倫敦大河船賽

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Each year， one Saturday in September， many people line the Thames throughLondon， to watch one of the city’s most unusual events1—the“Great River Race”.Many big cities have one “marathon2”race every year. London has two—one ondry land， the other on water.

The Great River Race is not a marathon. It is too short， and it is a boat race.It starts at Richmond， in the western parts outside London. People have to row3their boats 22 miles， as far as the London docks4， in the east.

The race is a new event in London. The first race took place in 1988. Theidea was born in 1987， when members of a very old organization5 rowed fromHampton Court to the Tower of London.

In 1988， they rowed other “traditional6 boats”to a race. Boats that want totake part must all be of traditional design7. What’s more， each boat has to carryone or more than one persons.

Over the years， the race has become a very colourful8 event with all kinds ofboats. While most are usual rowing boats， there are also Viking longships9， andother unusual boats. In 1995， for example， the race was won10 by a Chinese dragonboat， in a record time of 2 hours， 6 minutes and 31 seconds！

As the years go by， the number of boats keeps growing. From 72 boats in1988， the number grew to 295 in 1997， and it will probably be even larger thisyear. Last year， there were teams from all over the U.K， and also from America，Canada， and five European countries.

每年9 月的一個星期六，許多人沿著泰晤士河穿過倫敦，為了觀看這個城市最與眾不同的活動之一———“大河船賽”。（剩余425字）