新西兰英语 361 World Rowing ends today

　　The World Rowing Championships finished today after 10 very successful days. It was windy on two days but mostly the weather was good and today it was perfect. A large number of spectators¹ attended. Today, 15,243 spectators came to see the finals and the total for the whole 10 days was 66,771 which is a record for world rowing championships in any country. FISA, which is the international organisation², was very pleased with the whole event.
Great Britain finished with the most medals: 5 gold medals, 5 silver and 1 bronze. Germany was second with 5 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze. New Zealand was third with 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze.
While some countries which are new to rowing did not win any medals it was a chance for them to compete in a world event. New Zealand supplied boats for many of these countries because it was too expensive for them to bring their own boats.
In the adaptive events, there were races for physically³ disabled athletes and for intellectually disabled athletes. The normal course of 2,000m was shortened⁴ to 1,000m for the adaptive events. They started halfway⁵ down the course so they could finish in front of the main spectators’ stand.
The championships finished when four Maori waka, (boats), with 40 men in each waka, paddled across the lake. They then performed a haka to mark the end of the world rowing championships in New Zealand. It was a very impressive performance.
The organisers of the championships had the help of 600 volunteers. They can all feel proud of the great success of their efforts.
Questions
1. More than 800 people applied⁶ to be a volunteer but not all were chosen. Why do you think so many people wanted to volunteer? What kind of jobs did they do?
2. In our society, many people do volunteer work. What kind of volunteer work do they do? Do you know any volunteers?

1 spectators   

n.观众，旁观者( spectator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The spectators were wilting visibly in the hot sun. 看得出观众在炎热的阳光下快支撑不住了。
• The policemen asked the spectators to stand well back. 警察要求旁观者靠后站。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

3 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

4 shortened   

v.弄短，缩短( shorten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shortened the skirt by an inch. 她把裙子缩短了一英寸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Vacations have lengthened and the work week has shortened. 假期延长，工作周就缩短了。 来自辞典例句

5 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

6 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。