時差N小時:上萬人參與日月潭泳渡活動

　　Over 18,500 participants in 1,202 teams joined the26th annual mass swim across Sun Moon Lake inNantou County in central Taiwan.

　　來自1,202個隊的超過18,500名游泳者參加了在臺灣中部南投縣舉行的第26屆大眾游泳橫渡日月潭的活動。

　　The swimmers also included 246 people fromAustralia, Great Britain, China, Hong Kong, Holland,Japan, Singapore and the United States, and 297physically challenged participants, the organizerssaid.

　　主辦單位說，其中包括246名來自澳大利亞、英國、中國、香港、荷蘭、日本、新加坡和美國的游泳者，另外還有297名殘障人士。

　　The event kicked off at 7 a.m., and it took most of the participants 90 to 120 minutes tocomplete the approximately 3,000-meter swim. The Nantou County Government said that inview of the two deaths that occurred last year, they took special precautions this year. Measuresincluded deploying 20 top-notch diving professionals and equipping them with propulsionequipment and underwater GPS systems for the first 100 meters, known to be the mostdangerous stretch.

　　活動在上午7時拉開序幕。大多數游泳者花了90至120分鐘才完成了大約3000米的泳程。南投縣政府表示，鑒于去年發(fā)生的兩人死亡事件，他們今年采取了特別的預防措施。措施包括：部署了20個頂尖的潛水專業(yè)人員，這些人員裝備了推進設備;前100米還安裝了水下GPS系統(tǒng)——因為前100米往往是最危險的階段。

　　The event was also moved up to the end of August, instead of in mid-September or later whenit was usually held, in consideration of colder water temperatures later in the year. This year,an electronic board was erected at the starting point to show the temperature of the water forthe reference of the swimmers.

　　考慮到水溫會逐漸變冷，活動將持續(xù)到八月底，而不是以往的9月中旬。今年，在出發(fā)點豎立了一個電子模板以顯示水的溫度。

　　The organizers also introduced a color-coded system this year so that the lifeguards could easilyidentify different groups of people. Physically challenged swimmers and those over 65 years ofage were required to wear pink swimming caps, while other participants were asked to wear redones.

　　主辦單位還推出了彩色編碼系統(tǒng)，這可以使今年的救生員很容易地識別不同的人群。殘障人士和超過65歲的人都必須戴上粉紅色的泳帽，而其他游泳者則被要求帶上紅色泳帽。