Chinese national flag hoisted at Olympic Village

 LONDON, July 25 (Xinhua) -- In its first official appearance as member of the London Olympic family, the Chinese sports delegation¹ joined several other nations in the traditional welcome and flag-raising ceremony on Wednesday inside the Games Village in east London.

More than 50 athletes and officials from Team China attended the ceremony, which was presided over by Tessa Jowell, the village deputy mayor.

Welcoming the athletes, Jowell said the ceremony set a tone that would be continued throughout the London 2012 Games.

The welcome is open-hearted and captures something that is very special about British culture, Jowell said. "In the Olympic Village our role is to make sure every athlete is supported, looked after, and nurtured² to do their very best."

The 30-minute ceremony was played out by the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. The athletes and delegates were entertained by local youngsters with lovely musical performance complemented³ by some acrobatic moves.

The traditional exchange of gifts took place after the flag-raising ceremony, with Liu Peng, chef de mission of the Chinese Olympic delegation, giving the village deputy mayor a large blue and white porcelain⁴ plate.

The star attraction of the Chinese contingent⁵ at the ceremony was basketball player Yi Jianlian. He was confirmed to be the flag-bearer of China at the Games opening ceremony.

"I was honored and grateful that I could have the opportunity," Yi answered briefly⁶ when asked about his role as flag-bearer.

Yi, 24, started his career as a professional player in south China's Guangdong Province. He joined NBA in 2007 and played for the Washington Wizards before he came back to China amid the NBA lock-out.

China fielded a 396-strong delegation featuring 33 Olympic champions to the July 27-August 12 Games in London. It captured 51 golds, 21 silvers and 28 bronzes in Beijing, relegating⁷ the United States to the second place in the number of golds.

The performers danced to the song "We Are the Champions" and ended with a salute⁸ to the athletes.

After China, the flags of Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kenya, Samoa and Suriname were also raised in the same ceremony.

The Olympic Village, with its 11 residential⁹ blocks and more than 16,000 beds, will be home to the world's strongest and fastest people in the coming three weeks.

1 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

2 nurtured   

养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• She is looking fondly at the plants he had nurtured. 她深情地看着他培育的植物。
• Any latter-day Einstein would still be spotted and nurtured. 任何一个未来的爱因斯坦都会被发现并受到培养。

3 complemented   

有补助物的，有余格的

参考例句：

• The excellent menu is complemented by a good wine list. 佳肴佐以美酒，可称完美无缺。
• In vitro analysis must be complemented by studies of the virus replication cycle in plants. 体外的分析必须辅之以植物体内病毒复制周期的研究。

4 porcelain   

n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的

参考例句：

• These porcelain plates have rather original designs on them.这些瓷盘的花纹很别致。
• The porcelain vase is enveloped in cotton.瓷花瓶用棉花裹着。

5 contingent   

adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队

参考例句：

• The contingent marched in the direction of the Western Hills.队伍朝西山的方向前进。
• Whether or not we arrive on time is contingent on the weather.我们是否按时到达要视天气情况而定。

6 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

7 relegating   

v.使降级( relegate的现在分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类

参考例句：

8 salute   

vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮

参考例句：

• Merchant ships salute each other by dipping the flag.商船互相点旗致敬。
• The Japanese women salute the people with formal bows in welcome.这些日本妇女以正式的鞠躬向人们施礼以示欢迎。

9 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。