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_1.选修九Unit1 Breaking records-Reading打破记录THE ROAD IS ALWAYS AHEAD OF YOU“路永在前方”Ashrita Furman is a sportsman who likes the challenge of breaking Guinness records. 阿什里塔弗曼是一位热衷挑战并想争创吉尼斯世界纪录的运动员。Over the last 25 years, he has broken approximately 93 Guinness records. 在过去的25年中，他大约已经打破了93项吉尼斯世界纪录。 More than twenty of these he still holds, including the record for having the most records. 至今，他仍然是其中20多项纪录的保持者，还包括拥有最多的吉尼斯纪录这一项。But these records are not made in any conventional sport like swimming or soccer. Rather Ashrita attempts to break records in very imaginative events and in very interesting places. 但是这些纪录并不是像游泳或足球等一般运动项目那样创建的，而是阿什里塔试图在非常有趣的地点，在富有想象力的运动项目中打破的。Recently, Ashrita achieved his dream of breaking a record in all seven continents, including hula hooping in Australia, pogo stick jumping under water in South America, and performing deep knee bends in a hot air balloon in North America. 最近，阿什里塔完成了他的梦想：在所有的七大洲中都破一项纪录，其中包括在澳洲玩呼啦圈，在南美洲的水下做弹簧单高跷游戏，在北美洲的热气球中做膝部深弯曲运动。While these activities might seem childish and cause laughter rather than respect, in reality they require an enormous amount of strength and fitness as well as determination. 虽然这些活动看起来孩子气且令人发笑而不是让人肃然起敬，但实际上，完成这些活动需要强大的力量、健康的体格和坚定的决心。Think about the fine neck adjustments needed to keep a full bottle of milk on your head while you are walking. 想想吧，你一边走路一边还要把满满一瓶牛奶定在头上，你的脖子需要有多好的适应力。You can stop to rest or eat but the bottle has to stay on your head. 你可以停下来休息或者吃东西，但瓶子必须呆在你的头顶上。While Ashrita makes standing on top of a 75 cm Swiss ball look easy, it is not. 当阿什里塔站在高75公分的瑞士气球上时，看起来虽然很轻松容易，其实不然。It takes a lot of concentration and a great sense of balance to stay on it. 呆在球上得一直全神贯注，还需要有极强的注意力和极好的平衡感。You have to struggle to stay on top especially when your legs start shaking. 特别是在双腿开始抖动的时候，你还得使劲呆在球上。And what about somersaulting along a road for 12 miles? 然而沿着12英里的马路翻筋斗，情况又是怎样呢？ Somersaulting is a tough event as you have to overcome dizziness, extreme tiredness and pain. 翻筋斗是一项艰苦的运动，因为你必须克服头晕、极度疲劳和痛苦。 You are permitted to rest for only five minutes in every hour of rolling but you are allowed to stop briefly to vomit. 每翻滚一个小时，只允许你有五分钟的休息，不过也可以短暂地停下来呕吐。Covering a mile in the fastest time while doing gymnastically correct lunges is yet another event in which Ashrita is outstanding. 做标准的体操弓箭步动作向前，以最快的节奏走完一英里的路程是阿什里塔又一个出色的项目。 Lunges are extremely hard on your legs. 弓箭步冲刺对你的双腿是一个极端艰苦的考验。You start by standing and then you step forward with the right foot while touching the left knee to the ground. 开始时呈站立姿势，然后右脚向前迈一步，同时左膝触地。 Then you stand up again and step forward with the left foot while touching the right knee to the ground. 然后再站起来，左脚向前迈出一步，同时右脚触地。 Imagine doing this for a mile! 想想吧，这个动作要反复做一英里远!Yet this talented sportsman is not a natural athlete. 然而，这位有才能的运动员并不是天生的。As a child he was very unfit and was not at all interested in sports. 小时候他很不健康，而且对运动毫无兴趣。 However, he was fascinated by the Guinness Book of World Records. 但他却对吉尼斯世界纪录大全非常着迷。How Ashrita came to be a sportsman is an interesting story. 阿什里塔究竟是怎样成为一名运动员的呢？这是一个有趣的故事。 As a teenager, he began searching for a deeper meaning in life. 十几岁的时候他就开始探求人生的深层意义。 He studied Eastern religions and, aged 16, discovered an Indian meditation teacher called Sri Chinmoy who lived in his neighbourhood in New York City. 他研究过东方宗教，在16岁时，他发现了一位名叫斯里琴摩的印度静坐功导师，住在纽约市他家附近。Since that time in the early 1970s, Ashrita has been one of Sri Chinmoys students.自从20世纪70年代初，阿什里塔就一直是斯里琴摩的学生。Sri Chinmoy says that it is just as important for people to develop their bodies as it is to develop their minds, hearts and spiritual selves. He believes that there is no limit to peoples physical abilities. 斯里琴摩指出人们发展他们的体魄与发展他们的头脑、心灵和精神上的自我具有同等的重要性，并且他相信人的体能是没有局限的。When Ashrita came third in a 24-hour bicycle marathon in New Yorks Central Park in 1978, he knew that he would one day get into the Guinness Book of World Records. 但阿什里塔于1978年在纽约市中央公园进行24小时自行车马拉松比赛中获得第三名的时候，他就知道总有一天他会进入吉尼斯世界纪录大全。He had been urged by his spiritual leader to enter the marathon even though he had done no training. 尽管从没有训练过，他还是收到他的精神领袖的敦促参加了马拉松比赛。So, when he won third place, he came to the understanding that his body was just an instrument of the spirit and that he seemed to be able to use his spirit to accomplish anything. 因此，当他取得第三名的时候，他就开始有了这样的认识：他的身躯只不过是他的精神的工具，而且他似乎能够用他的精神力量去完成任何事。 From then on, Ashrita refused to accept any physical limitation. 从那时起，阿什里塔就拒绝接受任何身体极限的说法。With this new confidence, Asharita broke his first Guinness record with 27,000 jumping jacks in 1979. 由于有了这种新的信心，阿什里塔于1979年第一次打破吉尼斯纪录跳爆竹27000次。 The motivation to keep trying to break records comes through his devotion to Sri Chinmoy. 不断努力打破纪录的动机来自于他对斯里琴摩思想的虔诚。 Every time Ashrita tries to break a record, he reaches a point where he feels he cannot physically do any more. 每次是突破记录的时候，阿什里塔都会达到一个体力不可逾越的极限点。At that moment, he goes deep within himself and connects with his soul and his teacher. 这个时候他就会进入自己内心深处，与他的灵魂和他的老师相沟通。Ashrita always acknowledges his teacher in his record-breaking attempts. 在创纪录的努力中，阿什里塔总是要感谢他的老师。In fact, he often wears a T-shirt with Sri Chinmoys words on the back. The words are: 事实上，他常常穿着一件体恤衫，后背上有斯里琴摩的名言：There is only one perfect road. It is ahead of you, always ahead of you. “完美的道路只有一条，他就在你的前方，永远在你的前方。”2.选修九Unit 1 FOCUS ON . 集中精力于Lance Armstrong兰斯阿姆斯特朗Date of Birth: 8th September, 1971出生日期：1971年9月8日Country: USA国籍：美国Lance Armstrongs Guinness record for the fastest average speed at the Tour de France was set in 1999 with an average speed of 40.27 km/hr. 兰斯阿姆斯特朗环法自行车赛最快平均速度的吉尼斯世界纪录是他1999年以40.27公里每小时的平均速度创造的。 In his teens he was a triathlete but at 16 he began to concentrate on cycling. 在少年时期，他是一位三项全能比赛的运动员，但到16岁时，他开始集中精力于自行车运动。 He was an amateur cyclist before the 1992 Olympic Games but turned professional after he had competed in the Games. 在1992年奥运会之前他还只是一名业余车手，但是在参加奥运会比赛之后，他就成为一名专业车手了。In the following few years, he won numerous titles, and by 1996 he had become the worlds number one. 在随后的几年里，他获得了许多称号。到了1996年，他已经成为世界第一了。 However, in October 1996, he discovered he had cancer and had to leave cycling. 然而，在1996年10月，他发现自己患了癌症，不得不放弃骑车运动。 Successfully fighting his illness, Armstrong officially returned to racing in 1998. 在成功地战胜病魔之后，他于1998年正式重返赛场。In 1999 he won the Tour de France and in 2003 he achieved his goal of winning five Tours de France. 1999年他赢得了环法自行车赛的冠军。到2003年他完成了自己在环法自行车赛上五次夺冠的目标。Michellie Jones米歇尔琼斯Date of Birth: 9th June, 1969出生日期：1969年6月9日Country: Australia国籍：澳大利亚In 1988 Michellie Jones helped establish the multi-sport event, the triathlon, in Australia. 1988年，米歇尔琼斯帮助在澳大利亚创建了“多项运动”比赛三项全能运动。After completing her teaching qualifications in 1990, she concentrated on the triathlon. 1990年她取得教师资格证之后，就把精力集中在三项全能运动上。 In 1991, she finished third at the world championships. 在1991年的世界锦标赛上她得了第三名。 In 1992 and 1993, she was the International Triathlon Union World Champion. 在1992年和1993年她取得了国际铁人三项联盟的冠军。 Since then, she has never finished lower than fourth in any of the world championships she has competed in. 从那以后，在她所参加的任何一次世界锦标赛中，她从来没有得过低于第四名的成绩。 At the Sydney Olympics in 2000 she won the silver medal in the Womens Triathlon, the first time the event had been included in the Olympic Games. 在2000年的悉尼奥运会上，她又取得了女子三项全能运动的银牌。该项运动还是首次被纳入奥运会。 Recently, for the first time in 15 years, Jones was not selected as part of the national team and therefore did not compete in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. 最近，琼斯没有入选国家队，这是她15年来首次为被入选，因而她没能参加2004年的雅典奥运会。Fu Mingxia伏明霞Date of Birth: 16th August, 1978出生日期：1978年8月16日Country: China国籍：中国Fu Mingxia first stood on top of the 10-metre diving platform at the age of nine. 伏明霞首次站在10米跳台上是在她九岁的时候。At 12 years old she won a Guinness Record when she became the youngest female to win the womens world title for platform diving at the World Championships in Australia in 1991. 1991年，12岁的伏明霞就获得了一项吉尼斯纪录，当时她参加了在澳大利亚举行的跳台跳水世界锦标赛，成为最年轻的女子世界冠军。At the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, she took the gold medal in the womens 10-metre platform, becoming the youngest Olympic diving champion of all time. 在1992年的巴塞罗那奥运会上，她夺得女子十米跳台的金牌，成为有史以来最年轻的奥运会跳水冠军。 This was followed by great success at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games where she won gold for both the 10-metre platform and the three-metre springboard. 随后的巨大成功是在1996年亚特兰大奥运会上，她又夺得10米跳台和3米跳板的金牌。 This made her the first woman in Olympic diving history to win three gold medals. 这使伏明霞成为奥运会跳水史上第一位连续夺得三枚金牌的女子。 She retired from diving after Atlanta and went to study economics at university. 在亚特兰大之后，伏明霞退役，到大学里学习经济。While there she decided to make a comeback and went on to compete at the Sydney Olympic Games, where she won her fourth Olympic gold, again making Olympic history. 读书期间，她决定复出参加悉尼奥运会，结果她又获得了自己的第四枚奥运会金牌，再次改写了奥运会历史。Martin Strel马丁斯特雷Date of Birth: 1st October, 1954出生日期：1954年10月1日Country: Slovenia国籍：斯洛文尼亚Strel was trained as a guitarist before he became a professional marathon swimmer in 1978. 在1978年成为职业马拉松游泳运动员之前，斯特雷曾被作为吉他手培养。 He has a passion for swimming the worlds great rivers. 但是他有一股热情，想要到世界上的大江大河中去游泳。 In 2000, he was the first person ever to swim the entire length of the Danube River in Europe - a distance of 3,004 kilometres in 58 days. 2000年，他成为游完欧洲多瑙河全程的第一人58天游完了3004公里。 For this, he attained his first entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. 为此，他第一次进入了吉尼斯世界纪录大全。 Then in 2001 he broke the Guinness record for non-stop swimming - 504.5 kilometres in the Danube River in 84 hours and 10 minutes. 随后在2001年，它打破了全程无间断游泳的吉尼斯世界纪录在多瑙河中以84小时10分的时间游了504.5公里。 Martin won his third entry in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2002 when he beat his own record for long distance swimming by swimming the length of the Mississippi River in North America in 68 days, a total of 3,797 kilometres. 马丁于2002年第三次进入吉尼斯世界纪录大全，这次他打破了自己远距离游泳的世界纪录在68天内总共游完北美洲密西西比河的3797公里。Then in 2003 he became the first man to have swum the whole 1,929 kilometres of the difficult Parana River in South America. 然后在2003年他成为游完难度巨大，全程1929公里的南美洲巴拉那河的第一人。 In 2004, Strel again broke his own Guinness record by swimming the length of the dangerous Changjiang River (4,600 km), the third longest river in the world. 到2004年，斯特雷再次破了他自己的吉尼斯纪录，游了世界上第三大河长江的危险河段4600公里。3.选修九Unit2 Sailing the oceans海洋航行We may well wonder how seamen explored the oceans before latitude and longitude made it possible to plot a ships position on a map. 我们很可能感到奇怪，在经纬度被用来在地图上标出船只位置之前，海员是如何对海洋进行探索的。 The voyages of travellers before the 17th century show that they were not at the mercy of the sea even though they did not have modern navigational aids. 17世纪以前的航海纪录显示，即使没有现代航海技术的帮助，他们也没有任凭海洋摆布。 So how did they navigate so well? Read these pages from an encyclopedia. 那么，他们是怎样航行得如此之好的呢？读读百科全书这几页上的记载吧。Page 1: 第一页：Using nature to help Keeping alongside the coastline借助大自然使船只沿海岸线行驶This seems to have been the first and most useful form of exploration which carried the minimum amount of risk. 这似乎已是最早的、最有用的探险方式，所冒的风险也最小。Using celestial bodies利用天体North Star北极星At the North Pole the North Star is at its highest position in the sky, but at the equator it is along the horizon. 在北极，北极星是在天上的最高位置；而在赤道上，北极星却在地平线上。So accomplished navigators were able to use it to plot theirpositions. 因此，熟练的航海探险家就能够利用北极星来确定他们自己的位置。Sun太阳On a clear day especially during the summer the sailors could use the sun overhead at midday to navigate by. They can use the height of the sun to work out their latitude. 在晴朗的日子里，特别是夏天，船员可以利用正午在头顶上的太阳来导航，他们可以用太阳的高度来计算出他们的纬度。Clouds云层Sea captains observed the clouds over islands. There is a special cloud formation which indicates there is land close by. 海上的船长观测岛上的云层。有一种特殊的云彩的形状表明附近有陆地。Using wildlife利用野生动植物Seaweed海藻Sailors often saw seaweed in the sea and could tell by the colour and smell how long it had been them. 海员常常看到海里的海藻，并能根据它的颜色和气味判断这种海藻在那儿有多久了。If it was fresh and smelled strongly, then the ship was close to land. 如果它颜色新鲜而且气味浓烈，那说明船只就离陆地很近了。Birds鸟Sea birds could be used to show the way to land when it was nowhere to be seen. 在看不见陆地的时候，可以用海鸟来指明通往陆地的去路。 In the evening nesting birds return to land and their nests. 在夜晚的时候，筑巢而居的鸟就要返回陆地鸟窝。 So seamen could follow the birds to land even if they were offshore and in the open sea. 因此，即使在远离海岸的大洋上，海员们也可以跟随这些鸟到达陆地。Using the weather利用天气Fog雾Fog gathers at sea as well as over streams or rivers. 正如雾气汇聚在溪流或江河上一样，雾气也能汇聚在海洋上。Seamen used it to help identify the position of a stream or river when they were close to land. 当靠近陆地时，海员们可以用雾气来帮助确定溪流或江河的位置。Winds风Wise seamen used the winds to direct their sailing. They could accelerate the speed, but they could also be dangerous聪明的海员常常利用风向来导航。风向可以使船只加快速度，也可以造成危险。. So the Vikings would observe the winds before and during their outward or return journeys. 于是，北欧的海盗们在出海或返航时都要观察风向。Using the sea利用大海Certain tides and currents could be used by skillful sailors to carry ships to their destination. 技术娴熟的海员可以利用大海的某些潮汐或浪潮把船送往他们的目的地。 These skills helped sailors explore the seas and discover new lands.这些技术帮助海员探测大海和发现新大陆。 They increased their ability to navigate new seas when they used instruments.当他们使用这些手段的时候就增加了在新的海域导航的能力。Page 2: 第二页Using navigational instruments to help利用航海工具Finding longitude找出经度There was no secure method of measuring longitude until the 17th century when the British solved this theoretical problem. 直到17世纪英国人解决了这个理论问题后,人们才有了测量经度的可靠方法。 Nobody knew that the earth moved westwards 15 degrees every hour, but sailors did know an approximate method of calculating longitude using speed and time. 以前没有人知道地球每小时向东转动约15度，然而海员们确实知道用速度和时间来计算经度的近似标准的方法。An early method of measuring speed involved throwing a knotted rope tied to a log over the side of the ship. 早期测量速度的方法是沿着船边拉一根打结的绳子，把这根绳子系在一根圆木上，然后把它抛入海里。The rope was tied to a log which was then thrown into the sea. As the ship advanced through the water the knots were counted as they passed through a seamans hands. The number of knots that were counted during a fixed period of time gave the speed of the ship in nautical miles per hour. 当船只在水中前进时，这些绳结从海员的手中通过,这时海员就记下绳结的数目。在一定时间内计算出有多少个结, 就可以算出船只每小时航行多少海里的速度。Later, when seamen began to use the compass in the 12th century they could calculate longitude using complicated mathematical tables. The compass has a special magnetic pointer which always indicates the North Pole, so it is used to help find the direction that the ship needs to go. In this way the ship could set a straight course even in the middle of the ocean. 后来,当12世纪海员们开始使用指南针的时候,他们就可以用复杂的数学表来计算出经度了。指南针有一个特殊的磁针,始终指着北极。因此人们用它来帮助找出船只所要去的方向。这样,即使在大海中船只也可以直线航行。Finding latitude找出纬度The Bearing Circle方位圆It was the first instrument to measure the suns position. A seaman would measure the suns shadow and compare it with the height of the sun at midday. Then he could tell if he was sailing on his correct rather than a random course. 这是最早用来测量太阳位置的工具。海员可以测量太阳的影子，并把它同太阳在正午时的高度作比较，这样就可以知道自己是在正确的航道上或是在随意行驶。The Astrolabe星盘The astrolabe, quadrant and sextant are all connected. 星盘、象限仪和六分仪相互都有联系。They are developments of one another. 它们是在彼此的基础上发展而成的。 The earliest, the astrolabe, was a special all-in-one tool for telling the position of the ship in relation to the sun and various stars which covered the whole sky. 最早的是星盘，它是一种特殊的集多功能于一体的工具，它可以用来表明船只同太阳和布满天空的各种星星之间的相关位置。 This gave the seamen the local time and allowed them to find their latitude at sea. 这样，海员们就可得知当地的时间，以及他们在海上的纬度。However, it was awkward to use as one of the points of reference was the moving ship itself. 但是，它不容易使用，因为其参照点之一就是行驶中的船只本身。The Quadrant象限仪This was a more precise and simplified version of the astrolabe. 这是一种比较精确而且比较简单的星盘。It measured how high stars were above the horizon using a quarter circle rather than the full circle of the astrolabe. 它利用星盘的1/4圆周而不是整个圆来测量星星在在水平线上的高度。 It was easier to handle because it was more portable. 它比较容易操作，因为它比较轻便。 Its shortcoming was that it still used the moving ship as one of the fixed points of reference. 缺点仍就是使用移动的船只作为一个固定的参照点。As the ship rose and plunged in the waves, it was extremely difficult to be accurate with any reading. 因为船只在海浪中起伏不定，所以很难测出精确的读数。The sextant六分仪The sextant was the updated version of the astrolabe and quadrant which reduced the tendency to make mistakes. 六分仪是星盘和象限仪的改进版，它减少了出差错的可能性。 It proved to be the most accurate and reliable of these early navigational instruments. 在这些早期的航海仪器中，它被证明是最精确和最为可靠的一种， It works by measuring the angle between two fixed objects outside the ship using two mirrors. 它的工作方式是用两块镜子来测量船外两个固状物体之间的角度，This made the calculations more precise and easier to do.这就使得计数更加精确，而且更加容易操作。4.选修九Unit2 THE GREATEST NAVIGATIONAL JOURNEY:A LESSON IN SURVIVAL最伟大的航海旅程幸存的经验教训 I am proud to have sailed with Captain Bligh on his journey of over 40 days through about 4,000miles in an open boat across the Pacific Ocean in 1789. 1789年，我有幸与布莱船长乘坐一条敞篷船航行了40余天，横穿太平洋，行程约4000英里。 Our outward voyage in the Bounty to Tahiti had been filled with the kind of incidents that I thought would be my stories when I returned home. 我们乘坐“邦蒂号”出发到塔希提岛这段航程中充满了许多事件。我以为回国后可以讲这些故事， But how wrong I was! 但是我完全错了！ On our departure from Tahiti, some of the crew took over the ship. 在我们离开塔西提后，有部分船员接管了这艘船。They deposited the captain into a small boat to let him find his own way home. 他们把船长放进一艘小船里，让他自己想办法回家。 But who else was to go with him? 可是还有别的什么人跟他一起走吗？Those of us on board the Bounty were caught in a dilemma. Was it better to risk certain death by sitting close together on a small, crowded open boat with very little food and water? 在“邦蒂号”上的我们有点儿进退两难：是冒着生命危险，挤坐在又小又拥挤的船上，只有少量的食物和水更好呢？Or should one stay on the Bounty with the crew and face certain death from the British Navy if caught? 还是与船上的人一起呆在“邦蒂号”上，面对被英国海军捉获处死的危险？ The drawback of staying on the ship seemed to grow as I thought about how wrong it was to treat Captain Bligh in this way. So I joined him in the small boat. 想到这样对待布莱船长是多么错误的时候，留在船上的不利因素似乎增多了，因此我随船长上了小船。 As dusk fell, we seemed to face an uncertain future. 随着黄昏降临，我们似乎面对着一个不可预测的未来。We had no charts and the only instruments the captain was allowed to take with him were a compass and a quadrant. 没有航海图，允许船长带走的仪器只有指南针和一个四分仪。Once we were at sea, our routine every day was the same. 一旦我们在海上，每天的事务总是一成不变。 At sunrise and sunset the captain measured our position using the quadrant and set the course using the compass. 每当日出和日落的时候，船长就用四分仪测量我们的位置，并用指南针确定航线。 It was extremely difficult for us to get a correct reading from the quadrant as the boat moved constantly. 因为船只总是在晃动，所以我们很难从四分仪上得到正确的读数。 The captain used a system called dead reckoning.船长使用一个叫做“航位推算”的系统。He knew there was land directly northwest of our original position. 他知道在我们原先位置的正西北有陆地。 So his task was to make sure we stayed on that course. 因此，他的任务就是确保我们要在那个航线上。As you can see from the map we kept to a straight course pretty well. 正如你在地图上所见到的那样，我们很好地保持着这条笔直的航线。 In addition, the captain kept us all busy reading the tables to work out our position. 此外，船长还让我们大家都忙于解读表格，以计算出我们的位置。Although this took a great deal of time, it didnt matter. Time was, after all, what we had a lot of! 虽然这项工作占去了大量的时间，但那并没有关系。毕竟我们有的是时间！ Our daily food was shared equally among us all: one piece of bread and one cup of water. 我们的日常食物全都是平均分配的：一片面包和一杯水。It was starvation quantities but the extreme lack of water was the hardest to cope with psychologically. 这点儿分量的食物只能让人处于饥饿之中，可是我们心理上最难受的却是极度缺水。 Imagine all that water around you, but none of it was safe to drink because the salt in it would drive you mad! 想想看，你的四周全都是水，但是一滴都不能喝，因为水中的盐分会弄得你精神失常! All the time the captain tried to preserve our good spirits by telling stories and talking hopefully about what we would do when we got back to England. 船长一直试图让我们保持良好的精神状态，他给我们讲故事，并且满怀希望的同我们谈论回到英国后所要做的事。 We only half believed him. 我们对他只是将信将疑罢了。 The tension in the boat got worse as the supply of food and water gradually disappeared. 随着食物和水的供应渐渐短缺，船上的气氛也越来越紧张。We could foresee that we would die if we could not reach land very soon and we sank gradually into a sleepy, half-alive state
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