[本节目的音频素材首次发表于 2024 年 9 月 17 日]
时隔 12 年，英联邦运动会将再次于苏格兰格拉斯哥举行。此前，澳大利亚维多利亚州因成本上涨而放弃 2026 年英联邦运动会的主办权，引发了对该赛事将于何处举办的担忧。
Glasgow hosted an extremely successful Commonwealth Games in 2014. So, after Victoria's withdrawal, it was suggested the city could rescue the 2026 Games using existing infrastructure and venues.
格拉斯哥在 2014 年主办了一届极其成功的英联邦运动会。所以在维多利亚州退出后，便有人提出格拉斯哥可以利用现有的基础设施和比赛场馆来举办比赛，从而挽救 2026 年的运动会。
Today, the Scottish government approved a scaled-back version of the event after receiving assurances that no public money will be spent. The total budget for 2014 was £543m. This Games is set to cost about £114m, funded largely by the Commonwealth Games Federation. There will be 10 core sports, down from 17 in 2014 and only four venues as opposed to 14 a decade ago.
今天，在得到赛事官方对不动用公共资金的保证后，苏格兰政府批准运动会以较小的规模举行。2014 年运动会的总预算为 5.43 亿英镑。2026 年运动会预计将花费 1.14 亿英镑，其中的大部分资金由英联邦运动会联合会提供。和 2014 年的运动会相比，核心比赛项目将从 17 项缩减至 10 项，比赛场馆也将仅有 4 个，而非 2014 年的 14 个。
词汇表
hosted 主办
withdrawal 退出
infrastructure 基础设施
venues 比赛场馆
scaled-back 缩减的，缩小的
assurances 保证
public money 公共资金
budget 预算
core 核心的
as opposed to 而非…
阅读理解：请在读完上文后，回答下列问题。
1. Which country and state was originally going to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games before they withdrew?
2. True or False? Glasgow will build all new infrastructure to host the games.
3. On what condition, mentioned in the article, did the Scottish government approve the event?
4. What is the predicted cost of the 2026 Commonwealth Games?
答案
1. Which country and state was originally going to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games before they withdrew?
Victoria, Australia was originally going to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games before they withdrew.
2. True or False? Glasgow will build all new infrastructure to host the games.
False. It was suggested Glasgow could host the 2026 Games using existing infrastructure and venues.
3. On what condition, mentioned in the article, did the Scottish government approve the event?
The Scottish government approved the event after receiving assurances that no public money will be spent.
4. What is the predicted cost of the 2026 Commonwealth Games?
The predicted cost of the 2026 Commonwealth Games is £114m.