愛薇塔樂學英文

TOEFL托福課外閱讀：16歲小將驚豔倫敦

　　Chinese star, 16, breaks 400m IM world record

　　Ye, 16, set a new world best of four minutes 28.43 seconds, ahead of American world champion Elizabeth Beisel and fellow Chinese Li Xuanxu.

　　The 16-year-old overwhelmed American world champion Elizabeth Beisel to win the final in four minutes 28.43 seconds to cap a glittering night for China in the pool following Sun Yang's breakthrough victory in the men's 400m freestyle.

　　Ye put in a storming final freestyle leg to shatter the previous record of 4:29.45, set by Australian Stephanie Rice en route to gold at the Beijing Games four years ago.

　　So supercharged was Ye's finish that she stormed under the world record on the back of a 28.93sec final lap to leave her rivals in her wake.

　　"I thought at the 200 metres that the race was lost," Ye said. "But then on the breaststroke I realised I was in the top two or three and I was confident I could win on the last leg.

　　"I've been working on my butterfly and backstroke since last year's world championships and have closed the gap, while freestyle is my best stroke. I dreamed of winning the gold medal, but I never ever expected to break a world record, I'm overwhelmed."

　　譯文：

　　倫敦奧運首日中國16歲小將葉詩文在女子400米個人混合泳決賽中獲得金牌，並破世界紀錄。

　　比賽開始時，葉詩文在100米蝶泳結束後仍排在第五位。但她保持節奏，加快了前進速度，在250米結束後上升到第三位。300米結束後，葉詩文以自由泳不斷加速，在350米左右開始領先。最後50米她率先轉身，和第二名拉開一個身位的距離。觀看這場比賽的世界泳壇宿將索普對BBC評論說，他看到葉詩文最後的自由泳衝刺時，就感到她可能將打破世界紀錄。最終葉詩文以4分28秒43創造了新的世界紀錄，拿下中國隊倫敦奧運會上第四枚金牌。在這個項目中，美國選手貝塞爾4分31秒27獲得了銀牌，另一位中國選手李玄旭以4分32秒91獲得了銅牌。