伦敦奥运火炬中途熄灭 已用火炬网上拍卖

It's been going for just three days and 115 miles but the Olympic Torch Relay has already burnt out, organisers confirmed today.

Shortly before 10am the torch that was attached to the side of Para-badminton star David Follett's wheelchair went out during his leg of the relay in Great Torrington, Devon.

But just up the road in Hatherleigh, an extremely unofficial torch kept burning despite the wind.

Back in Great Torrington, a spokeswoman for LOCOG said: 'The flame went out due to a malfunctioning burner.

'It is not uncommon for a flame to go out and this can happen for a number of reasons, for example, in extreme winds.

'A replacement torch was brought out from the convoy of vehicles and was lit from the mother flame.

'We keep the mother flame in specially designed miners' lanterns so if the flame does go out for some reason on the relay we relight it from the source of the flame,' the spokeswoman added.

The torch relay entered its third day today and will see dozens of unsung and hard-working individuals get their moment in the spotlight as they carry the torch from Exeter to Taunton.

However, some of the Olympic torchbearers have caused a stir after cashing in on their once-in-a-lifetime privilege by selling their torches on eBay.

Before the first day of the relay was completed, the gold torches appeared on the online auction site. A torch used during the relay on Saturday is currently attracting bids of more than £30,000.

The seller lists the item as: 'An amazing sporting souvenir, be one of the first to have one!' Other torchbearers have pledged to donate the proceeds from the sale to charity.

Sarah Milner Simonds, from Burnham-on-Sea, who is selling her torch to raise money for the project she represents, said she had received a bid of more than £150,000.

(Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

双语资讯

(Agencies)

伦敦奥组委今天证实，刚刚传递了3天、走过了115英里的奥运火炬传递中途熄灭。

当天的传递在英国德文郡的大托林顿进行。上午将近十点钟，固定在英国轮椅羽毛球运动员大卫-弗利特轮椅一侧的火炬就熄灭了。

但就在哈瑟利大道上，一个极其不正式的火炬却在大风中熊熊燃烧。

让我们把目光转回大托林顿。伦敦奥组委的一位女发言人说：“火炬熄灭是由于燃烧器故障导致的。”

“火炬熄灭并非罕见，在极端大风的天气等情况下都有可能发生。”

“工作人员从护送火炬的车上取了另一支替代火炬，而后用奥运火种点燃。

这位女发言人补充说：“我们把奥运火种保存在特制的‘矿工灯’火种罐里，因此当火炬因为某种原因在传递过程中熄灭时，我们就可以用奥运火种重新点燃。”

奥运火炬传递今天进入第三天，有数十名普通但勤劳的民众会在今天成为媒体的焦点，把火炬从埃克塞特传递到陶顿。

但一些奥运火炬手在网上售卖他们的火炬，通过这一千载难逢的机遇赚钱，引发了争议。

在火炬传递的第一天还没结束时，就有金色火炬出现在拍卖网站上。上周六的一支传递过的火炬目前的报价超过三万英镑。

卖家描述称：“这是一件令人惊叹的体育纪念品，成为伦敦奥运火炬的第一批拥有者吧！”还有一些火炬手保证将出售所得用于慈善事业。

来自滨海伯纳姆的莎拉-米尔纳-西蒙德也在售卖火炬，并将把款项用于自己从事的慈善项目。她目前接到的最高报价已超过15万英镑。

Vocabulary:

unsung: 未被诗歌赞颂的，埋没的

cash in on: 趁机利用，赚钱