2006年VOA标准英语-Chinese Freestyle Aerialist Makes History

By Steve Schy
Turin
24 February 2006

Han Xiaopeng has made history by becoming the first Chinese skier¹ to win an Olympic gold medal. Han's shock victory came in the men's freestyle aerials event Thursday night at Sauze d'Oulx, Italy.

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Dimitri Dashinski (left) Xiaopeng Han and Vladimir Lebedev
  

Han went into his first-ever aerials final without ever having won a World Cup title. But that did not stop him from surprising everyone by taking the gold medal ahead of Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus and Russia's Vladimir Lebedev.

The freestyle aerial event is a high-energy competition that is punctuated² by the heavy beat of loud rock music. Skiers come down a steep, snow-cover ramp³ and go over the so-called kicker, which launches them high into the air. Once airborne, they twist, spin and somersault before coming down for their landing.

The movements they make in the air are very similar to what you might see from top divers⁴.

The 12 finalists each made two jumps Thursday night, with Han in second place after the first. But his second leap, known as a back-lay-double-full-full, gave him a total of 250.77 points. Han, 22, who also became the youngest gold medalist in men's aerials, was not surprised that someone from China could win the event.

"The freestyle, especially the aerial, is very fit for Chinese, because we are very good at gymnastics and diving. [And he thinks], the Chinese can do it!," he said.

Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus was the leader after the first round of jumps. But he made a small error on his second jump. He ended up with the silver medal, Belarus' first at these Games, just over two points (248.68) behind Han. Even though he was somewhat disappointed not to win the gold, Dashinski said he enjoys the growing trend of competing at night.

"I like it a lot more than the day because I can see the landing a lot better. I think the conditions are not too windy, not snowing at night. I don't know - more stable. Plus this season we are having more and more competitions at night. I think it is more like a show. Good for the people who are watching it," he said.

Russia's Vladimir Lebedev, who failed to qualify for the finals at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, took the bronze, less than two points behind Dashinski.

Unlike other skiing disciplines, which are usually dominated by European athletes, freestyle aerialists cover a wider range. The 12 finalists Thursday night came from seven different countries.

Olga Ivanova of Moscow, who is a huge sports fan and attends as many major events as she can, thinks she knows why. "I think it can be done pretty much in every country. People in this sport come from different sports beforehand, diving or like acrobatics⁵ or whatever. So they can do practice just about everywhere," she said.

American Jeret Speedy Peterson was disappointed he did not place higher. Third after the first jump, he executed the Hurricane, which includes an unprecedented⁶ three flips⁷ and five twists, on his second leap. But he failed to land cleanly and ended up seventh.

1 skier   

n.滑雪运动员

参考例句：

• She is a skier who is unafraid of danger.她是一名敢于冒险的滑雪者。
• The skier skimmed across the snow.滑雪者飞快地滑过雪地。

2 punctuated   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

• Her speech was punctuated by bursts of applause. 她的讲演不时被阵阵掌声打断。
• The audience punctuated his speech by outbursts of applause. 听众不时以阵阵掌声打断他的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

4 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

5 acrobatics   

n.杂技

参考例句：

• Acrobatics is hard to learn but beautiful to watch.杂技不好学，但很好看。
• We watched a performance which included a puppet show and acrobatics.我们观看了一场演出，内容有木偶和杂技。

6 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

7 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。