奇速英语

When Liivand was little, she was often sick. To get stronger, she ____1____ swimming. Soon after, she was taking part in open-water swimming competitions, sometimes even in icy water.

Several years ago, Liivand moved to Florida, but she continued to ____2____ in the sea. One day during her training, she almost swallowed (吞) some plastic (塑料) waste in the sea.

That experience made Liivand think of all the sea animals. These animals face ____3____ problems every day like her. So she decided to do something to raise people’s awareness (意识) of ____4____ pollution. Thinking about sea animals gave Liivand the idea of swimming like a sea animal. Instead of using her arms, she ____5____ swimming with a rubbery fin (橡胶脚蹼) on her feet and swam forward by kicking her legs together. She believed that swimming with a rubbery fin would send “a bigger message”.

Liivand first set the world record for swimming with a rubbery fin in 2019. She swam 10 kilometers off the coast of California. In 2021, she broke the ____6____ by swimming 30 kilometers, this time in Miami, Florida. But Liivand believed she could go ____7____. Every day, she got up at 4:00 a.m., put on her fin and went swimming. To improve her strength (力量), she sometimes even pulled other people in the water.

On May 7, 2022, Liivand managed to break her record again. ____8____, she swam 42.2 kilometers. It took her nearly 12 hours. Along the way, the woman collected all the ____9____ she found and put it in the small boat that was following her. Finally, the small boat held three full bags of rubbish. “Breaking a record means a lot to me, but being ____10____ to help the community and the world means much more,” Liivand said.