牛津大学校园英语情景对话22：久负盛名的牛津剑桥赛艇队（mp3+中英）

J: Hi, Nick! I haven’t seen you for a long time!

你好，尼克！好久不见！

N: Yeah! How are you? Jane!

N：是啊！你还好吗？乔恩！

J; I'm fine! What are you doing now?

我很好！你在做什么呢？

N: Oh! I’m watching the rebroadcast of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The race is so wonderful! It looks like a dead heat between the two teams.

唤！我正在看牛津剑桥赛艇对杭赛的重挡。这场比赛太精彩了！看起来两队 的实力不相上下。

J: Right! However, the Cambridge Rowing Team won victory in the end.

是啊！不过，最后还是剑桥赛艇队获胜了。

N: Really? Have you watched the live broadcast of the race?

是吗？你看过这场比赛的直播吗？

J： Absolutely! Remember that I’m an out-and-out rowing fan!

当然！别忘了我可是个十足的赛艇迷啊！

N： Oh! It’s my fault. You come from Britain, the birthplace of rowing. It is said that the boat race was first held by watermen providing ferry and taxi service on the Thames in london，right?

唤！不好意思我忘了。你来自英国，而英国又是赛艇运动的发源地。据说， 划船比赛是由在伦敦的泰晤士河上摆渡的船工们首次发起的，是这样吗？

J： Yeah! According to the record, in the 17th century, the professional watermen on the River Thames frequently held boat races, so as to win prizes.The prizes were often offered by the London Guilds and the Livery Companies. The rowing race was first contested in 1715 to celebrate the crown of the King, which is still held annually in London. During the 19th century, rowing races were to become numerous and popular, attracting a large amount of people to take part in.

是的！据史料记载，17世纪泰晤士河的职业船工们经常为了赢得奖金而举行 划船比赛。奖金通常由伦敦行业协会和 伦敦同业公会来支付。1715年为庆祝国 王加冕，人们举办了第一届赛艇比赛，这项赛事直到现在还每年在伦敦市举行。在19世纪的时候，赛艇便开始快速发展，从而吸引了大量的人参与。

N: Well, when did the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race begin? This is the 156th of competition, that is to say it is been held since 1854，right?

那牛津剑桥赛艇对抗赛又是什么时候开 始的呢？这是第156次比赛，那就是说它是从1854年开始的吧？

J: Actually not. The first Boat Race was in 1829 and it has been held annually since 1856，with the exception of the two world wars.

事实上不是的。第一次对抗赛是在1829车举行的，从1856车开始它才每车 都举办的，两次世界大战期间除外。

N: I see. How is the crew of the rowing team chose? Take the prestigious Oxford Uiversity Rowing Team as an example!

N：我明白了。那赛艇队的队员们是怎么选拔的呢？就拿著名的牛津大学赛艇队 来说吧！

J: Strictly speaking, the crew of the team must be excellent students of each college of the University of Oxford. Almost all colleges of the University have their own Boat Clubs, such as the University College Oxford Boat Club, the Balliol College Boat Club, the Hertford College Boat Club, and so on.

J：严格地说，队员们必须都是来自牛津大学各个学院品学兼优的学生。牛津大 学几乎每个学院都有自己的赛艇俱乐部，像大学学院牛津赛艇俱乐部、贝利 奥尔学院赛艇俱乐部和赫特福德学院赛艇俱乐部等等。

N: Rowing is so popular in Oxford University! However, why should be excellent students? This is a sport competition!

N:赛艇运动在牛津大学很受欢迎啊！可是，为什么必须要选品学兼优的学生呢？ 这是一项体育竞赛！

J： There are no sporting scholarships at Oxford, so in theory every student must obtain a place on their academic merits. The Cambridge University is the same case. In July 2007，the Boat Race organising committee refused to let a Cambridge student enter the competition. The reason was that he didn’t complete his academic course, as he returned to the German national rowing team to prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

J：牛津大学没有运动奖学金，所以在理论上每个学生都必须要在自己的学术领 域有一技之长。剑桥大学也是一样的。2007年7月，赛艇对抗赛组织委员会 就曾拒绝让剑桥大学的一名学生参赛。原因是那名学生回到德国国家赛艇队 去准备2008年的北京奥运会而没有完成他的学术课程。

N: What a pity! It means that every crew member in the rowing team is successful in his academic studies!

N:多可惜I那就是说，赛艇队的每位队员都是学术上的佼佼者啦！

J： That’s right! Evidence suggests that participants in the boat race are indeed academically capable，for example，the 2005 Cambridge crew contained four Ph.D students.

J:可以这么说！有证据表明赛艇对抗赛的参赛者们都确实有很高的学术水平， 例如：2005年剑桥赛艇队的队员中有四个博士生。

N: The team members are really laborious. They not only have to make an academic achievements, but have to attend training for the rowing team.

N:队员们真是太辛苦了。他们既要在学业上有所成就，又要参加赛艇队的训练。

 J: Right. Although the contest is between amateurs, the training scheduals each team undertakes are very gruelling. Generally each team trains for six days a week for six months before the event.

J：的确是这样。虽然这只是一项业余选手之间的竞赛，但是每个队的训练日程 都非常紧凑。一般情况下，在比赛之前每个队都会训练6个月，每固6天。

N: That's incredible! How can the crew make a compromise between academic study and rowing?

N:简直难以置信！队员们如何能兼顾学习和赛艇呢？

J: It’s really a problem. Maybe the University should establish sporting scholarships to support the traditional boat race.

J：这确实是一个问题。也许学校该设立运动奖学金来支持这项传统的赛艇运动了。

N: I do think so!

N:完全赞成！