VOA慢速英语2018 全美拼字比赛落幕 14岁男孩夺冠

US National Spelling Bee Has a Surprise Winner

Fourteen-year-old Karthik Nemmani of Texas won the Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night. His victory was a surprise – even to him.

周四晚，德克萨斯州14岁的卡西克(Karthik Nemmani)赢得了全美拼字比赛。他的胜利让人意想不到——就连他自己也没想到。

“I didn’t really think I’d be able to do it,” he said softly¹. “I had confidence that I could, but I honestly didn’t realistically think it could happen.”

我真的觉得自己无缘冠军，他轻声说。我不是没有信心，但说实话，我没想过这件事真的会发生。

The competition took place in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

这次比赛在马里兰州的奥克森山上举办。

Many people had expected another student, Naysa Modi, to win. She had competed and done well in four other national spelling bees. In fact, she had beaten Nemmani earlier this year at a spelling event in Texas. But at the national championship, Modi misspelled “Bewusstseinslage,” a word from the German language.

很多人都看好另一位学生，她叫莫迪。莫迪在另外四场国家级拼字比赛中取得了不错的成绩。实际上，今年年初，在德克萨斯州举行的一个拼字比赛上，莫迪还打败了卡西克。但在本次的国家级锦标赛上，莫迪拼错了Bewusstseinslage这个单词(意识、状态)，这个词来源于德语。

So Nemmani had the final chance to win. He did – by correctly spelling the word “koinonia.”

正因如此，卡西克才有最后的机会得胜。他借助这个机会得胜——最终拼对了单词koinonia(联合作用)。

The two competitors did not appear to have any hard feelings, however. “We weren’t against each other. We were against the dictionary,” Nemmani said.

不过，这两位参赛选手并没有厌恶彼此的情绪。我们不跟对方较劲，只跟字典较劲，卡西克如是说道。

By winning, he will take home more than $42,000 worth of prizes.

赢了这次比赛之后，卡西克带回家的奖金就超过4.2万美元了。

And Modi, who is only 12, will have one more chance to win the national championship next year. After she finishes the 8th grade, she will be too old to complete.

而年仅12岁的莫迪明年还将有一次机会赢得全国锦标赛冠军。但是读完8年级之后，她的年龄就不够参赛资格了。

An unusual year

In addition to the surprise winner, the 2018 National Spelling Bee was unusual in other ways, too. It was the biggest in the 93-year history of the spelling bee. More than 500 children, ages 8 to 15, participated. That is over 200 more than in any other year.

除了这两个让人意想不到的赢家之外，2018年的全美拼字比赛在其他一些方面也尽显与众不同。这次比赛是93年历程里规模最大的一次。有500多名8-15岁的儿童参加了比赛。比任何一年都多了200多人。

For the first time, the national bee also included new ways for participants to qualify². Most, like second-place winner Naysa Modi, earned their positions by winning several smaller competitions. As a result, Modi’s region³ paid for her transportation to and from Oxon Hill, hotel and other costs.

But first-place winner Karthik Nemmani, used a new “wild card” program and paid his own way.

The wild card program enables⁴ students who did not win their region to participate at the national spelling bee. The program is designed to include more of the country’s best spellers in the national event, especially if they come from a competitive⁵ region.

Modi, Nemmani, and the third-place winner, Abhijay Kodali, are from such an area. They all live near Dallas, Texas, a place where many national spelling bee finalists and winners come from. Nemmani’s family even moved there so he could go to a school that takes part in the program.

Nemmani’s victory also shows the power of a new industry of spelling coaches. Nemmani thanked his, a former competitor who is only 16 years old herself.

But there is at least one way in which Nemmani is not unusual. He is the 14th spelling bee champion from an Indian family in each of the past 14 years.

Words in This Story

spelling bee - n. a contest in which contestants⁶ spell words aloud and are removed from the contest when they spell a word wrong

confidence - n. a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something

dictionary - n. a reference⁷ book that contains words listed in alphabetical⁸ order

participate - v. to be involved with others in doing something : to take part in an activity or event with others

qualify - v. to have the right to do, have, or be a part of something

region - n. a part of a country

wild card - n. a player or team chosen to fill a place in a competition after the regularly qualified⁹ players or teams have all been decided¹⁰

coach - n. a person who teaches and trains an athlete or performer

1 softly   

adv.柔和地，静静地，温柔地

参考例句：

• He speaks too softly for her to hear.他讲话声音太轻，她听不见。
• She breathed her advice softly.她低声劝告。

2 qualify   

vt.取得资格，有资格，限定，描述；vi.取得资格，有资格

参考例句：

• I won't qualify until next year.我明年才具备资格。
• You must qualify yourself for the post.你必须使自己具备担任这一工作的资格。

3 region   

n.地区，地带，区域；范围，幅度

参考例句：

• The students went to study the geology of that region.学生们去研究那个地区的地质情况。
• It is unusual to see snow in this region.这个地区难得见到雪。

4 enables   

v.使能够，提供做…的权利[措施]( enable的第三人称单数 )；使可能

参考例句：

• The software enables you to access the Internet in seconds. 这种软件使你在几秒钟内便可访问互联网。
• This pass enables me to travel half-price on trains. 我用这张通行证可以半价乘火车。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 competitive   

adj.竞争的，比赛的，好竞争的，有竞争力的

参考例句：

• Some kinds of business are competitive.有些商业是要竞争的。
• These businessmen are both competitive and honourable.这些商人既有竞争性又很诚实。

6 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》

7 reference   

n.提到，说到，暗示，查看，查阅

参考例句：

• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。
• I like to have my reference books within my reach.我喜欢把参考书放到伸手可取的地方。

8 alphabetical   

adj.字母（表）的，依字母顺序的

参考例句：

• Please arrange these books in alphabetical order.请把这些书按字母顺序整理一下。
• There is no need to maintain a strict alphabetical sequence.不必保持严格的字顺。

9 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。