普通高中课程标准实验教科书 英语必修2 Unit 3 Computers-Listen

My name is Hua Fei and I am a sporting robot of the 23rd century. I am an expert at high flying exercises. I jump from spaceships and as I fall I turn, dive, circle and dance until I softly¹ land as close as I can to the finishing line. Robot competitions in the23rd century are truly a popular sport. Fans from all over China watch their handheld TVs when a competition comes on. Last time I took part in the 78th Olympics on a flying island above Brussels in the sky. I won the silver medal for my performance.

     This year I had the honour to be chosen again. I wanted to meet robots from other countries and explore ideas about our sport. However, my programmer fell ill the week before we were going to leave. It was very painful for her and I felt very frightened. I no longer felt so confident that I would win.

    The day of the competition was rather cold for my legs and my special oil began to freeze. I paused² before I jumped from the starting place on a little spaceship but then I began my performance. At the correct moment I tried to open my parachute³ but there was a problem. It only opened a little. Instead of flying softly to earth I began to fall faster and faster so that I could not turn, dive, circle or dance. My heart stopped beating as I landed heavily on a mountain covered with snow.

   This is why I am writing to you from my hospital bed with two broken legs and a fragile⁴ head. I did not win anything at the Olympics after all. I need the factory to build me two new legs and an even bigger head. Then I will be able to compete once more. Let's hope for greater success in the next Olympics!

 

1 softly   

adv.柔和地，静静地，温柔地

参考例句：

• He speaks too softly for her to hear.他讲话声音太轻，她听不见。
• She breathed her advice softly.她低声劝告。

2 paused   

v.停顿( pause的过去式和过去分词 )；暂停；（按暂停键）暂停放音；暂停放像

参考例句：

• We paused for the red light at State College Street. 我们在州立大学大街上因遇到红灯而停了一下。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The joggers paused to catch their breath. 慢跑者们暂停下来以便喘口气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 parachute   

n.降落伞；v.用降落伞投送/降落

参考例句：

• No way,I'm not jumping from high places without a parachute.没可能的，没有降落伞我可不从高处往下跳。
• Please release the parachute when there is an emergency.有紧急情况，请打开降落伞。

4 fragile   

adj.易碎的，脆的，易损坏的，虚弱的，脆弱的

参考例句：

• The old lady was increasingly fragile after her operation.那位老太太手术后身体越来越虚弱。
• This glass disc looks very fragile.这个玻璃盘子看起来很容易碎。