Most people in Hunan know the river in Mayang county as water for boats and for fishing. On Sunday, it became a road. Zhang Xue, the founder of a motorcycle company, rode a modified bike along an open stretch of the river for 40.74 kilometres without stopping on land. The official team from Guinness World Records watched the whole attempt and checked the data afterwards, then said the record had been beaten. The old mark was 31.8 kilometres.
For Zhang, the ride was not a publicity stunt invented for a quiet autumn. He said he first tried to cross water on a bike seventeen years ago, when he was young and had no money and no proper machine. That attempt failed. He spent the following years building bikes and selling them, and only this year did he finally have a team, a workshop and a modified MX450 that could carry a rider across a lake without sinking.
The idea sounds like entertainment, but a few people in the industry read it differently. Water riding forces an engineer to solve problems that ordinary riding never raises. The machine has to stay upright on a surface that moves, the weight has to be balanced carefully, and a small leak can end the journey. Whether or not such a skill ever becomes useful, the testing has value: parts are pushed to their limits, and the results go back into the workshop.
There is also the story of the place. Zhang chose his home county instead of a large city, and the county got a morning in the news it could not have bought. For a young man from a small town, the record sends a simple message that costs nothing to say but is easy to forget: where you start does not decide how far you can go. It only takes one summer afternoon to show that, if somebody has been preparing for seventeen years.
Words to know:
- founder (创始人)
- modified (改装的；经过改动的)
- attempt (尝试)
- kilometre (公里)
- official (官方的；正式的)
- engineer (工程师)
- stretch (一段（水面、路程）)
长难句拆解 · only after 倒装 · Only this year did he…
前半句的 spend time doing sth 是固定搭配，building 与 selling 两个动名词并列，表示「花时间去干这两件事」。 后半句以 only this year 开头，only 加状语放在句首时主句要部分倒装，所以助动词 did 提到主语 he 前面，正常语序是 he finally had a team。这里用 have 而不是 had，是因为 did 已经承担了过去时。 a modified MX450 后面的 that could carry a rider across a lake without sinking 是定语从句，修饰 MX450；without sinking 是介词短语作状语，表示「不沉下去」。 直译：接下来的几年他都在造车和卖车，直到今年他才终于有了团队、工作间，以及一台能把骑手带过湖面而不下沉的改装 MX450。
长难句拆解 · 让步状语从句 + 形式主语 · Whether or not… , the testing has value
Whether or not 引导的是让步状语从句，意思是「不管……是否……」，它可以放在句首，也可以放在句尾，本句放在句首是为了先退一步再立论。 主句是 the testing has value，冒号后面用两个并列分句来解释「价值在哪里」，这是英文里常见的一种扩展写法，冒号后相当于 namely 或 that is。 are pushed to their limits 是被动语态，limit 是「极限」；push sth to its limits 是固定说法，意思是把某物用到尽头。go back into 表示「回流到、用回到」，不是「返回」。 直译：这样的技能将来是否有用暂且不论，测试本身是有价值的：零件被推到极限，而结果会回流到工作间里。
同义替换 · 雅思阅读利器
下面每组左边是原文表达，右边是可以在写作和阅读中互换的说法，点一下即可自测。
- without stopping on land → covering the route before touching dry ground → without doing 表示「没有做某事」
- the record had been beaten → the previous mark had been broken → beat a record 是最常见的搭配
- a publicity stunt invented for a quiet autumn → a trick cooked up just for attention → publicity stunt 指纯粹为了曝光的噱头
- parts are pushed to their limits → parts are used as hard as they can bear → push to the limit 表示测试到极限
- the county got a morning in the news → the area enjoyed a day of headlines → in the news 表示被新闻报道
- where you start does not decide how far you can go → your beginning does not fix your ending → 两个从句对称，适合做金句式改写
- has been preparing for seventeen years → has been working towards it for nearly two decades → seventeen years 可换成 nearly two decades
阅读自测 · 3 题
- True / False / Not Given: Zhang set the new record on his first attempt at water riding.
- Short answer: What was the length of the record Zhang broke?
- Short answer: Why does the writer think the test is valuable even if the skill is never used?
参考答案与解析
- False。原文说他十七年前就第一次试着骑摩托过水，那次失败了，周日这次才是成功的挑战，题目把「多年后的一次」说成「第一次尝试」，属于典型的偷换事实。
- 31.8 kilometres. 依据是 The old mark was 31.8 kilometres。
- Because parts are pushed to their limits and the results go back into the workshop. 依据是 Whether or not such a skill ever becomes useful, the testing has value: parts are pushed to their limits。注意干扰项会写成「因为这次挑战带来了很大名气」，那是把工程测试偷换成宣传效果。
中文译文
在湖南，大多数人知道麻阳县的那条河是行船和打鱼的水面。周日，它成了一条路。摩托车公司的创始人张雪驾着一辆改装车，沿着一段开阔的江面行驶了四十点七四公里，中间没有一次在陆地上停留。吉尼斯世界纪录的官方团队全程观看了这次挑战，事后核验了数据，随后宣布纪录被打破。此前的纪录是三十一点八公里。
对张雪来说，这次骑行并不是在一个安静的秋天里为宣传临时想出的花样。他说，十七年前他就第一次试着骑摩托过水，那时他年轻，没钱，也没有一台合适的车。那次尝试失败了。接下来的这些年，他造车、卖车，直到今年才终于有了团队、有了工作间，也有了一台能把骑手带过湖面而不沉下去的改装 MX450。
这个想法听起来像是娱乐，但行业里有几个人读出了别的意思。水上行驶会让工程师不得不解决普通骑行根本不会提出的问题。车身要在移动不定的水面上保持直立，重量要仔细平衡，一处小小的漏水就能让行程结束。这样的技术是否总有一天有用并不重要，测试本身有价值：零件被推到极限，结果再回到工作间里。
这里还有一个关于地方的故事。张雪把挑战地点选在家乡的县里，而不是大城市，而这个县得到了一个买不来的早晨的新闻版面。对一个来自小城的年轻人来说，这项纪录传达了一个简单的信息，说出来不花什么成本，却很容易被忘记：你从哪里出发，并不决定你能走多远。要证明这一点，只需要一个夏天的下午——如果这个人已经准备了十七年。