法国无四肢男子横渡英吉利海峡

    在一次电击事故中失去四肢的法国42岁男子菲利普?克鲁瓦松日前成功横渡英吉利海峡，用时仅13.5小时，比之前预想的24小时快了很多。克鲁瓦松于当地时间周六早晨8点之前在英国南部的福克斯通下海，靠残存的上臂保持身体平衡，在带有脚蹼的特制假肢帮助下游泳，当晚9点半以前便抵达33公里外的法国维桑附近海岸。1994年，克鲁瓦松在屋顶搬动电视天线时不幸触电，被一条2万伏的高压电线击中，医生随后不得已而截断了他的四肢。住院期间，他曾经看过一部有关横渡海峡的电视纪录片，由此萌生了横渡英吉利海峡的念头。成功横渡后，克鲁瓦松表示自己是“世上最幸福的人”，并希望通过自己的举动来鼓励“那些认为生活就是受苦”的人们。他下一个想要挑战的目标将是从欧洲游到非洲。
    A French father-of-two who swam across the Channel 16 years after losing all his limbs¹ in an electrical accident said Sunday that he was "the happiest man alive."Philippe Croizon, a 42-year-old former metalworker, said he had performed his feat² to inspire all those "who think life is nothing but suffering."He set off from Folkestone in southern England just before 8:00 am on Saturday, and arrived on the French coast near Wissant just before 9:30 pm, propelled³ by his specially⁴ designed flipper-shaped prosthetic legs.
    Steadying himself with the stumps⁵ of his arms, Croizon kept up a constant speed in good weather and was accompanied by wild dolphins for part of the 33-kilometre (20-mile) crossing, his support team said.
    "For a while, I didn't realise what I'd done. It was only that night, when I went to bed, that suddenly I burst out laughing, and told myself, 'You did it!'," he told AFP by telephone from his home in northern France.
    In 1994 Croizon was hit by a 20,000-volt charge as he attempted to remove a television aerial⁶ from a house roof and an arc⁷ of current surged⁸ through him from a nearby powerline.
    "I was on my hospital bed, they'd just finished cutting off my last leg. You can imagine how that felt. And then I saw a television documentary⁹ on a female swimmer who crossed the Channel," he explained.
    "There and then, I asked myself: 'Why not me one day?'," he said.
    Croizon trained for two years and last month completed a 12-hour swim between the ports of Noirmoutier and Pornic on France's Atlantic coast, but his final Channel crossing was much faster than he had anticipated.
    "At one point I told myself, 'Woah, slow down, you'll never get there if you try to keep up this speed'. I wanted to slow down, but I couldn't. The motor was running," he said, adding that he had expected to be at sea for 24 hours.
    "It was huge. I was in the zone. I was inside my head. I didn't want to disappoint anyone," he said, declaring that his next long-distance challenge will be to swim between Europe and Africa.

1 limbs   

肢( limb的名词复数 )； 大树枝； 肢体

参考例句：

• For a while, she lost the use of her limbs. 好一会儿她四肢都动弹不得。
• The prisoner's limbs flailed violently because of the pain. 那囚犯因为疼痛，四肢剧烈地抖动着。

2 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

3 propelled   

推进( propel的过去式和过去分词 )； 推动； 驱动； 驱使

参考例句：

• A volcano erupted and propelled rocks high into the sky. 火山爆发，把无数的石块抛向天空。
• His addiction to drugs propelled him towards a life of crime. 他吸毒成瘾使他走上犯罪的道路。

4 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

5 stumps   

（被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分

参考例句：

• Rocks and stumps supplied the place of chairs at the picnic. 野餐时石头和树桩都充当了椅子。
• If you don't stir your stumps, Tom, you'll be late for school again. 汤姆，如果你不快走，上学又要迟到了。

6 aerial   

adj.飞机（航空）的，空中的；n.天线

参考例句：

• An aerial photograph of the field shows clearly where the buildings were.这一场地的空中照片清晰地显示出这些建筑物的位置。
• Aerial pollution is a problem that should be solved quickly.空气污染是一个亟待解决的问题。

7 arc   

n.弧形（物），弧，电弧，弧光

参考例句：

• The sun appears to move in an arc across the sky.太阳看起来在天空中以弧形运行。
• The rainbow described an arc in the dark sky.彩虹在昏暗的天空划出了一道圆弧。

8 surged   

v.（波涛等）汹涌( surge的过去式和过去分词 )；（人群等）蜂拥而出；使强烈地感到

参考例句：

• The gates opened and the crowd surged forward. 大门打开了，人群向前涌去。
• The great Atlantic rollers surged in. 大西洋的巨浪翻滚到岸边。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 documentary   

adj.文献的；n.纪录片

参考例句：

• This case lacked documentary proof.本案缺少书面证据。
• I watched a documentary on the Civil War.我看了一部关于内战的纪录片。