2007年VOA标准英语-Men's 1500m, Women's 400m Highlight Action at O

By David Byrd
Osaka
29 August 2007

The men's 1,500 meters title is one of five gold medals up for grabs¹ Wednesday at the World Athletics² Championships in Osaka, Japan. VOA's David Byrd is there and has this preview of the action.

Bernard Lagat, of the United States, is running in his first world championship since becoming an American citizen. The Kenyan-born Lagat, a two-time Olympic medalist, has the second-fastest time ever in the event (3:26.34). However, he did not compete in 2005 in Helsinki because of his citizenship³ change.

The women's 100-meters hurdles⁴ title will feature three Americans - defending champion Michelle Perry, U.S. national champion Ginny Powell and Lolo Jones. After the semifinal, Jones said the race will come down to technique.

"Did you see how tight that semifinal was? Put us all in the mix, basically⁵ it is going to whoever does not make a mistake wins," she said. "It is going to be like the women's 100 [meters] last night [Monday]."

Jamaica's Aleen Bailey, left, and USA's Sanya Richards congratulate each other as Poland's Ewelina Klocek catches her breath after competing in a heat of the Women's 200m race at the World Athletics Championships, 29 Aug 2007

Ana Guevara of Mexico looks to win another world title, in the women's 400-meters. Guevara says the absence of American Sanya Richards, who failed to qualify⁶ for the event, leaves the race wide open.

"Without Sanya Richards in the finals, she keeps the coin in the air," said Geuvara. "So the coin is still in the air, so we will see what happens in the finals -- which side of the coin touches the track.

Also Wednesday, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Stefan Holm of Sweden defends his title in the men's high jump. German Franka Dietzsch goes for her third world championship in the women's discus.

1 grabs   

n.试图抓取，有意抢夺( grab的名词复数 )v.抢先，抢占( grab的第三人称单数 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• The job is up for grabs.Why don't you apply now? 那工作谁都可以争取，你怎么不现在就申请呢？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She grabs a stack of baby photos and thrusts them into my hands. 她抓起一沓婴儿照片塞到我手里。 来自辞典例句

2 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。

3 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

4 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

5 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。

6 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。