American sports English:Distance Events

P:Yang Chen, You are totally out of breath. What's wrong? Are you running away from the police? What did you do THIS time?

Y:Hey! NOT funny! 警察才不会追我呢。我是在练长跑。I'm training for the 1500m.

P:So you want to be the fastest in the world?

Y:No. I don't want to be the fastest, I just want to be faster than you.

P:That's not so easy. You know I'm very good at distance events.

Y 你擅长distance events，那我们要比试比试才知道谁更快。

P:Well, speed isn't the only important thing to win a distance race, Yang Chen.

Y:Yeah yeah, I know—长跑除了speed速度，还要有patience—耐心，right?

P:Well, patience is good, and so is endurance. E-N-D-U-R-A-N-C-E

Y:Ohhhhhh. Endurance. 耐力。

P:Right. That is the ability to sustain physical activity for a long period of time without stopping.

In the Olympics, distance events are among the most difficult because they involve speed, endurance, patience, and tactics.

Y:Tactics——策略? 你不是让我把前面那个人绊倒吧？

P:No, please don't trip the person in front of you!

By tactics , I mean planning ahead how to make your moves.

For example, some of the world's greatest distance runners do not take the lead until the very end of the race, so they can conserve energy.

Y:没错，好像最后得冠军的都不是一开始跑在最前面的人，而是到了最后才take the lead。

P:Right. And they have to maintain the lead until they make a final kick K-I-C-K.

Y:Make a final kick 不是踢别人一下，而是最后冲刺。

P:The runner's sprint in the end of the race.

So, Yang Chen, have you been working on YOUR kick? OW!

Y:You mean, THAT kind of kick?

P:Ouch, that hurts.

Y:That's my tactics to beat you!

A:原来长跑也讲究tactics─策略！

B:Tactics are important in all kinds of competitions, including when you buy and sell stocks. Oh no, I'm back to the stock market again!

A:就是啊，怎么又说回来了。好了，等下了节目，我陪你去逛街吧，省得你老想着股票的事儿。

B:That's sweet of you. But remember to stop me when I want to buy things, 'cos I don't have much more money left! 钱都被套牢了！

A:又来了！好了，今天的节目时间差不多了。这次的撰稿人是晓北，编辑是蔚然。同学们，我们下次的美语训练班再见!

B: Bye!