VOA标准英语2008年-African Athletics Championships Draws Star-Stud

By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
01 May 2008

The African Athletics¹ Championships are underway in Addis Ababa, featuring some of the continent's premier² track and field stars. From the site of the competition, VOA's Peter Heinlein reports many athletes are using this venue³ as a tune-up for the Beijing Olympics.

The main stadium in Addis Ababa is packed with a highly partisan⁴ crowd for what is billed as Ethiopia's biggest-ever sports competition.

The first day's hoped-for highlight failed to materialize when reigning⁵ Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele did not appear for the 10,000-meter race. He said he had not fully⁶ recovered from his recent victory in the world cross-country championships in Scotland.

But Ethiopian runners dominated the event, finishing one-two-three.

Olympic hopeful Gebregziabher Gebremarian took gold with a time of 28 minutes, 17 seconds.

Afterward⁷, he told VOA he was slowed by the high humidity at race time, which pushed his pace-setting final lap time above the 60 second mark.

"I am very tired. Because 13 laps in the front, it is very heavy for me. So due to this, in the last finishing line it is heavy, a little heavy for me," he said.

Gebregziabher said even though his time was slower than he expected, he hopes it will get him a ticket to the Beijing Olympics.

"I am very very proud, and I like it, because I'm starting from this country and I run for this country," he said.

Not all of the hoped-for matchups at the championships materialized. Several top Kenyan runners are not competing. A Kenyan coach said they are training for an upcoming Grand Prix competition.

World marathon record-holder Haile Gebreselassie was not named to the Ethiopian team for the event, and his participation⁸ at Beijing is still a question mark.

But for many Olympic hopefuls, these African championships are their chance to show they can compete at the international level. Sprinter⁹ Moussa Sisoku, 23, of Bamako, Mali says his goal is simply to make it to the finals of the 200-meter dash.

"My objective is the finals. And why not? It is my first big competition. It is very important for me to do well here, that helps me to have so much experience," he said.

The president of Mali's athletics federation¹⁰, Idrissa Ba, is excited by the participation of 800 athletes from 42 African nations. He says this is an opportunity to show that Africa is more than just the continent of wars and famines that the rest of the world often sees.

"Each time I watch TV or radio I see bad war in Africa, famine in Africa, not food in Africa. Here is the best face for Africa, this is Africa is able to show another face. The face of unity¹¹, the face of friendship, the face for good competition, good sportsman. OK," he said.

The competition runs through Sunday, with East-African runners expected to dominate the long-distance events, and Nigeria showing its muscle in the short-distance races.

1 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。

2 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

3 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

4 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

5 reigning   

adj.统治的，起支配作用的

参考例句：

• The sky was dark, stars were twinkling high above, night was reigning, and everything was sunk in silken silence. 天很黑，星很繁，夜阑人静。
• Led by Huang Chao, they brought down the reigning house after 300 years' rule. 在黄巢的带领下，他们推翻了统治了三百年的王朝。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

8 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

9 sprinter   

n.短跑运动员，短距离全速奔跑者

参考例句：

• He is more a sprinter than a swimmer. 他是短跑健将，而不是游泳选手。 来自辞典例句
• The sprinter himself thinks he can run the race at 9.4 seconds. 这位短跑运动员自认为可以用9.4秒跑完比赛。 来自互联网

10 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

11 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。