万花筒 2008-10-01&10-02 世界最小侏儒遇到第一长腿

A record-breaking pair met London’s Trafalgar Square, each a legend in their own right. At just under 2 feet 6 inches He Pingping, is the world’s smallest man. Pingping barely¹ reaches the knees of Svetlana Pankratova . He shouldn’t feel too bad, though. Because she holds the world record for the longest legs in a woman, they measure almost four feet four inches.

 

“Well, actually it’s great for me to realize I’m the queen of the longest legs. I'm, you know, like the longest on the planet, it just feels good, ok, actually I'm proud of it.”

 

The two are brought together to celebrate the 2009 edition of the Guinness World Records Book. Pingping, a 20-year-old from Mongolia, has a condition called primordial² dwarfism. He runs a restaurant back home.

 

He’s not afraid of anything.

 

The six-foot-four Pankratova hails³ from Russia, Guinness officials say they don’t want to make the book a freak show.    

 

We will be very careful and want to make sure that we are celebrating their differences. That's a positive thing, and not just to find a point to look and stare and laugh. And in our book, I hope the combination of interesting indivi(duals)  shows you that it's an educational thing.

 

The 2009 edition goes on sale Wednesday

 

Matt Friedman, the Associated Press.

 

1 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

2 primordial   

adj.原始的；最初的

参考例句：

• It is the primordial force that propels us forward.它是推动我们前进的原始动力。
• The Neanderthal Man is one of our primordial ancestors.的尼安德特人是我们的原始祖先之一.

3 hails   

下雹子( hail的第三人称单数 )； 如冰雹般地降下； 致敬； 打招呼

参考例句：

• Sometimes it hails during a summer thundershower. 有时候夏天的雷阵雨中会夹有冰雹。
• He hails from an affluent background. 他出身于一个富有的家庭。