英语六级听力练习：常速英语8.30(5)

　　英语六级听力确实有一定难度，所以这就更需要同学们多加练习。听力材料是很好的英语六级听力练习素材。现在距离的英语六级考试还有三个多月的时间，大家只要从现在开始坚持练习，一定会出现奇迹的。下面是小编为大家英语六级听力练习：常速英语8.30，供各位练习。

　　SAMUT PRAKAN, THAILAND Polo, the ancient team competition typically played on horseback, is known as the sport of kings. However, the royal version for one annual event, now underway in Thailand , swaps the horse for the kingdoms national symbol - the elephant. The Kings Cup Elephant Polo tournament in Samut Prakan is all for a good cause.

　　The star athletes of this tournament are 51 teenage females, each weighing about three tons .

　　Mounted on each elephant on the polo field are two relatively miniscule humans - the mahout, who steers, and the player, who gives directions.

　　This is the 13th year the tournament, created and organized by the Anantara resort hotel chain, has been played in Thailand. The only other games played under the auspices of the World Elephant Polo Association are the annual world championships in Nepal.

　　For those who also participate in the more conventional version on horseback, the slower game of elephant polo requires a significant adjustment, as Dubai-based player Wael Soueid, explains.

　　First, you dont have control of the elephant because theres a mahout who is guiding it, he said. Second, is the language because the mahout speaks only Thai. And the stick is very long. Its two meters long while the stick of [horse] polo is at 1.20. So thats a big difference.

　　These captive-born, super-size athletes are bred as working elephants and loaned to the corporate teams by their owners, allowing the intelligent mammals a change of pace.

　　Tournament organizer Tim Boda says the females seem to catch on to the spirit of competition.

　　A lot of these elephants have been playing now for years. I do not speak elephant but watching them, first of all, it looks like theyre having a whole lot of fun, he said. It may well be that they actually to understand the rules. Who knows?

　　Spectators can enjoy the matches while chomping on gourmet wagyu beef burgers, sipping champagne and puffing cigars. But this is more than just a spectacle for the elite. The annual tournament raises money for the care of Thailands domesticated and wild elephants.

　　Proceeds from this years tournament are expected to take total donations over the $1 million mark.