英语听力精选进阶版 6108（在线收听）

The World Snooker Championship 世界斯诺克冠军赛

Snooker is a big sport in China. Sources suggest there are 300 million snooker players there, which is more than the rest of the world put together.

So it's no surprise that some of the world's best players come from China. They have been showing off their talent at the World Snooker Championship, which takes place every year here in the UK at the Crucible Theatre in the northern English city of Sheffield.

The World Snooker Championship is the most important event in professional snooker in terms of prize money, prestige and world ranking points.

This year four of the contenders for World Snooker Champion were Chinese – Marco Fu, Liu Chuang, Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo. Liu Chuang and Liang Wenbo are making their debut in Sheffield this year, in fact.

However, only one of those players, Liang Wenbo, has made it to the final eight. Wenbo is currently officially ranked 53 in the world. His best performance to date was when he reached the last 32 in the 2006 Welsh Open, so to get through to the final eight in the World Championship is quite an achievement. He may go even further.

The left-handed snooker pro comes from Heilongjiang and it is hoped he will follow the success of fellow countryman Ding Junhui.

Wenbo is the first Chinese player to ever reach the quarter finals of the Championship and he just sneaked through after an extremely tough second round game against Northern Ireland's Joe Swail.

After a long and enthralling battle, Wenbo finally won 13-12 and he now faces twice World Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. This promises to be another difficult game for the Chinese rising star as O'Sullivan reached the last eight with an amazing maximum break of 147.

O'Sullivan would have picked up ￡157,000 (more than 2 million RMB) prize money but another player, England's Ali Carter, has now matched his achievement in the same tournament. O'Sullivan will have to share the money with Carter, and indeed with anyone else who gets a maximum break before the end of the championship.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

more than the rest of the world put together 比世界其它所有加起来都要多

showing off 显耀

in terms of 以…而论

prestige 威望

world ranking points 国际得分等级

contenders 竞争者

making their debut 他们的首次登场

made it to the final eight 进入了决赛最后八强

ranked 排名

to date 至今

pro 专业选手

fellow countryman 相同国家的人

quarter finals 四分之一决赛

sneaked 悄悄地做到了

round （比赛）轮次

enthralling 紧扣人心的

rising star 崛起之星

maximum break 单杆147分的分