英美文化：深度解讀波士頓馬拉松賽
每年四月的第三個星期一，是馬薩諸塞州的愛國者日，也是波士頓馬拉松定期舉辦的日子。
波士頓馬拉松歷史悠久，首屆比賽開辦于1897年，至今已有100多年的歷史。今年的波士頓馬拉松，共有27000名運動員參加，比賽途徑馬薩諸塞州的8個城鎮，依次是馬薩諸塞州霍普金頓市，亞什蘭，弗雷明漢，內蒂克，衛斯理，牛頓，布魯克林和波士頓。因為參賽者要途徑牛頓山，波士頓馬拉松賽被譽為是世界上較為艱難的馬拉松賽。
1986年，馬拉松賽首次頒發獎金。現在，比賽的優勝者們爭奪超過80萬美元的獎金。
有趣的是，Rosie Ruiz在比賽中乘坐地鐵，靠這個手段，她拿到了1980年的馬拉松賽冠軍。之后事情被曝光，Rosie Ruiz深陷丑聞。
美國波士頓馬拉松爆炸目前已導致3死132傷
Following is a list of facts about the Boston Marathon:
* The race is always held on Patriots' Day, a Massachusetts state holiday held on the third Monday in April, which commemorates the earliest battles of the American war for independence.
* The race was first held in 1897 with 18 participants, making it the world's oldest annual marathon.
* The 2013 Boston Marathon, which drew about 27,000 runners, honored the 26 people who died at the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting with a special marker at the end of mile 26.
* The race runs through eight Massachusetts cities and towns: Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston.
* It begins in Hopkinton and ends at Copley Square, alongside the Boston Public Library.
* The Boston Marathon is considered one of the more difficult marathon courses because of the Newton hills, which culminate in Heartbreak Hill near Boston College.
* Boston Globe reporter Jerry Nason coined the name Heartbreak Hill after John Kelley overtook competitor Tarzan Brown on the Newton hills in the 1936 race, tapping him on the back but ultimately losing his lead to Brown on that final hill.
* Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to unofficially complete the race in 1966. Women were not officially allowed to participate until 1972.
* Ethiopian runner Lelisa Desisa won the men's division in the 2013 Boston Marathon, finishing in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 22 seconds.
* Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai holds the course record with 2 hours, 3 minutes and 2 seconds, which he ran in 2011.
* The youngest runner to win was Tim Ford, who was 18 when he won in 1906.
* Clarence Harrison DeMar is the only marathoner who has won seven times at Boston. His seventh victory in Boston came in 1930, when he became the oldest winner of the event at the age of 41.
* Prize money was awarded for the first time in 1986 and the top finishers now compete for more than $800,000.
* The Boston Marathon is the only marathon in the United States that maintains qualifying times and specific requirements that generally state a runner must have completed a qualifying marathon within the year and a half before Boston.
* In 1980 Rosie Ruiz created a scandal when she cheated to win by taking the subway part of the way.
重點詞匯介紹
marathon[ mer θɑn]
n.馬拉松長跑; 長距離賽跑; 持久比賽
adj.需要極大持久力的
v.參加持久比賽
Massachusetts[ m s 't u:sits]
n.馬薩諸塞州; 馬薩諸塞; 馬薩諸塞聯邦
Patriots' Day 愛國者日
commemorate[k mem re t]
v.紀念; 慶祝; 成為…的紀念
scandal[ sk nd( )l]
n.丑聞; 丑事; 丑行; 恥辱; 反感; 誹謗; 丑名; 丟臉的事件; 舞弊案件
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