Hi everyone, I am back on the blog this week. How are you doing? Well times flies, doesn't it, the Beijing Olympics is only about seven weeks away! You can say in idiomatic English that it’s just around the corner (就在眼前)。Are you prepared for the big event? How much English vocabulary do you know about the Games?Well, let’s start this week with one of my favourite sports of the Games- Aquatics (水上运动).I love swimming (游泳) and I am not too bad as a swimmer. I can do breaststroke(蛙泳) backstroke (仰泳) and freestyle (自由泳) but I am still unable to do the butterfly (蝶泳) which is a bit too challenging for me or maybe I just haven’t found a good coach to show me the ropes (教授技巧).However, swimming for fun and swimming to compete for the Olympics is a totally different matter. Olympic competition rules regulate (规定) the way synchronised swimming (花样游泳) movements and the four strokes, freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke, are performed. These rules relate to arm and leg movements, starts, turns and the length of time swimmers may remain underwater.Each competitor in each Olympic swimming race must swim a preliminary round （初赛）. The sixteen swimmers with the fastest times qualify for the semi-finals（获得进入半决赛的资格）in events shorter than 400m. If the event is 400m or longer, or if it is a relay race（接力赛）, the athletes（运动员）with the eight fastest times go straight into the final（直接进入决赛）.Have you ever wondered how the competitors get their lanes(泳道)？Well, the allocation of swimming lanes (泳道分配) is made according to qualifying times. The swimmer with the fastest qualifying time（最快的决赛选手）is allocated lane four, the swimmer with the second-fastest time（速度位居第二的决赛选手）, lane five and so on. The slowest finalist（最慢的决赛选手）is given lane eight. The middle four lanes have a slight advantage（轻度不利） because there is somewhat less water turbulence（水的干扰）. Such turbulence may slow down a competitor. First false starts（抢游） are ignored（忽略）but any subsequent false starts lead to disqualification from the Olympics（被取消奥运参赛资格）.Well, that’s quite a lot to start building up your Olympic vocabulary, but there are other interesting Olympic programmes on our website too. Click on these links to fine more.http://www.bbc.co.uk/china/learningenglish/audioprogrammes/story/2008/06/080609_olympic_3_airport.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/china/learningenglish/specials/1124_olymp_45_perfec/index.shtmlTill Wednesday,All the best,Yang Li
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