in the school sports meeting. 小明在学校运动会上夺得了短跑金牌。 来自互联网

6 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

7 goofing   

v.弄糟( goof的现在分词 )；混；打发时间；出大错

参考例句：

• He should have been studying instead of goofing around last night. 他昨晚应该念书，不应该混。 来自走遍美国快乐40招
• Why don't you just admit you're goofing off? 偷了懒就偷了赖，还不爽爽快快承认？ 来自辞典例句

8 baton   

n.乐队用指挥杖

参考例句：

• With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
• The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒，乐队开始演奏起来。