LESSON 25

UNIT 13 The Kalenjin LESSON 25 Take a look at the records of international running events in the last fifty years. Before 1980, the winners of distance races were usually from North America and Europe. There were some winners from other countries, but there weren't very many of them. There were no African names among the winners then, but things are very different now. Today, the stars of the race track are the Kalenjin. The Kalenjin are an African people from the borders of North West Kenya and Ethiopia. Their homeland is a hot, dry plateau, about 2, 500 metres above sea level. These people are natural athletes. They have long, thin legs. Their heart rate is unusually slow. There are only three million of them.

来看看过去50年中国际赛跑比赛的记录。1980年以前，长跑比赛冠军通常来自北美洲和欧洲。虽然也有其他国家的冠军，但并不很多，冠军中没有非洲人的名字。但现在情况就大不相同了。 现在，跑道上的明星是卡兰津人。卡兰津人是来自肯尼亚西北部和埃塞俄比亚边境的非洲民族,他们的家乡是海拔大约2500米的干热的高原。他们是天生的运动员，腿又细又长，心率很慢。这个民族只有300 万人。

Twelve of the world's top twenty marathon runners are now Kalenjin. Every year, they win 40 percent of the top honours in all international distance races. And it's not just the men. A few years ago, there weren't any distance races for women. These days, there are lots of them. Kalenjin women win all their events as well.

目前，世界上顶尖的20名马拉松选手中有12名是卡兰津人。他们每年都会在所有的国际长跑比赛中赢得40%的最高奖项。得奖的不只是男性。几年前还没有女子长跑比赛，但现在有很多。卡兰津的女性也赢了所有的比赛。

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