四川 袁 泉
为了遏制海洋塑料污染，一个来自爱沙尼亚的女孩绑上特殊的鳍来模仿海洋生物游泳，并在游泳的过程中收集塑料垃圾，以此来呼吁公众重视海洋塑料污染的问题。
主题语境：环境保护 篇幅：317词 建议用时：7分钟
1On May 7, 2022,“Eco-Mermaid”Merle Liivand broke her own world record for swimming with a single fin.She swam the distance of a full marathon in the rough waters of Biscayne Bay, Florida. She even picked trash out of the water as she swam.
2Ms Liivand was born in Estonia. As a child, she had health problems, and began swimming to help her lungs get stronger. She was soon taking part in open water swimming contests,sometimes,even in icy water.In one training session,she nearly wound up swallowing some plastic that was floating in the sea.
3That experience made her think of all the sea animals that faced similar pollution every day. She decided to make people more aware of plastic pollution, which she calls a“plastic pandemic”.Thinking about sea creatures gave her the idea of swimming like one.She began swimming with a special single swimming rubbery“monofin”attached to both of her feet, which allows her to swim by kicking both of her legs together.
4Ms Liivand first set the world record for swimming with a monofin in 2019. In 2021,she set a new Guinness World Record by swimming 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) again in Florida.Ms Liivand said she knew she could go farther.On May 7,2022,she swam the distance of a full marathon in the rough waters of Biscayne Bay, Florida, with her new award from Guinness World Records. The water was rough, and she ran into a few problems, but she didn't stop.“I got stung by jellyfish,”she said,“and kept telling myself that it was not the time to cry.”
5To keep her energy up,a friend followed her in a kayak(皮艇)and gave her food and water from time to time.By the end of her marathon,the kayak held three bags full of trash.“At the end of the day,”Ms Liivand said,“this isn't just about a record. It's about helping the community and the world.”
Reading Check
Language Study
Ⅰ.Difficult sentences in the text
1. That experience made her think of all the sea animals that faced similar pollution every day. She decided to make people more aware of plastic pollution, which she calls a“plastic pandemic”.那次经历让她想起了所有每天都面临着类似污染物的海洋动物。她决定让人们更多地意识到塑料污染，她称塑料污染为“塑料大流行”。
【点石成金】本句中，the sea animals 充当定语从句that faced similar pollution every day 的先行词，that在从句中作主语。which she calls a“plastic pandemic”为which 引导的非限制性定语从句，which在从句中作宾语。
2.She began swimming with a special single swimming rubbery“monofin”attached to both of her feet,which allows her to swim by kicking both of her legs together.她开始在游泳时在两只脚上各绑上一只特殊的橡胶“单鳍”，这样她就可以通过蹬动双腿来游泳。
【点石成金】本句中，with a special single swimming rubbery“monofin”attached to both of her feet 构成with 的复合结构，a special single swimming rubbery“monofin”和attached 之间构成被动关系；which allows her to swim by kicking both of her legs together为which引导的非限制性定语从句。
Ⅱ.Text-centered chunks
pick out 挑出
be aware of 意识到
attach sth to sth 把某物附在某物上
set the world record 创造世界纪录
run into 途中遭遇；遇到
at the end of 在……的结尾
