英语听力精选进阶版 6106（在线收听）

A Variety of Athletic Runners and Fundraisers 众多运动员和基金筹集人员

The London Marathon is an annual event and of the thousands of runners who take part, many of them have a story to tell as to why they are running the 26.2 mile (42.2 km) course around London.

This year the pressure was on for many of the athletes in the elite race. With the Beijing Olympics just around the corner, they wanted to ensure their places as Olympic marathon hopefuls for their countries. If they perform well in the marathon, they have a very good chance of being in the Olympic marathon event and doing well in it.

The men's race was won by Kenyan, Martin Lel, who finished the race in just two hours and five minutes, a personal best time for him. Irina Mikitenko was the winner of the women's race and this was astonishingly only her second race at marathon distance!

There was also a group of 24 runners who have competed in every single one of the 28 London marathons. Jeff Aston is one of them and at 60 years old, he finished in just over three and a half hours.

A lot of the non-competitive runners take part in the marathon to raise money for charity. Jeff estimates he has raised about ￡25,000 (350,000 RMB) over the 28 years he has been running.

Jane Tomlinson is a well-known name in the UK. She raised millions for charity doing long cycle rides, marathons and triathlons whilst battling terminal cancer, a battle she sadly lost last year.

As a tribute to Jane, her husband and daughter took part in the marathon. They managed to raise ￡20,000 (280,000 RMB) for a charity set up in Jane's name.

Another astonishing feat was blind runner Dave Heeley completing the marathon. As if that wasn't enough, this was his seventh marathon in seven days, as he took part in a special challenge which took him to seven countries.

Well done to all the inspirational runners on the challenges they met and the money they raised.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

annual 年度的，每年一次的

course 路线

athletes 运动员

the elite race 精英赛

just around the corner 近在眼前，很近

to ensure 确保

hopefuls 种子选手

personal best 个人最好成绩

astonishingly 令人惊讶的

non-competitive 非竞争的 （不是为了赢比赛）

to raise money 募捐

charity 慈善机构

estimates 估计

triathlons 三项全能运动

battling terminal cancer 和晚期癌症做斗争

a tribute （表示敬意的）礼物

set up in Jane's name 以简 (Jane) 命名的

feat 壮举

blind 盲人，失明的

inspirational 鼓舞或激励人的