VOA标准英语2008年-Use of High-Tech Tools Raise Ethical Concerns a

By Brian Padden
Washington
16 June 2008

In August, national teams from more than 200 nations from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe will gather in Beijing for the summer Olympics. The games promotes themselves as more than just a sporting event. The Olympic charter advocates ethics¹ and fair play. How to ensure fair play has been the topic of much debate. There is unanimous opposition² to the use of performance enhancing drugs mostly because they give athletes unfair advantage. VOA's Brian Padden reports the use of technology in training and competition is also being examined to see if it gives some athletes an unfair edge. (Part 3 of 5)

While in Cairo, Egyptian sprinter³ Amr Seoud says he trains without using any special technology. "There is no latest technology at all. I am just training. I have a track and some spiked⁴ shoes," says Seoud.

But coach Medhat Nabi points out that training methods and even the track are more modern than a generation ago. "In the past, we used to run on a sand field. There was no 'tartan' synthetic⁵ track," he says, "and timing⁶ was done manually."

Technology has long been used in sports to improve athletic⁷ performance, even if it gives the winning edge to athletes and countries that are technologically⁸ advanced.

At the U.S. Olympic training facility in Colorado Springs, gymnast Todd Thornton uses a digital video system to improve his technique.

"For the majority of my career I have trained without this system. I can tell you, our coaches can tell us all day long that we are doing something wrong, but if it feels right to us we are not going to know unless we see it," said Thornton. "It gives us that advantage to be able to see what we are doing."

Peter Vint, a sports technologist with the U.S. Olympic Committee, says individual sports federations¹⁰ determine what is a fair application of technology in both training and competition.

"For example, not an Olympic sport but certainly the PGA [Professional Golfers' Association of America] has set specific regulations on how golf balls and how golf clubs can perform. And they set very specific guidelines on what you can and cannot use in those competitions. To that extent they are trying to preserve some fundamental aspect of the purity of the game," says Vint.
　

Alain Bernard of France prepares to start the men's 50m freestyle semifinal at the European Swimming Championships in Eindhoven, wearing LZR Racer made by Speedo (File)

Decisions regarding technology in sports are sometimes complicated and controversial. The International Sports Federation⁹ approved the use of a high-tech¹¹ swimsuit called the LZR Racer made by Speedo. Researcher Deb Yeomans explains how it works.

"It reduces form drag when the swimmer is swimming. So form drag is making you as tubeless a shape as possible through the water, so it squashes things in. And two, it helps maintain the athlete's body position in the water," explained researcher Deb Yeomans.

Athletes wearing the suit have broken more than 20 world records since February. Critics have called the swimsuits Techno-doping.

And South African double-amputee Oscar Pistorius won an arbitration¹², allowing him to compete as a sprinter using a prosthetic leg with a special racing¹³ blade as a foot.

"I think this day is going to go down in history for the equality of disabled people," he said.
　

Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius trains for the Dutch Open Paralympics event in Emmeloord, Netherlands (File)

He had been barred by the International Association of Athletics¹⁴ Federations. It claimed his carbon fiber¹⁵ prosthetics would allow him to run faster without working as hard as he would on two legs.

While innovative¹⁶ technology can present new ethical¹⁷ dilemmas¹⁸, sports technologist Peter Vint says sports federations are guided by enduring principles.

"To preserve the integrity of the competition, not let it be dictated¹⁹ by one technology over another, then I think we've done justice to the sports and the athletes," he said.

Despite advances in technology, Olympic officials are confidant that in the end the competition will be decided²⁰ by the ability and determination of the athletes.

1 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 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

4 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

5 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

6 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

7 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

8 technologically   

ad.技术上地

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a technologically advanced city. 上海是中国的一个技术先进的城市。
• Many senior managers are technologically illiterate. 许多高级经理都对技术知之甚少。

9 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。

10 federations   

n.联邦( federation的名词复数 )；同盟；联盟；联合会

参考例句：

• These problems are women's special problems and special work of women's federations. 这样的问题，就是妇女的特殊问题，就是妇联的特殊工作。 来自互联网
• The Bridge Federate is a feasible solution to achieve multi-federations interconnection. 基于桥接成员实现多联邦互连是目前较为通用和可行的方法。 来自互联网

11 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

12 arbitration   

n.调停，仲裁

参考例句：

• The wage disagreement is under arbitration.工资纠纷正在仲裁中。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding.双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

13 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

14 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。

15 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

16 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

17 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

18 dilemmas   

n.左右为难( dilemma的名词复数 )；窘境，困境

参考例句：

• They dealt with their dilemmas by mixing perhaps unintentionally an explosive brew. 他们――也许是无意地――把爆炸性的佐料混合在一起，以此来应付困难处境。 来自辞典例句
• Ten years later we encountered the same dilemmas in Vietnam. 十年后，我们又在越南遇到了同样进退两难的局面。 来自辞典例句

19 dictated   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• He dictated a letter to his secretary. 他向秘书口授信稿。
• No person of a strong character likes to be dictated to. 没有一个个性强的人愿受人使唤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。