VOA标准英语2008年-Paralympic Games End in Beijing

Wednesday is the last day for the Beijing Paralympics - an international sporting event showcasing the abilities of handicapped people. As the athletes prepare to pack up and return to their home countries, will there be a lasting¹ legacy² for China, which has 83 million disabled people scattered³ around the country? Stephanie Ho reports from Beijing.
　
France's Francois Laurent, right, and his coach, Didier Baras, celebrate his gold medal win after final for men's individual Sabre category B, 17 Sep 2008

At his final Beijing 2008 Paralympics news conference Wednesday, International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven called the games "very special."

He said the 11 days of handicapped sporting excellence⁴ helped inspire and excite the world.

"There is another word that we could put before 'inspire' and 'excite,' and that's 'surprise,' " Craven said. "Normally, spectators are first of all surprised by what they see. Then, they're inspired and also excited."

Host country China easily topped the medal count, with 88 gold medals and 208, altogether. This is more than double the number of medals second place finisher Britain took home - 42 gold and 102 medals overall.

The United States was in third place, with 36 golds and 99 total medals.

The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee's Wang Wei said the Paralympics will leave a "huge and far-reaching" legacy in China, mostly of greater goodwill⁵ towards handicapped people.

"Not only [in] the Chinese government, at all levels, but people in general, are beginning to feel more about people with disability," Wang said. "That awareness⁶ will become a concrete measure for the whole society to respect, to care, for people with disabilities."

Wang calls the Paralympics a milestone⁷ in raising awareness for disabled people in China, where the handicapped remain largely segregated⁸ in special schools and have little access to jobs and financial support.

In a recent talk with reporters in Beijing, blind Paralympic gold medalist Ping Yali says she remembers life as a disabled person was hard. She won China's first-ever Paralympic gold medal, in 1984.

Ping says, although she was a big star at the time, she would come home at night and have nothing to eat or drink and would think about committing suicide.

Her life is much better, now that she has found a livelihood⁹. She runs a chain of massage¹⁰ parlors¹¹ that employ blind people to work as masseurs.

Meanwhile, China continues to make improvements to help disabled people. In June, Beijing ratified¹² the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

One month later, a Chinese law on protecting disabled people went into effect. It calls for an ambitious plan to allow all handicapped Chinese citizens to have access to rehabilitation¹³ services by 2015.

 

1 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

2 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

3 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

4 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

5 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

6 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

7 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

8 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

9 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

10 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

11 parlors   

客厅( parlor的名词复数 )； 起居室； （旅馆中的）休息室； （通常用来构成合成词）店

参考例句：

• It had been a firm specializing in funeral parlors and parking lots. 它曾经是一个专门经营殡仪馆和停车场的公司。
• I walked, my eyes focused into the endless succession of barbershops, beauty parlors, confectioneries. 我走着，眼睛注视着那看不到头的、鳞次栉比的理发店、美容院、糖果店。

12 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

13 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。