发布时间 : 星期三 文章选修9 课文与翻译更新完毕开始阅读
选修9 Unit 1 Breaking records-Reading \
Ashrita Furman is a sportsman who likes the challenge of breaking Guinness records. Over the last 25 years, he hasbroken approximately 93 Guinness records. More than twenty of these he still holds, including the record for having the most records. 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.
第一单元 路永在前方
阿什利塔·福曼是一位热衷挑战并总想争创吉尼斯纪录的运动员。在过去25年中，他大约(approximately)已经打破了93项吉尼斯世界纪录，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。但是这些记录并不是像游泳或足球等一般运动项目那样创建的，而是阿什利塔试图在非常有趣的地点，在富有想像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，阿什利塔完成了他的梦想:在所有七大洲破一项纪录，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(in reality),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. You can stop to rest or eat but the bottle has to stay on your head.
想想吧,你一边走路,一边还要把一瓶牛奶顶在头上，你的脖子需要的多好的适应力。你可以停下来休息或吃东西，但瓶子必须呆在头上。
While Ashrita makes standing on top of a 75 cm Swiss ball look easy, it is not. It takes a lot of concentration and a great sense of balance to stay on it. You have to struggle to stay on top especially when your legs start shaking.
当阿什利塔站在75厘米高的瑞士球上时，看起来虽然很轻松容易，其实不然。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。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? Somersaulting is a tough event as you have to overcome dizziness, extreme tiredness and pain. You are permitted to rest for only five minutes in every hour of rolling but you are allowed to stop briefly to vomit.
然而沿着12英里的马路翻筋斗,情况又是怎样的呢？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。每翻滚一个小时,只允许休息5分钟,不过也可以短暂地停下来呕吐(vomit)。
Covering a mile in the fastest time while doing gymnastically correct lunges is yet another event in which Ashrita is outstanding. Lunges are extremely hard on your legs. You start by standing and then you step forward with the fight foot while touching the left knee to the ground. Then you stand up again and step forward with the left foot while touching the fight knee to the ground. Imagine doing this for a mile!
做标准的体操(gymnastically)弓箭步动作向前，以最快的节奏走完1英里的路程是阿什利塔又一个出色的项目。弓箭步冲刺对你的双腿是一个极端艰苦的考验。开始时呈站立姿势，然后右脚向前迈一步，同时左膝触地，然后再站起来，左脚向前迈出一步，同时右膝触地。 想想吧，这个动作要反复做1英里远！
Yet this talented sportsman is not a natural athlete. As a child he was very unfit and was not at all interested in sports. However, he was fascinated by the Guinness Book of World Records.
然而，这位有才能的运动员并不是天生的。小时候，他很不健康(unfit)，而且对运动毫无兴趣。但他却对《吉尼斯世界纪录大全》非常着迷(fascinated)。
How Ashrita came to be a sportsman is an interesting story. As a teenager, he began searching for a deeper meaning in life. He studied Eastern religions and, aged 16, discovered an Indian meditation teacher
called Sri Chinmoy who lived in his neighbourhood in New York City. Since that time in the early 1970s, Ashrita has been one of Sri Chinmoy's students. 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 people's physical abilities.
阿什利塔究竟是怎样成为一位运动员的呢？这是一个有趣的故事。少年时,他就开始探究人生的深层的意义。他研究过东方宗教，16岁时，他发现了一位名叫斯里琴摩的印度静坐功(mediation)导师，住在纽约市他家附近。自从20世纪70年代初，阿什利塔就一直是斯里琴摩的学生。斯里琴摩指出，人们发展他们的体魂与发展他们的头脑、心灵和精神上的(spiritual)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 York's Central Park in 1978, he knew that he would one day get into the Guinness Book of World Records. He had been urged by his spiritual leader to enter the marathon even though he had done no training. 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. From then on, Ashrita refused to accept any physical limitation.
当阿什利塔1978年在纽约市中央公园进行的24小时自行车马拉松(marathon)比赛中获得第三名时，他就知道总有一天他将进入《吉尼斯世界纪录大全》。尽管从没有训练过，他还是受到他的精神领袖的敦促参加了马拉松比赛。因此,当他取得第三名的时候，他开始有了这