Skating Gold for China 中國選手花樣滑冰奪冠
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The Comeback King and Queen 冰上王子和公主復出奪冠
Chinese figure skaters Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo rolled back the years to win China's first gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics on Monday.
Their victory came as a fairytale ending to a story that seems more like a Hollywood movie than real life.
The veteran husband and wife duo were lured out of retirement for one last crack at Olympic gold, having previously won bronze medals in the 2002 and 2006 Winter Games.
At the age of 36 and 31 respectively Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue defied sporting convention by overcoming the figure-skating world's young whippersnappers.
Ordinarily at such an age the married couple should not be competing in international events let alone bringing home Olympic gold.
To add to the drama the pair had been the lowest-ranked competitors going into the competition due to their lengthy absence from the ice.
But against all odds their superb short programme score from Sunday was enough to see them win the overall competition despite some small errors in Monday's free skate event.
An emotional Zhao said, "It's been so many years - to finally get this gold is so exciting. So many years have been devoted to this dream."
China has now won three medals at the Vancouver Games – one gold, one silver, and one bronze for Wang Beixing in the women's 500m speed skating.
So what next for Zhao and Shen? Will they defend their medals in the next games?
Well, Shen indicated that the couple may have other plans:
"It's hard to continue skating - maybe it's time to have a baby," she said.
Glossary 詞匯表 (收聽發(fā)音, 請單擊英語單詞)
- figure skaters 花樣滑冰選手
- rolled back the years 時光倒流
- fairytale ending神話般的結尾
- veteran 經(jīng)驗豐富的老手
- lured out of retirement復出
- crack 嘗試
- defied sporting convention 反運動常規(guī)的
- overcoming 克服,戰(zhàn)勝
- whippersnappers自以為了不起的年輕人
- let alone更別說
- lowest-ranked排名最低的
- lengthy absence長期缺席
- against all odds克服了重重困難
- short programme短節(jié)目
- free skate自由滑
- emotional 情緒激動的
- devoted 摯愛的,全身心地投入
- speed skating速滑
- defend 捍衛(wèi),保住
- indicated 表示