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Speed skating has become a sport where Japan is very strong. Over the weekend, several Japanese skaters did very well at the World Cup Final which took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the U.S. Because the city is 1,400 meters above sea level, the thin air helps skaters to skate faster than usual. In the 2002 Winter Olympics, for example, many world records were broken. Yesterday, Takagi Miho skated in the women’s 1500-meter race and showed the world that she was the best. She set a new world record for the 1500-meter race when she broke the old record by more than one second. (by Prof. Douglas Jarrell)
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Notes
sardine イワシ;
predator 捕食者;
by accident 偶然に
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Every year a lot of sardines swim along the coast of South Africa. They are followed by predators: penguins, dolphins, sharks and whales. These predators swim around the sardines so that sardines make a ball in the water. Then they attack and eat the sardines. Last month, a diver wanted to get pictures of the sardines close up, so he jumped from his boat into the middle of the sardine ball. All of a sudden, it got dark around him. A whale had come up from below and swallowed him by accident. Whales cannot eat people, so it let him go. He was safe, but he was very surprised! (by Douglas Jarrell)
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